Supporting Communication Within Domestic Settings

1
Supporting Communication Within Domestic Settings

• Motivation
• Contemporary research agenda movement of
  computing out of the workplace into everyday life
• The home identified by many analysts as the major
  growth area over the next decade
• Our long-term ethnographic study of the home
  shows that communication is a prominent feature
  of domestic life
• For example, some 1800 incoming and outgoing
  communications in a two person home over a one
  year period exponential across a nation.
• Historically, communication has been the primary
  driver for adoption and use of computing
  technologies (e.g., email, IM, SMS)
• Recent research suggests that this trend will
  continue as design moves into the home (e.g.,
  Hindus et al. 2001, The Casablanca Project)

2
Communication and Computing in the Home
Environment Here and Now

• An Unsophisticated Domain
• Wholesale transfer of workplace technologies to
  the home
• These are not designed to meet domain needs
• They are typically confined to a corner or some
  other outpost of a room
• So computing currently occupies a peripheral
  place in the home
• Yet the home is a nevertheless a rich
  communication domain

3
Explicating the Rich Texture of Communication in
the Home

• Addressing the Current Mismatch
• Move beyond a concern with existing computing
  technologies and interfaces
• Using ethnography to make the manifold ways in
  which communication currently gets done in the
  home visible and available to design reasoning
• Focus particularly on the interfaces household
  members construct to handle and manage
  communications

in order to understand the adoption / use
issues of computers, one must view the total
technological space of the household very
little insights will be gained by looking at
computers alone. Venkatesh Nicosia
1997
4
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (1)

• Interface 1.
• A known in common delivery / collection point
• Obviously contingent on nature of particular home
• Access to mail is far less contingent just
  about any household member may collect mail, but
  not any may open it

• The Porch

5
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (2)

• Interface 2.
• Opening mail is not governed by recipient name
  but by entitlements to open mail
• The visibility of the practical character of mail
  (conveyed by logos, organizational stamps,
  postmarks, and handwriting, etc.), articulates
  entitlement rights

• The Phone Bill

6
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (3)

• Interface 3.
• The person who opens and / or sorts the mail is
  not necessarily the recipient of the mail
• Mail is subsequently placed at known in common
  sites to display its relevance to others

• Mail for Others in General

7
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (4)

• Interface 4.
• The placement of mail for others is done in
  fine-grained ways to display the relevancy status
  of mail
• For example, a card from a family friend may be
  placed by one partner at the others seat at the
  table to draw attention to its particular
  relevance

• Mail for a Particular Other

8
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (5)

• Interface 5.
• Certain mail, particularly various cards
  (birthday, greetings, postcards, etc.) are placed
  to display them after they have been read
• For example, on the mantelpiece, where they also
  serve as reminders

• Placing for Aesthetic
• Mnemonic Display

9
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (6)

• Interface 6.
• Opened mail is placed to articulate at-a-glance
  the actions that need to be taken in response
• For example, a bill may be placed at the front of
  the table to show that it needs to be taken out
  of the home and paid

• Placing Mail for External Use

10
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (7)

• Interface 7.
• Mail that requires no immediate action is placed
  on a pending pile, which reflects outstanding
  tasks to be done
• For example, it may be placed at the back of the
  kitchen table

• The Pending Pile

11
Handling Paper-based Mail An Instance of
Interface Construction (8)

• Interface 8.
• Mail that is not of immediate relevance but which
  members need to be aware of is placed in a
  location that maintains its visibility
• For example, on a noticeboard

• Mail of Short-term Relevance

12
Informing Design Reasoning

• An Ecologically Distributed Network of Coordinate
  Displays
• Email Here Now
• 
  Paper Mail
  Handling Here Now