A Digital Photography Framework Enabling Affective Awareness in Home Communication
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A Digital Photography Framework Enabling Affective Awareness in Home Communication Olivier Liechti Tadao Ichikawa Information Systems Laboratory Information Systems Laboratory 1-4-1 Kagamiyama 1-4-1 Kagamiyama Higashi-Hiroshima 739, Japan Higashi-Hiroshima 739, Japan [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT By transforming the personal computer into a communication appliance, the Internet has initiated the true home computing revolution. As a result, Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies are increasingly used in domestic settings, and are changing the way people keep in touch with their relatives and friends. This article first looks at how CMC tools are currently used in the home, and points at some of their benefits and limitations. Most of these tools support explicit interpersonal communication, by providing a new medium for sustaining conversations. The need for tools supporting implicit interaction between users, in more natural and effortless ways, is then argued for. The idea of affective awareness is introduced as a general sense of being in touch with one's family and friends. Finally, the KAN-G framework, which enables affective awareness through the exchange of digital photographs, is described. Various components, which make the capture, distribution, observation and annotation of snapshots easy and effortless are discussed. Keywords Affective awareness, ambient media, awareness, calm technology, Computer Mediated Communication, digital camera, home photography, implicit social interaction, social role of home photography, ubiquitous computing, World Wide Web 1 INTRODUCTION new ways to maintain relationships with their The so-called "personal" computer has made its family and friends, new ways to establish apparition in the home more than two decades contacts with local and global communities, etc. ago. It seems, however, that the true revolution But while the social impact of Computer has only been initiated much more recently Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies [Venkatesh 1996]. Among other factors, it is the is generally acknowledged, it is not clear addition of communication features and the wide whether it is mostly positive or negative. Some popularization of the Internet that can explain the praise the Internet as a medium that removes profound social impact of home computing. economical, spatial and temporal constraints and Access to the Net has indeed transformed a thus allows people to extend their social device that had no real domestic function into an networks. Others fear that mediocre computer- appliance extensively used for information based communication may lead to social access, entertainment and interpersonal isolation and reduce well-being. communication. As a result, the personal In any way, it is very important that engineers computer is becoming more meaningful for the and computer scientists take into account the household, used both by the entire family and for observations and recommendations of home-related tasks (as opposed to work-related ethnographers and sociologists studying the tasks performed at home). In this light, it might impact of new technologies in the field. very well have effects as dramatic as those from Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach should previous technologies, such as the television or help make the best use of a very unique and the telephone. pervasive communication infrastructure. As a Emerging communication technologies are matter of fact, the Internet is a very flexible deeply affecting the way people "socialize", in platform, on top of which it is possible to build a other words the way people meet, keep in touch wide diversity of tools supporting social and interact with each other. While this is true at interaction. The challenge is to figure out what work, it is also true at home. People are offered these tools could and should be, and how they could and should be used by the general some of their problems and limitations are population. It will take time, imagination and pointed out. A number of field studies on the effort to address this challenge, and to truly social impact of home computing are then leverage the potential of global and ubiquitous mentioned, and important implications for the networking. design of communication technologies are In this article, our goal is more modestly to look highlighted. The idea of affective awareness is at existing CMC technologies used in the home, finally introduced and placed in the context of to point at some of their limitations, and to related work. The discussion stresses that tools discuss a number of ideas that would overcome enabling affective awareness should not replace, these limitations. While recognizing the merits of but augment traditional technologies such as current technologies, we argue for the need to electronic mail. augment the functional spectrum they cover. We Section 3 illustrates the previously introduced introduce the idea of affective awareness, and ideas with the KAN-G framework, designed to discuss the envisioned benefits of tools support affective awareness through supporting lightweight, effortless and emotional electronically mediated home photography. The interpersonal communication through shared social role of "traditional" home photography is experiences and non-verbal communication. We discussed first, with references to visual explain how such technologies require to go anthropology. It is then explained how a number beyond the traditional personal computer, and of different emerging digital imaging beyond traditional human-computer interaction technologies are likely to affect and amplify this (seen as a one-to-one, exclusive dialogue). role. The components of the framework are An illustration of these ideas is then proposed reviewed, and it is explained how they support with the design of KAN-G, an interpersonal the capture, distribution, viewing and annotation communication framework based on the of digital photographs. It should be noted that the exchange of digital photographs. The KAN-G implementation of the KAN-G framework is still framework consists of a variety of hardware and in progress. Prototypes for the components software components, which support the capture, described here have been implemented, but their the distribution, the observation and the integration has not been fully completed yet. The annotation of photographs. The foremost main objective of this article is thus not to report motivation for designing the framework has been on the implementation, but rather on the design an observation of the social role played by of the framework. More importantly, it is to raise "traditional" home photography, and a reflection attention on emerging domestic applications for on how emerging digital photography digital photography and to foster research in this technologies may affect this role. Family area. snapshots are seen as very powerful artifacts that create and strengthen affective and emotional 2 COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION links between people. Digital imaging IN THE HOME technologies have the potential to make it easier Computer Mediated Communication covers a to create, share and observe photographs, and broad spectrum of technologies, from electronic thus to amplify the interpersonal communication mail to the WWW, from real-time video- function of home photography. We believe, conferencing to MUDs and MOOs. Such however, that achieving this goal requires the technologies support very different functions, careful design of "calm" systems [Weiser and and enable very different interaction modes. Brown July 1996], that should be natural to use, Most of them were developed to support work that should be merged with architectural spaces related processes, but are now also used to [Junestrand and Tollmar 1998, Rijken 1999, support tasks within households. But because the Wisneski, et al. 1998], and that should privilege requirements of work and domestic aesthetic and artistic quality [Padula and environments are very different, it is not clear Amanda 1999]. whether current CMC tools really fit the needs of The remaining sections of this article are home users. On the contrary, it is likely that organized as follows. In Section 2, the current CMC performed in the home will raise a need of use of Computer Mediated Communication tools that do not have any equivalent in work (CMC) technologies in domestic environments is environments. This is particularly the case for discussed. The functions and interaction modes technologies that put an emphasis on supported by existing tools are described, and entertainment and fun criteria. In this section, we first review some of the most is relatively easy to use and does not require a popular CMC technologies used in the home and long learning curve. Everybody in the family has point at some of their limitations. We then look thus access to the medium, without any at a number of field studies on the social impact particular requirement of technical expertise or of home computing and highlight important time. Second, email is already ubiquitous, as implications for technology designers and almost everybody now has an email address. The computer scientists. We finally introduce the technology can thus be used to interact with a idea of affective awareness and review some very large number of people. Third, email is an related work in the Computer Supported interesting alternative to traditional Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Human- communication tools (e.g. paper