Connected Objects: Transparency Back in Play

This chapter analyzes the quest for transparency that seems to guide promoters of ubiquitous computing and of the Internet of Things (IoT). The transparency of connected objects is expressed through the quasi‐invisibility of their digital interfaces and data flows they are exchanging. Connected objects become transparent by blending in with their users' everyday environment. The IoT gives shape to a myth of transparency marked by the automation and computerization of data capture processes and the selection of information. The myth of transparency has invaded spaces of communication and consumption. The opacity of the processes adds to the transparency of interfaces to create “enchanted objects”, which are objects whose functioning is intentionally hidden with the aim of surprising their users, and entertain them with the help of strategies that tend to create powerful illusions.