Investigating Everyday Information Behavior of Using Ambient Displays: A Case of Indoor Air Quality Monitors

With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), people are increasingly gathering and using information through ambient displays every day. While this everyday information behavior has become a common mode of human information behavior, little is known about the factors that constitute such practices to inform the design of information dashboards. Drawing from 729 user reviews of indoor air quality monitoring stations posted to Amazon.com as a case, this study investigates the process through which people gather and use information from an ambient display as everyday information behavior. By using sense-making theory as an analytical framework, we illustrate key themes that constitute ways in which people make sense of information through everyday information behaviors of ambient display use.