Initial thesis proposal

From ThesisWiki

1 Slow Messaging
2 First steps
3 Scope
4 Milestones
5 See also

Slow Messaging

Meaningful connections through ambient displays and tangible interaction

Information technology increasingly mediates the way that we keep in touch with people we care about. The internet and cell phones have given people a large and growing number of ways to communicate when they are physically separated, each subtly different from each other in meaning and interaction. Common amongst them is their explicit, singular, and instant nature: individual messages are formulated through spoken or written language and require direct and often immediate attention from the receiver. While this allows for instant connectedness it can also lead to attention overload, information anxiety, and superfluous interruption. Our messages are faster but are they more meaningful? There are more of them, but do they add up to something emotionally rich?

As computing applications and access to the internet continue to move off of the desktop and into our everyday environment there is potential for calmer forms of communication. Ambient displays and tangible interaction provide communicative possibilities that are more emotional, slower, more abstract, and potentially more meaningful. I’m interested in how a fuller range our senses can be used, how current methods of messaging can be integrated with a physical/ambient system, and how past communications can affect current ones to provide continuity instead of singularity.

My project will focus on supporting meaningful communication and emotional connections between couples that are separated at a distance, specifically considering those who are living in significantly different times zones.

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First steps

Because much work has already been done in this area I will start off by surveying existing solutions. My goal is to learn and be inspired by what has come before and to find a niche where I can contribute a unique idea. My initial plan is to focus on the home environment and to consider how notions of narrative and memory can play a role. By the beginning of Fall semester I will have a specific direction and be able to articulate how my idea is different from what has come before.

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Scope

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/electrical prototyping. If I am unable to acquire the technical skills then I plan to partner with someone to create a final prototype.

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