The Leaky Home: Conceptualising the Remote Control of Smart Technologies in the Domestic Sphere

Karen Louise Grova Søilen; Kristin Veel

doi:10.1177/02632764241281871

The Leaky Home: Conceptualising the Remote Control of Smart Technologies in the Domestic Sphere

Karen Louise Grova Søilen, Kristin Veel

Information Studies

University of Copenhagen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Today many homes are accessible from afar, with mobile phones functioning as remote controls for technologies within the home. In this article we propose the ‘leaky home’ as a conceptual figure to understand how automated homes that leak through connected devices and sensors that collect, transmit, receive and share data are experienced and sensed by bodies within these distributed spaces. The leak brings together postmodern metaphors of fluidity and the 21st century discourse of information leaks, while maintaining infrastructural connotations of substances that shift domain in very tangible ways. By looking at a series of examples from media accounts and research conducted in Denmark, the UK, the USA and Australia, ranging from everyday family practices to digital coercive control, we explore how the care-control complex of the home is impacted by its leaky nature.

Original language	English
Number of pages	16
Journal	Theory, Culture and Society
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764241281871
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 2024 Oct 22

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Cultural Studies
Information Studies

Free keywords

smart homes
tech abuse
Conceptualisation
surveillance
leaky
control

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/02632764241281871Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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