Designing physical social media

This graduation project explored the design and application of interactive tangible products as extension of existing social media. Products called awareness systems are developed to help people create a peripheral awareness of each others’ activities, context or status. Awareness systems aim to bridge the gap between face-to-face communication and the current mediated communication. Awareness systems have been mainly developed working standalone and to provide communication between intimate socials. When linked to an existing social networking site (SNS), awareness systems could possibly facilitate communication within a network of extended socials, which were not yet addressed in literature. This formulated the following research question: How can awareness systems applied to social networking sites make a network of extended socials feel more connected? During this project Facebook was chosen as a platform for intervention. FACEBOOK USER INVESTIGATION In order to develop a design, a sense of motives and behavior of Facebook users was required. Therefore semi-structured interviews with six Facebook users were conducted from which two types of Facebook use were identified: * The use by which personal life is extensively shared on Facebook: exhibitionism. * The use by which the life of others is being monitored: voyeurism. Both can be specified by being productive or consumptive; while being productive, content is provided to the SNS. FIRST DESIGN PHASE Several ideas were generated within the design space defined by the current Facebook use, goals of the assignment and findings from literature. One of the ideas was about sharing daily life with the social network by the use of sound; samples of sound should reveal information about the location and activities of a specific member. From a metaphor, illustrating the ‘voyeurism’ Facebook use, the functioning of the design was specified: * Exhibitionism: enabling the user to record and instantly share a 5 second sample of sound. When keeping this function active it will automatically record and share samples at a fixed interval. To avoid privacy issues a percentage of the sample can be scrambled with noise. * Voyeurism: enabling the user to playback samples shared by the social network. The design was build into two working prototypes and tested in a field setup. FIRST SERIES OF TESTS The goal of the first series of tests was to find out how participants are using the prototype, what usability problems they are facing and how the prototype is contributing to a feel of connectedness between the different users. The results should serve as input during the second design phase. Two tests, lasting about a week, were conducted with the participation of two prototype users and one non-device user each test. Each group consisted of extended socials connected through Facebook. Before and after the test the device using participants had to complete the overall connectedness questionnaire (OC-Q ) (van Bel et al., 2009) and the affective benefits and costs of communication questionnaire (ABC-Q) (IJsselsteijn et al., 2009). The test was concluded with a guided conversation. The non-device using participants were only subject of a guided conversation afterwards. The main findings were: * Participants were using the device to record and share specific sounds intended to be humoristic and easy accessible. * Although the samples were shared with the social network the communication between device users was considered and mainly used as a public 1:1 communication. * Non-device users marked the samples as an attempt of the others to share some of their surroundings or something humoristic and used them as another way to get insight in the life of others. Non-device users did not comment on the samples. SECOND DESIGN PHASE Due to the public 1:1 communication and lack of participation by non-device users; part of the research domain, a network of extended socials, was not covered yet. Therefore the goal of the second design phase was to have the non-device users to “participate” in the use of the device. Therefore the design was modified to communicate activities on Facebook regarding the shared samples. This should create awareness of non-device users and change the behavior/sharing of device users. Next to this modification also shortcomings in “product properties” noticed during the tests were improved. The design was build into three interactive prototypes. SECOND SERIES OF TESTS The goal of the second series of tests was to find out how the participants (including non-device users) are using the prototype, how the prototype is contributing to (a feel of) connectedness and how this is experienced between the different users. Three one week lasting tests were conducted with the participation of three prototype users and one non-device user each test. Each group consisted of extended socials connected through Facebook. Before and after the test the device using participants had to complete the inclusion of other in self scale (Aron et al., 1992) and the ABC-Q. The test was concluded with a guided conversation. The non-device users were only subject of a guided conversation afterwards. CONCLUSION The main findings of the second series of tests resulted in the conclusion of this project: * Samples of a rich medium (sound), containing contextual cues, shared on a SNS create a sense of involvement and sharing (van Bel et al., 2009) and contribute to the feel of connectedness of the (non-device using) audience. * Feedback about the activities concerning ones shared samples on the SNS create social awareness (IJselsteijn et al., 2009) of the audience and contribute to the feeling of connectedness of the device users. * A lack of response by the audience one is aware of could lead to a negative appraisal of the social bond(s) (van Bel et al., 2009) and negatively contribute to the feeling of connectedness of the device users. * Possible appearance of the samples on the SNS results in an increased and continuous awareness of the device users. * Application of an awareness system, allowing asynchronous communication by means of a rich medium (sound), to a SNS provides another means to share experiences and contributes to the feeling of connectedness within a group of extended socials.