A device ecology refers to a collection of devices with relationships among each other, that is, these devices can communicate with one another and are aware of each other's presence. The word "

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

" refers to the relationship between an organism and its environment, which may include other organisms. Devices in a future living room, devices in a kitchen, or devices in a factory might collectively form device ecologies (a living room device ecology, a kitchen device ecology, etc.) to cooperatively perform tasks for a user. Imagine a user introducing a new device to the living room device ecology (i.e., bringing home a new device). Ideally, the user simply places the device in the living room, and there is an automatic "orientation" of the new device with subsequent integration into the living room device ecology. It is possible that devices have different roles within a device ecology. The word "ecology" is used as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

but also emphasises the idea of devices in relationship. We may even speak of devices in symbiotic relationships, where devices are somehow "helping" each other in their goals. The notions of mutualism,

commensalism Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction ( symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit fr ...

endosymbiosis An ''endosymbiont'' or ''endobiont'' is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship. (The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον ''endon'' "withi ...

and

ectosymbiosis Ectosymbiosis is a form of symbiotic behavior in which a parasite lives on the body surface of the host, including internal surfaces such as the lining of the digestive tube and the ducts of glands. The parasitic species is generally an ...

may then be interpreted for a device ecology with devices of different forms, functionalities and sizes; other relationships can be defined. This also means that devices within a device ecology can affect each other through their behavior. Device ecology relates to the notion of social devices, using the word "social" to describe devices that are capable of interacting with one another, and relates to

smart devices A smart device is an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols (such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, near-field communication, Wi-Fi, LiFi, or 5G) that can operate to some extent interactively an ...

, which refers to devices with capabilities to interact with one another and with users in an intelligent context-aware manner. Typically, with a user in an environment, the devices in the environment and on the user can form a device ecology. A research problem is how a user might interact with device ecologies, and another is how devices might keep track of each other, even as new devices might join the ecology or devices leave. A European project talks about networked societies of artifacts.

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* * * {{Ambient intelligence Ubiquitous computing

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