The
Interliving project brings together families and researchers in
computer science, sociology and education with the goal of
developing technologies that will encourage communication,
collaboration and creativity. Researchers from The
University of Maryland, The
Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Paris
Sud University and Institute
Nationale de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique in France
have joined together to create new technologies that will support
families in numerous ways.
We
have recruited three extended families in Sweden (spread among seven
households), three extended families in France (living in six
households), and one extended family in United States (living in
three households). There have been five workshops with
families in Sweden, France and the U.S. There have been
numerous visits to the different household that included video
taping and in depth interviews. These workshops and home
visits have produced many artifacts for analysis. The
artifacts have ranged from maps of family communication patterns, to
sketches which may be used to design future prototypes, to diaries.
We estimate that we have spent about 20 hours with the families in
workshops, 25 hours in homes, and have over 100 artifacts for
analysis at this time.
We
have just begun to analyze the data obtained from the artifacts
created by the seven families. A set of codes has been
developed to analyze the diaries. The analysis of the Swedish
diaries has been completed as well as a video summary of our
findings. This initial analysis shows several interesting
trends. One trend we found is that the families refer to
technologies that support communication across distributed locations
when they mention communicating or coordinating activities, in their
diaries. One such example is using a cellular phone to arrange
a meeting. When families discussed collaborative or social
activities in their diaries they referred to technologies that
support co-located communication such as sitting down to a meal
together and talking. Therefore, we believe that we will need
to develop prototypes that support co-located and distance
communication based on the needs of the families.
Another
interesting trend we discovered through the analysis of the Swedish
diaries involved the technologies mentioned by the families in their
diaries. We found that most discussions of technology referred
to cellular and traditional telephones. Use of computers,
email and the internet came in a distant third after cellular and
traditional telephones. No references to technology came in
fourth. Technology was rarely mentioned in conjunction with
social family gatherings.
We
are continuing our work with families. Currently, we are
planning a workshop that will bring together the families from all
three countries. We also look forward to home visits where we
can observe the families using the new technologies that we are in
the process of creating together. We are planning to collect data from these home visits which we will use to refine the
new technologies.
Papers
Browne, H., Bederson, B., Plaisant, C., Druin, A. (2001)
Designing an Interactive Message Board as a Technology Probe for Family Communication
HCIL-2001-20 , CS-TR-4284 , UMIACS-TR-2001-63
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