Abstract
Divorce is a traumatic disruption in the lives of families that puts both parents and children at risk for long-term emotional and social consequences. However, if the non-residential parent maintains a quality relationship with the child, many of these negative consequences are mitigated. Divorced families face substantial challenges in parenting while living apart, especially as geographic separation often makes in-person visitation more difficult. Many families are turning to virtual visitation—supplementing in-person visits with use of communication technologies such as videoconferencing. However, current communication technologies are often inadequate to support long-distance parenting. We discuss the needs of divorced families and how these may be addressed through design. We present a case study of a single intervention, called the ShareTable, aimed at enriching virtual visitation between parents and children who live apart. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of designing for divorced families.
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Acknowledgements
This work has received support from a number of sources including AT&T Fellowship, IBM Fellowship, Nokia University Award, and a kynamatrix grant. We gratefully acknowledge all of the people who have contributed their time and energy to the ShareTable project: Stephen Cuzzort, Brian Di Rito, Jee Yeon Hwang, Sanika Mokashi, Hendrik MĂĽller, Hina Shah, Jasjit Singh, Shashank Raval, and Anthony Tang. Lastly, we want to thank all of our participants for their time and honesty.
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Yarosh, S., Abowd, G. (2013). Enriching Virtual Visitation in Divorced Families. In: Neustaedter, C., Harrison, S., Sellen, A. (eds) Connecting Families. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4192-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4192-1_5
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