Networked Gardens : Remediating Local Nature Data Through the Internet of Things

Urban life is increasingly disconnected from nature. How might we design for greater awareness of the life around us? We present a study of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, the Ambient Birdhouse, and sensors to learn what kinds of interactions and media supported participants’ attention to local nature, and the sharing and exploration of nature data. Eight participants used the system and took part in individual interviews and group discussions. We found that diverse media and its reproductions and transformations (remediation), presented entry points for different kinds of users to engage with nature data. Notably, ambient acoustic media presented a means of both analytic sense-making and sensitizing users to nature. Patterns of sharing illuminated relational networks, as well as the affordances and challenges of different media. We contemplate how remediation impacts engagement with both nature and nature data and what this means for the design of IoT systems