A7StormDrain

A7StormDrain

To-Do

• describe important themes for your project that are not discussed in any of the course lectures

describe the most important themes from the lectures for your project

Since our project centers on energy use, the lecture on the Smart Grid is probably the most relevant to us.   The key concepts in this lecture include the notion that power grids haven't really changed in over a hundred years, and that the "smart grid" is a new concept that shows real time energy use and allows the consumer to become more active in monitoring their energy.  The ideal grid should provide the consumer with feedback on their energy use, information about their energy use, provide social environments to encourage more participation and awareness in energy use, and automate systems to detect and resolve problems the instant they occur.  These are important themes in terms of our project since we're interested in what kind of models fit this set of criteria best and which models encourage the energy consumer to become more of a 'prosumer' in which they're participating and feeling like they're part of a community.  This kind of smart grid encourages consumers to be more aware and interested in their energy use.  In this respect, the lecture on cultures of participation is also relevant to our project since it's about promoting consumers to become active participants and producers in content, and the idea of more efficient energy use is centered around motivating people into becoming more active consumers, where they monitor their energy spending and communicate with other community members to create a network of consumers that are more aware of how to limit their energy use.

describe important themes for your project that are not discussed in any of the course lectures

One theme that would be great to discuss in class is the nature of competition in socio-technical environments. Sites like Foursquare, Gowalla, and SCVNGR all utilize challenges, achievements and leaderboards to provide a competitive environment in which users interact. This model has proven to be effective in generating interaction and use between users. Both physical and non-physical achievements can be exciting for users. There was a mention of a energy competition between two dorms at CU and that seemed to have a positive effect on participation from residents of the respectable dorms. Social gaming and competitiveness could be very interesting when applied to the energy domain.

Another theme that has not been discussed thoroughly in class is visualizations of data. There are so many ways to describe and visualize numbers to users, yet we have not looked at what is effective in certain scenarios. It would be great to hear what others in the class think of the many forms of data visualization. This includes maps, charts, tables, graphs, and other representations. One area that could be interesting for energy data is heat maps and map overlays.

In some of the lectures and discussions on Smart Grids, the examples given of existing implementations did not seem to be successful. It is understandable because this smart grid data and technology is new, but it would be nice to discuss some of the more successful or exciting projects going on in respects to energy data representations. Some of the more popular green products, such as the prius, could be a good starting point.