ON HOLIDAYS: INTERFACE MUSINGS

In order for me to understand the best way for users to interact with the interface, I think I need to define what exactly the interface is to provide to them. The following diagram is a simplification of what I would like to provide:

In terms of third party devices, which are outside the scope of this assessment, comfort devices would include lights, air-conditioning, blinds, etc; experience devices would include those the user interacts with physically and shared experience devices, and communication devices would include text-to-voice and related devices, as produced by thir parties. 

The transfer of infomation is shown in the diagram below:

Information is "uploaded" from the user, through the interface, and "downloaded" from the external sources. The issue that remains, then, is the nature of the information transfer.