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SensorCloud: Sociological Contextualization of an Innovative Cloud Platform

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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.

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12718-7_18

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