Abstract
Cloud Computing’s tremendous implications on individual, organizational, and societal levels call for a decisively socio-technical perspective of analysis. This paper contributes to such a regard by applying a framework which focuses on human-technology interaction, innovation processes, and social acceptance of emerging technologies. By reviewing main strands of cloud related research, central sociological research foci are identified which lead to an exploratory qualitative acceptance study focusing on Cloud Computing in general and its application in a smart home context in particular. In 24 in-depth interviews, security of the data, privacy, and minimization of misuse possibilities, reliability and stability of the system, as well as the fear of autonomy losses are identified as central problems. The interviewees report on safety and security, improvement of energy efficiency and gains in comfort as the most important fields for Cloud Computing applications in smart homes. The contribution concludes with an outlook on future work.
We would like to thank our interviewees for participating in the qualitative study.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Armbrust, M., Fox, A., Griffith, R., Joseph, A.D., Katz, R., Konwinski, A., Lee, G., Patterson, D., Rabkin, A., Stoica, I.: A view of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM 53(4),50–58 (2010)
Bell, W.: Foundations of futures studies: History, purposes, and knowledge, Human Science for a New Era, vol. 1. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, London (1997)
Cerulo, K.: Nonhumans in social interaction. Annual Review of Sociology 35, 531–552 (2009)
Cervone, H.F.: An overview of virtual and cloud computing. OCLC Systems & Services 26(3), 162–165 (2010)
Dahm, M.: Grundlagen der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion. Pearson, New York (2006)
Doelitzscher, F., Sulistio, A., Reich, C., Kuijs, H., Wolf, D.: Private cloud for collaboration and e-learning services: from IaaS to SaaS. Computing 91(1), 23–42 (2011)
Dwivedi, Y.K., Mustafee, N.: It’s unwritten in the cloud: the technology enablers for realising the promise of cloud computing. Journal of Enterprise Information Management 23(6), 673–679 (2010)
Eggert, M., Häußling, R., Henze, M., Hermerschmidt, L., Hummen, R., Kerpen, D., Pérez, A.N., Rumpe, B., Thißen, D., Wehrle, K.: SensorCloud: Towards the interdisciplinary development of a trustworthy platform for globally interconnected sensors and actuators. Tech. rep., RWTH Aachen (2013)
Esser, H.: Die Rationalität des Alltagshandelns. Zeitschrift f¨ur Soziologie 20(6), 430–445 (1991)
Esser, H.: Rationality and commitment: the model of frame selection and the explanation of normative action. In: Raymond Boudon: A life in Sociology, pp. 207–230. The Bardwell Press, Oxford (2009)
Ferscha, A.: Implicit interaction. In: J. Pitt (ed.) This Pervasive Day: The Potential and Perils of Pervasive Computing, pp. 17–36. Imperial College Press, London (2012)
Forschungsverbund AACCrisk: Kooperative Bewertung und Kommunikation der systemischen Risiken ubiquitärer Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. Available online at http://www.ecolog-institut.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/T_U_Publ/AACCrisk_Schlussbericht_2010-10_2.pdf–last checked: 2013-06-20 (2010)
Fox, A.: Cloud computing-what’s in it for me as a scientist. Science 331(6016), 406–407 (2011)
Graham, M.: Time machines and virtual portals. the spatialities of the digital divide. Progress in Development Studies 11(3), 211–227 (2011)
Guizzo, E.: Robots with their heads in the clouds. Spectrum, IEEE 48(3), 16–18 (2011)
Hallberg, N., Pilemalm, S., Jägare, S., Irestig, M., Timpka, T.: Quality function deployment (QFD) extended future workshop: An approach for effective and enjoyable user participation. In: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (PDC), New York, USA (2000)
Häußling, R.: Design als soziotechnische Relation. Neue Herausforderungen der Gestaltung inter- und transaktiver Technik am Beispiel humanoider Robotik. In: S. Moebius, S. Prinz (eds.) Das Design der Gesellschaft. Zur Kultursoziologie des Designs, pp. 263–288. transcript, Bielefeld (2012)
Herzog, O., Schildhauer, T. (eds.): Intelligente Objekte. Technische Gestaltung—Wirtschaftliche Verwertung—GesellschaftlicheWirkung. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2009)
Hilbert, M.: The end justifies the definition: The manifold outlooks on the digital divide and their practical usefulness for policy-making. Telecommunications Policy 35(8), 715–736 (2011)
Hochstein, L., Schott, B., Graybill, R.B.: Computational engineering in the cloud: Benefits and challenges. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (JOEUC) 23(4), 31–50 (2011)
Huang, C., Hsieh, C.: Sociology view on cloud computing value: Actor network theory perspective. In: Proceedings 1st Conference on Cloud Computing GRIDs and Virtualization, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 145–149 (2010)
Hughes, T.P.: The seamless web: technology, science, etcetera, etcetera. Social Studies of Science 16(2), 281–292 (1986)
Ion, I., Sachdeva, N., Kumaraguru, P., Cˇ apkun, S.: Home is safer than the cloud! Privacy concerns for consumer cloud storage. In: Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS ’11, pp. 13:1–13:20. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2011). DOI 10.1145/2078827.2078845. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2078827.2078845
Joint, A., Baker, E., Eccles, E.: Hey, you, get off of that cloud! Computer Law & Security Review 25(3), 270–274 (2009)
Jungk, R., M¨ullert, N.: Future Workshops. Institute for Social Inventions, London (1987)
Kaufman, L.M.: Data security in the world of cloud computing. Security & Privacy, IEEE 7(4), 61–64 (2009)
Kollmuss, A., Agyeman, J.: Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research 8(3), 239–260 (2002)
Latour, B.: U¨ ber technische Vermittlung. In:W. Rammert (ed.) Technik und Sozialtheorie, pp.29–82. Campus, Frankfurt/Main (1998)
Latour, B.: Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press, New York (2005)
Leimeister, S., B¨ohm, M., Riedl, C., Krcmar, H.: The business perspective of cloud computing: Actors, roles and value networks. In: 18th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2010) (2010)
Li, Z., Chen, C., Wang, K.: Cloud computing for agent-based urban transportation systems. Intelligent Systems, IEEE 26(1), 73–79 (2011)
Loebbecke, C., Thomas, B., Ullrich, T.: Assessing cloud readiness: Introducing the magic matrices method used by Continental AG. In: M. N¨uttgens, A. Gadatsch, K. Kautz, I. Schirmer, N. Blinn (eds.) Governance and Sustainability in Information Systems. Managing the Transfer and Diffusion of IT, pp. 270–281. Springer, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, London, New York (2011)
Marston, S., Li, Z., Bandyopadhyay, S., Zhang, J., Ghalsasi, A.: Cloud computing—the business perspective. Decision Support Systems 51(1), 176–189 (2011)
Mayring, P.: Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen und Techniken, 11th edn. Beltz, Weinheim (2010)
Mell, P., Grance, T.: The NIST definition of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM 53(6), 50 (2010)
Miller, K.W.: Ethical analysis in the cloud. IT Professional 12(6), 7–9 (2010)
Nelson, M.R.: Building an open cloud. Science 324(5935), 1656 (2009)
Norris, P.: Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty and the Internet in Democratic Societies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA (2001)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): OECD Communicaions Outlook 2011. OECD Publishing, Paris (2011)
Pandey, S., Voorsluys, W., Niu, S., Khandoker, A., Buyya, R.: An autonomic cloud environment for hosting ECG data analysis services. Future Generation Computer Systems 28(1),147–154 (2012)
Petruch, K., Stantchev, V., Tamm, G.: A survey on IT-governance aspects of cloud computing. International Journal of Web and Grid Services 7(3), 268–303 (2011)
Rammert, W.: Hybride Handlungsträgerschaft: Ein soziotechnisches Modell verteilten Handelns. In: O. Herzog, T. Schildhauer (eds.) Intelligente Objekte. Technische Gestaltung—Wirtschaftliche Verwertung – GesellschaftlicheWirkung, pp. 23–33. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2009)
Rammert, W., Schulz-Schaeffer, I.: Technik und Handeln: Wenn soziales Handeln sich aufmenschliches Verhalten und technische Abläufe verteilt. In: W. Rammert, I. Schulz-Schaeffer (eds.) K¨onnen Maschinen handeln? Soziologische Beiträge zum Verhältnis von Mensch und Technik, chap. 6, pp. 11–64. VS, Frankfurt/Main, New York (2002)
Ryan, M.D.: Cloud computing privacy concerns on our doorstep. Communications of the ACM 54(1), 36–38 (2011)
Sinus-Sociovision: The Sinus-Milieus® in Germany 2011. http://www.sinus-institut.de/en–last checked: 2013-06-11
Sultan, N.A.: Reaching for the “cloud”: How SMEs can manage. International Journal of Information Management 31(3), 272–278 (2011)
Truong, D.: How cloud computing enhances competitive advantages: A research model for small businesses. The Business Review, Cambridge 15(1), 59–65 (2010)
Venters, W., Whitley, E.A.: A critical review of cloud computing: Research desires and realities. Journal of Information Technology 27, 179–197 (2012)
Walker, E., Brisken, W., Romney, J.: To lease or not to lease from storage clouds. Computer 43(4), 44–50 (2010)
Wang, C., Ren, K., Lou, W., Li, J.: Toward publicly auditable secure cloud data storage services. Network, IEEE 24(4), 19–24 (2010)
Ward, B.T., Sipior, J.C.: The internet jurisdiction risk of cloud computing. Information Systems Management 27(4), 334–339 (2010)
Weiser, M.: The computer for the 21st century. Scientific american 265(3), 94–104 (1991)
Willcocks, L.P., Venters,W., Whitley, E.A., Hindle, J.: Shifting to cloud services: current challenges and future opportunities. In: M.C. Lacity, L.P. Willcocks (eds.) Advanced Outsourcing Practices: Rethinking ITO, BPO, and Cloud Services, pp. 169–196. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (2012)
Yang, H., Tate, M.: A descriptive literature review and classification of cloud computing research. Communications of the Association for Information Systems 31, 35–60 (2012)
Yeo, C.S., Venugopal, S., Chu, X., Buyya, R.: Autonomic metered pricing for a utility computing service. Future Generation Computer Systems 26(8), 1368–1380 (2010)
Zhang, Q., Cheng, L., Boutaba, R.: Cloud computing: state-of-the-art and research challenges. Journal of Internet Services and Applications 1(1), 7–18 (2010)
Zissis, D., Lekkas, D.: Securing e-government and e-voting with an open cloud computing architecture. Government Information Quarterly 28(2), 239–251 (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Eggert, M., Kerpen, D., Rüssmann, K., Häußling, R. (2014). SensorCloud: Sociological Contextualization of an Innovative Cloud Platform. In: Krcmar, H., Reussner, R., Rumpe, B. (eds) Trusted Cloud Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12718-7_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12718-7_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12717-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12718-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)