Just Saying ‘Hi’ Means a Lot: Designing Subtle Interactions for Social Connectedness

• Published in: Ambient Intelligence pp. 355 - 359
• Main Authors: Visser, Thomas, Vastenburg, Martijn, Keyson, David
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: Awareness systems; computer mediated communication; tangible interaction; ubiquitous computing
• ISBN: 9783642251665; 3642251668
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25167-2_50

In the domain of assisted living, the majority of the work on awareness systems focuses on communicating information on health and security for functional purposes: to provide better care and peace of mind. When aiming for improved well-being, awareness systems could also be used to stimulate a sense of connectedness. Not much is known on how awareness systems for well-being should be designed. This paper describes several design explorations that illustrate how communication of subtle, low-bandwidth information may be leveraged to support a mutual feeling of social connectedness between people. We discuss the gained insights, which are useful for the design of ambient displays and interactions. The insights presented in this paper are useful for the future design of assisted living services, and for awareness systems in general.