Abstract
Though the design of technologies for couples has been thriving for well over a decade now, the products made for and the needs of couples examined in HCI research are surprisingly narrow. Overwhelmingly they are for partners at a distance and lightweight interactions that can best be described as abstracted presence. Towards moving couples technologies into broader waters and guiding exploration of the many other facets of couplehood, we propose an expanded couples design space that includes technologies for local partners and deep interpersonal sharing—hitherto underexplored design concerns. We then show that the creation of these new spaces can be motivated by the needs of couples as characterized by couples experts and present an example of a new technology that embodies these. Finally, we draw from experience with couples in the field to identify research and design considerations regarding gender, power, values, and ethics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Note that couple-centered design is not confined to delivering constructive experiences and avoiding destructive ones, as these terms may be variously defined. It is instead about understanding how technology can interact with couplehood and designing accordingly.
- 2.
Three technology designers did not specify their target user group in reference to distance.
- 3.
Four technology designs did not restrict communication to abstracted presence.
- 4.
Throughout the rest of the chapter, I use the terms deep interpersonal sharing and mutual reflection interchangeably, although the former need not imply the latter.
References
Allen, K. R. (2000). A conscious and inclusive family studies. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(1), 4–17.[1]
Anon. AAMFT code of ethics. aamft.org. http://www.aamft.org/imis15/content/legal_ethics/code_of_ethics.aspx. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[2]
Anon. Design based research collective. designbasedresearch.org. http://www.designbasedresearch.org/index.html. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[3]
Anon. Duofone. gajitz.com. http://gajitz.com/share-the-love-matching-connectable-phones-for-couples/. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[4]
Anon. Hug shirt. cutecircuit.com. http://www.cutecircuit.com/products/thehugshirt/. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[5]
Anon. netflix.com. http://www.netflix.com.[6]
Anon. (2004). Telesquishy. popgadget.net. http://www.popgadget.net/2004/12/wanna_play_tele.php. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[7]
Anon. (2005a). Kiss communicator. we-make-money-not-art.com. http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/10/kiss-communicat.php. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[8]
Anon. (2005b). Tok Tok & Tug Tug. we-make-money-not-art.com. http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/01/tok-tok-and-tug.php. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[9]
Anon. (2008). Love tech goes long distance. forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/06/love-gadgets-valentine-tech-lovebiz08-cx_ag_0206distance.html. Accessed 12 Dec 2011.[10]
Anon. (2009). Daily temperature reading. fatherhoodchannel.com. http://fatherhoodchannel.com/q2009/12/19/daily-temperature-reading/. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[11]
Anon. (2010). Fix a fight. itunes.apple.com. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fix-a-fight/id376117430?mt= 8. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[12]
Anon. (2011). Aura. fashioningtech.com. http://www.fashioningtech.com/profiles/blogs/aura-wearable-devices-for. Accessed 25 Oct 2011.[13]
Bales, E., Li, K. A., Griwsold, W. (2011). CoupleVIBE: mobile implicit communication to improve awareness for (long-distance) couples. Proceedings of the CSCW’11 (pp. 65–74). New York: ACM.[14]
Brave, S., Dahley, A. (1997). inTouch: a medium for haptic interpersonal communication. Proceedings of the CHI ’97 Extended Abstracts (pp. 363–364). New York: ACM.[16]
Chang, A., Resner, B., Koerner, B., Wang, X. C., Ishii, H. (2001). LumiTouch: an emotional communication device. Proceedings of the CHI ’01 Extended Abstracts (pp. 313–314). New York: ACM.[17]
Chen, C.-Y., Forlizzi, J., Jennings, P. (2006). ComSlipper: an expressive design to support awareness and availability. Proceedings of the CHI ’06 Extended Abstracts (pp. 369–374). New York: ACM.[18]
Chung, H., Lee, C.-H. J., Selker, T. (2006). Lover’s cups: drinking interfaces as new communication channels. Proceedings of the CHI ’06 Extended Abstracts (pp. 313–314). New York: ACM.[19]
Clark, H. H., Brennan, S. E. (1991). Grounding in communication. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.[20]
Clawson, J., Patel, N., Starner, T. (2010). Digital kick in the shin: on-body communication tools for couples trapped in face-to-face group conversations. Workshop on Ensembles of On-Body Devices, MobileHCI ’10.[21]
Danielson, D. K. (2007). Is your blackberry ruining your sex life? forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/11/leadership-blackberry-treo-cx_pink_0111blackberry.html. Accessed 12 Dec 2011.[22]
Davis, H., Skov, M. B., Stougaard, M., Vetere, F. (2007). Virtual box: supporting mediated family intimacy through virtual and physical play. Proceedings of the OZCHI ’07 (pp. 151–159). New York: ACM.[23]
Design-based Research Collective . (2003). Design-based research: an emerging paradigm for educational inquiry. Educational Researcher, 5–8.[24]
Dodge, C. (1997). The bed: a medium for intimate communication. Proceedings of the CHI ’07 Extended Abstracts (pp. 371–372). New York: ACM.[25]
Goodman, E., Misilim, M. (2003). The sensing beds. Workshop on Intimate Computing, UbiComp ’03.[26]
Grivas, K. (2006). Digital selves: devices for intimate communications between homes. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 10(2–3), 66–76.[27]
Hallnäs, L., Redström, J. (2001). Slow technology—designing for reflection. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 5(3), 201–212.[28]
Hayashi, T., Agamanolis, S., Karau, M. (2008). Mutsugoto: a body-drawing communicator for distant partners. In Proceedings of the SIGGRAPH ’08 posters (pp. 91:1–91:1). New York: ACM.[29]
Hoadley, C. M. (2004). Methodological alignment in design-based research. Educational Psychologist, 39(4), 203–212.[30]
Ito, M. (2005). Intimate visual co-presence. Workshop on Pervasive Image Capture and Sharing, UbiComp ’05.[31]
Kaye, J.' J.' (2004). Making scents: aromatic output for HCI. Interactions, 11, 48–61.[32]
Kaye, J.' J.' (2006). I just clicked to say I love you: rich evaluations of minimal communication. Proceedings of the CHI ’06 (pp. 363–368). New York: ACM.[33]
Kaye, J.' J.', Goulding, L. (2004). Intimate objects. Proceedings of the DIS ’04 (pp. 341–344). New York: ACM.[34]
King, J., Forlizzi, J. (2007). Slow messaging: intimate communication for couples living at a distance. Proceedings of the Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces ’07 (pp. 451–454). New York: ACM.[35]
Li, I., Forlizzi, J., Dey, A. (2010). Know thyself: monitoring and reflecting on facets of one’s life. Proceedings of the CHI ’10 (pp. 4489–4492). New York, ACM.[36]
Lindley, S. E., Harper, R., Sellen, A. (2009). Desiring to be in touch in a changing communications landscape: attitudes of older adults. Proceedings of the CHI ’09 (pp. 1693–1702). New York: ACM.[37]
Lottridge, D., Masson, N., Mackay, W. (2009). Sharing empty moments: design for remote couples. Proceedings of the CHI ’09 (pp. 2329–2338). New York: ACM.[38]
Mallon, T. (1987). A book of one’s own: people and their diaries. New York: Penguin Books.[39]
Mueller, F.' F.', Vetere, F., Gibbs, M. R., Kjeldskov, J., Pedell, S., Howard, S. (2005). Hug over a distance. Proceedings of the CHI ’05 Extended Abstracts (pp. 1673–1676). New York: ACM.[40]
Ogawa, H., Ando, N., Ondera, S. (2005). SmallConnection: designing of tangible communication media over networks. Proceedings. of the MM ’05 (pp. 1073–1074). New York: ACM.[41]
Patel, D., Agamanolis, S. (2003). Habitat: awareness of life rhythms over a distance using networked furniture. Adjunct Proceedings of the UbiComp ’03.[42]
Piercy, F. P. (2002). Communication questions for couples: a structure to engage the less articulate, less emotionally available partner. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 2(1), 61–65.[43]
Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.[44]
Rubin, Z., Mitchell, C. (1976). Couples research as couples counseling: some unintended effects of studying close relationships. American Psychologist, 31(1), 17.[45]
Sengers, P., Boehner, K., David, S., Kaye, J.’ J.’ (2005). Reflective design. Proceedings of the Critical Computing ’05 (pp. 49–58). New York: ACM.[46]
Strong, R., Gaver, B. (1996). Feather, scent and Shaker: supporting simple intimacy. Proceedings of the CSCW ’96 (pp. 29–30). New York: ACM.[47]
Tannen, D. (2001). You just don’t understand: women and men in conversation. New York: Harper Paperbacks.[48]
Tsujita, H., Siio, I., Tsukada, K. (2007). SyncDecor: appliances for sharing mutual awareness between lovers separated by distance. Proceedings of the CHI ’07 Extended Abstracts (pp. 2699–2704). New York: ACM.[49]
Vetere, F., Gibbs, M. R., Kjeldskov, J., Howard, S., Mueller, F.’ F., Pedell, S., Mecoles, K., Bunyan, M. (2005). Mediating intimacy: designing technologies to support strong-tie relationships. Proceedings of the CHI ’05 (pp. 471–480). New York: ACM.[50]
Wilson, M. (2009). Hey, who ordered ‘Gigli’? The New York times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/fashion/29netflix.html. Accessed 07 Dec 2011.[51]
Winner, L. (1980). Do artifacts have politics? Daedalus, 109(1), 121–136.[52]
Zinn, M. B. (2000). Feminism and family studies for a new century. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 571(1), 42.[53]
Acknowledgements
Many thanks are in order. Thanks to Intel for funding this work. Thanks also to Tad Hirsch, who was instrumental in the inception of the project, and the many others who have guided it along the way: Joon S. Lee, Clarissa ‘K’ Stiles, Jason Chong Lee, Deborah Tatar, Dawn Nafus, Christopher M. Hoadley, Fred P. Piercy, Denis Kafura, and Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones. Finally, we are grateful to the participants who have shared their time, expertise, and personal stories.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag London
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Branham, S., Harrison, S. (2013). Designing for Collocated Couples. In: Neustaedter, C., Harrison, S., Sellen, A. (eds) Connecting Families. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4192-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4192-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-4191-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4192-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)