Figure 1.1: Touch Cube
Here's our executive summary from the report we made:
Today, there is a significant and growing divide between members of a family, especially between generations, and we attribute it to three main reasons. The first is physical separation - Quick and easy transport and communication technology today has allowed convenient travel, and work and study have pulled family members to different locations.
Families live further apart today than they have at any point in human history. Another issue is the lack of time for communication - Technology and modern life have brought with them distractions and longer working hours. We spend less time talking to people and more time working, or watching television or reading or playing computer games.
Not only has the amount of time spent at home decreased, but also the proportion of that time spent on communication and family recreation rather than on housework. The third reason is the generation gap the differences between generations in interests whether they like gardening or cooking or watching sports or the news on TV, or playing Call of Duty and also the differences in the platforms they use for communication and for keeping in touch with the world around them.
All this has left a wide disconnect between generations that begs to be addressed. Microsoft Research Asia has tasked our ME310 team of three students from Stanford University and four from USTC, China with tackling this problem.
We started our project by defining our target users. At one end of the spectrum is the younger generation, the digital natives. They grew up with the internet and are frequent, and perhaps obsessive, users of social networking services and instant messaging. They are very comfortable with computers and smartphones. The middle aged people, the digital immigrants, use computers more for work, than for fun. Communication on the computer is mostly by email. They do not use social networking services, and networking is done more over the phone or in person rather than over the internet. At the other end of the spectrum are the elderly users, who keep to older technology like the television, radio, and the phone. Communication mostly involves the phone or even snail mail. They are almost completely insulated from the digital world. This is an important target segment as they are a growing proportion of the population, especially in the developed world and in China.
Team Microsoft aims to reconnect families by building a solution that allows generations of a family to maintain communication despite being physically separated. The product will encourage families to stay in touch by improving accessibility to technology and by efficient utilization of the user’s time. To understand the problem space, we talked to people about their families, paying special attention to the most technologically challenged segment, the elderly. We referred to experts in the field, and talked to elders at a senior center to learn about their problems. We also benchmarked existing technology, and searched for new technology that could be applied to our problem. We then brainstormed on possible areas we could produce an impact in, and narrowed the list down, before settling on critical functions and experiences we wanted to test.
Our Touch Cube prototype (Figure 1.1) tests the importance of communicating the sensation of touch via temperature and vibration in maintaining a feeling of intimacy while connecting remotely. We found that responsiveness - quick transfer of touch and temperature information - was important to the overall experience, as was the shape of the device, and the material used. Other input and output options, like squeezing the cube and deflating/inflating the cube, were also suggested. Many users thought it would work better with audio or video chat, and that it was best suited for use by a romantic couple.
The Social Networking Aggregator (Figure 1.2) creates a printed version of selected news from one’s feeds in social networking services for the older members of your family. It aims to connect the older generation who are completely insulated from the world of social networking to the data from their younger relatives’ feeds. It tests the utility, to your parents and grandparents, of the kind of information posted in services such as Facebook and Renren, and the issues people might have with their data being shown to their family. The feedback we received included an appreciation of having information passed along that could spark a conversation later, but also worries about the lack of personal interaction. However, most of the posts on social networks are not of interest to older people, and most users preferred the data to be presented on a screen.
The Peripheral Vision Goggle (Figure 1.3) aims to use peripheral vision to maintain a visual connection in remote communication, while at the same time allowing the user to be engaged in another activity that requires his central field of vision. Most users felt that the goggle quite realistically simulated the presence of a person next to them, and many instinctually tried to turn to see the person. The goggles did not significantly affect their performance in tasks. However, the inconvenience of having to wear the device, and the inability to see the person face to face were also expressed as concerns.
The 3D table is a platform with blocks that can be raised and lowered to create a 3D object that remote participants can interact with. It tests whether it is possible to realistically interact remotely with a physical model.
We plan to explore further areas in intergenerational communication, and also build on the ideas we have tested. Based on the feedback we received about our prototypes, we have a list of improvements that could be implemented for each of our ideas. We also plan to explore another area of our prompt - collecting and orienting digital media along the lifespan of a person, and passing it on to the next generation.
Today, there is a significant and growing divide between members of a family, especially between generations, and we attribute it to three main reasons. The first is physical separation - Quick and easy transport and communication technology today has allowed convenient travel, and work and study have pulled family members to different locations.
Families live further apart today than they have at any point in human history. Another issue is the lack of time for communication - Technology and modern life have brought with them distractions and longer working hours. We spend less time talking to people and more time working, or watching television or reading or playing computer games.
Not only has the amount of time spent at home decreased, but also the proportion of that time spent on communication and family recreation rather than on housework. The third reason is the generation gap the differences between generations in interests whether they like gardening or cooking or watching sports or the news on TV, or playing Call of Duty and also the differences in the platforms they use for communication and for keeping in touch with the world around them.
All this has left a wide disconnect between generations that begs to be addressed. Microsoft Research Asia has tasked our ME310 team of three students from Stanford University and four from USTC, China with tackling this problem.
We started our project by defining our target users. At one end of the spectrum is the younger generation, the digital natives. They grew up with the internet and are frequent, and perhaps obsessive, users of social networking services and instant messaging. They are very comfortable with computers and smartphones. The middle aged people, the digital immigrants, use computers more for work, than for fun. Communication on the computer is mostly by email. They do not use social networking services, and networking is done more over the phone or in person rather than over the internet. At the other end of the spectrum are the elderly users, who keep to older technology like the television, radio, and the phone. Communication mostly involves the phone or even snail mail. They are almost completely insulated from the digital world. This is an important target segment as they are a growing proportion of the population, especially in the developed world and in China.
Team Microsoft aims to reconnect families by building a solution that allows generations of a family to maintain communication despite being physically separated. The product will encourage families to stay in touch by improving accessibility to technology and by efficient utilization of the user’s time. To understand the problem space, we talked to people about their families, paying special attention to the most technologically challenged segment, the elderly. We referred to experts in the field, and talked to elders at a senior center to learn about their problems. We also benchmarked existing technology, and searched for new technology that could be applied to our problem. We then brainstormed on possible areas we could produce an impact in, and narrowed the list down, before settling on critical functions and experiences we wanted to test.
Our Touch Cube prototype (Figure 1.1) tests the importance of communicating the sensation of touch via temperature and vibration in maintaining a feeling of intimacy while connecting remotely. We found that responsiveness - quick transfer of touch and temperature information - was important to the overall experience, as was the shape of the device, and the material used. Other input and output options, like squeezing the cube and deflating/inflating the cube, were also suggested. Many users thought it would work better with audio or video chat, and that it was best suited for use by a romantic couple.
The Social Networking Aggregator (Figure 1.2) creates a printed version of selected news from one’s feeds in social networking services for the older members of your family. It aims to connect the older generation who are completely insulated from the world of social networking to the data from their younger relatives’ feeds. It tests the utility, to your parents and grandparents, of the kind of information posted in services such as Facebook and Renren, and the issues people might have with their data being shown to their family. The feedback we received included an appreciation of having information passed along that could spark a conversation later, but also worries about the lack of personal interaction. However, most of the posts on social networks are not of interest to older people, and most users preferred the data to be presented on a screen.
The Peripheral Vision Goggle (Figure 1.3) aims to use peripheral vision to maintain a visual connection in remote communication, while at the same time allowing the user to be engaged in another activity that requires his central field of vision. Most users felt that the goggle quite realistically simulated the presence of a person next to them, and many instinctually tried to turn to see the person. The goggles did not significantly affect their performance in tasks. However, the inconvenience of having to wear the device, and the inability to see the person face to face were also expressed as concerns.
The 3D table is a platform with blocks that can be raised and lowered to create a 3D object that remote participants can interact with. It tests whether it is possible to realistically interact remotely with a physical model.
We plan to explore further areas in intergenerational communication, and also build on the ideas we have tested. Based on the feedback we received about our prototypes, we have a list of improvements that could be implemented for each of our ideas. We also plan to explore another area of our prompt - collecting and orienting digital media along the lifespan of a person, and passing it on to the next generation.