Final thesis proposal
From ThesisWiki
Slow Messaging
- Intimate communication for couples living at a distance
Information technology increasingly mediates communication between people, particularly when they live at a distance. These technologies tend to focus on discrete information exchange or engaged connection requiring full and instant attention. Cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, and weblogs work well for what they do but don’t address the need for other, more emotional forms of communication. Messages can be sent faster, but are they more meaningful? There are more of them, but do they add up to something emotionally rich? Audio and video are rapidly improving, but do they really provide a sense of presence-in-absence? Differing contexts require different solutions — in my project I will be designing a more intimate means of communication for couples living at a distance.
In order to better understand how intimate communication can be mediated I will work with five couples, all in committed long-term relationships and living at a significant distance from one another. While all participants will be geographically apart I am seeking diversity in distance in order to understand the differing needs of those who are separated by both space and time differences. I plan to use a variety of ethnographically inspired design research methods and hope to discover new methods specific to my participant’s contexts.
Along with this human-centered design process I will be exploring solutions through the lens of Slow Design. The use of the word “slow” is borrowed from the Slow Food movement and serves here as a shorthand for establishing meaningful connections. Slow Design values reflection over efficiency, interaction over consumption, and quality over quantity. It calls for finding the appropriate pace for technology and I am hypothesizing that its values will map well to intimate communication needs.
I also plan to explore the role that tangible user interfaces (TUI) and ambient media can play in expressing emotion. As computing applications and access to the internet continue to move off of the desktop and into our everyday environment these emergent interaction design themes may hold the potential for calmer forms of communication. I will explore how TUIs and ambient media can afford more emotional, slower, more abstract, and ultimately more meaningful connections than screen-based interactions alone.
I plan to create a functional prototype that can go through an iterative testing phase. My solution will likely involve both hardware and software and I plan on learning enough to do basic physical design and electronic prototyping. If I am unable to acquire the technical skills then I plan to partner with someone to create a final prototype.
See also
- My initial thesis proposal.
- The super short version: my elevator pitch.
