Abstract

WattsUp is a Facebook Canvas application created by Derek Foster, a post-graduate student at the University of York. His studies in the Master of Science course Human Computer Interaction inspired him to merge an important contemporary issue with influential social media; the resulting project allows Facebook users to share and compare their households’ energy usage information among Facebook friends. Actual home energy data is collected via a Wattson Energy Monitor and stored into a database, which is subsequently queried by the WattsUp Facebook application; usage summary information is displayed both per-user and comparatively against a friend network.