“It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs

Pelin Karaturhan; Søren Lyngsø Knudsen; Jonas Fritsch

doi:10.1145/3715668.3736357

“It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs

Pelin Karaturhan
, Søren Lyngsø Knudsen
, Jonas Fritsch

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

The increasing pervasiveness of commercially available smart speakers calls for critical design research engagement to challenge traditional notions of utility and efficiency. In this paper, we report on the design of three provotypes (prototypes to provoke thought rather than refine the design process) – the Climate Change Smart Speakers (CCSS) – and the results from a one-week real-life probe study involving three participants. The CCSS are designed to make people reflect on smart speaker design and interactions using climate crisis as a catalyst, and each has a distinct persona: the Activist, the Robot, and the Voice of the Forest. Our preliminary findings indicate that CCSS are affectively engaging artifacts that prompt critical reflections on the sociocultural roles of smart speakers and our interactions with them. Based on this, we provide future directions for more diverse voice-user interfaces (VUI) in smart speaker design.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Number of pages	6
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Publication date	5 Jul 2025
Pages	397-402
ISBN (Print)	9798400714863
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3715668.3736357
Publication status	Published - 5 Jul 2025
Event	ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) 2025 - Madeira, Portugal Duration: 5 Jul 2025 → 9 Jul 2025 https://dis.acm.org/2025/

Conference

Conference	ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) 2025
Location	Madeira
Country/Territory	Portugal
Period	05/07/2025 → 09/07/2025
Internet address	https://dis.acm.org/2025/

Keywords

Voice-user interfaces,
Smart speakers
Synthetic voice design
Climate change

Access to Document

10.1145/3715668.3736357

Cite this

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title = "“It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs",

abstract = "The increasing pervasiveness of commercially available smart speakers calls for critical design research engagement to challenge traditional notions of utility and efficiency. In this paper, we report on the design of three provotypes (prototypes to provoke thought rather than refine the design process) – the Climate Change Smart Speakers (CCSS) – and the results from a one-week real-life probe study involving three participants. The CCSS are designed to make people reflect on smart speaker design and interactions using climate crisis as a catalyst, and each has a distinct persona: the Activist, the Robot, and the Voice of the Forest. Our preliminary findings indicate that CCSS are affectively engaging artifacts that prompt critical reflections on the sociocultural roles of smart speakers and our interactions with them. Based on this, we provide future directions for more diverse voice-user interfaces (VUI) in smart speaker design.",

keywords = "Voice-user interfaces,, Smart speakers, Synthetic voice design, Climate change",

author = "Pelin Karaturhan and Knudsen, \{S{\o}ren Lyngs{\o}\} and Jonas Fritsch",

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month = jul,

day = "5",

doi = "10.1145/3715668.3736357",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798400714863",

pages = "397--402",

booktitle = "Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) 2025, DIS 2025 ; Conference date: 05-07-2025 Through 09-07-2025",

url = "https://dis.acm.org/2025/",

}

Karaturhan, P, Knudsen, SL & Fritsch, J 2025, “It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs. in Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference. Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 397-402, ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) 2025, Portugal, 05/07/2025. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715668.3736357

“It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs. / Karaturhan, Pelin; Knudsen, Søren Lyngsø; Fritsch, Jonas.
Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. p. 397-402.

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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T1 - “It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs

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AB - The increasing pervasiveness of commercially available smart speakers calls for critical design research engagement to challenge traditional notions of utility and efficiency. In this paper, we report on the design of three provotypes (prototypes to provoke thought rather than refine the design process) – the Climate Change Smart Speakers (CCSS) – and the results from a one-week real-life probe study involving three participants. The CCSS are designed to make people reflect on smart speaker design and interactions using climate crisis as a catalyst, and each has a distinct persona: the Activist, the Robot, and the Voice of the Forest. Our preliminary findings indicate that CCSS are affectively engaging artifacts that prompt critical reflections on the sociocultural roles of smart speakers and our interactions with them. Based on this, we provide future directions for more diverse voice-user interfaces (VUI) in smart speaker design.

KW - Voice-user interfaces,

KW - Smart speakers

KW - Synthetic voice design

KW - Climate change

U2 - 10.1145/3715668.3736357

DO - 10.1145/3715668.3736357

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 9798400714863

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BT - Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference

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Y2 - 5 July 2025 through 9 July 2025

ER -

“It's More Like the Planet's Assistant”: Re-imagining Smart Speaker Designs

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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