Connecting across the miles: mediating emotional communication for distant loved ones through unconventional artifacts

Abstract

Advances in technologies have enabled a variety of convenient channels for couples in long-distance relationships to communicate and interact over vast distances. However, the hyper-connectivity can be a double-edged sword. Prior research has pointed out the focus of mainstream communication technologies is the transmission of explicit information, which neglects the mediation of emotional communication that is needed in intimate relationships [1]. As a result, there is a gap between understanding the users' needs in research and designing technologies for them in practice. My research has been dedicated to applying design thinking to investigate how intensive technologies can be redesigned and humanized to create a subtle and poetic cue of the presence of a distant loved one.