IDEA Team, Nokia Research Center North America

New Technologies to Help Families Love

Jofish Kaye

User Study• 3-4 hours of open-ended

interviews and observations– Kids’ activities and

tours of bedroom, playspaces, toys

– Observation of an evening and a call to remote family

– Interview with parents• Observations and interviews

transcribed and coded

Making love, performing family

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Design for families: rituals

Consider existing family rituals and create new ones

“Family Story Play: Reading with Young Children (and Elmo) Over a Distance”.

Raffle, H., Ballagas, R., Revelle, G., Horii, H., Follmer, S., Go, J., Reardon, E., Mori, K., Paretti, C., Kaye, J., Spasojevic, M. CHI 2010. Joint with Sesame Workshop.

StoryPlay

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Long and rich interactions. Average book reading times from 7-9 minutes, as long as 24 minutes vs typical calls of 1-2 min.“[Story Play] was good because it helped interact towards the book… I know every time he saw the light bulb, he went to press the button and he would actually listen a little bit and he would be talking about the book” (Mother of 3 yo boy)

Results

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StoryVisit –www.storyvisit.org

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Content is key• Average reading time per

session was 11.7 min vs. typical calls of 1-2 min.

• Reading session times almost doubled for ‘Elmo Only’ condition. Elmo brings the books to life.

• Usage peaked for 3 year olds Average reading time per session, Total reading time across sessions, Total number of pages read

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Expanding reach: unconnected reading

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In conclusion:• The value of rich, open-ended, in-depth

qualitative fieldwork

• Take ‘families’ seriously as a demographic, not just the individual or the corporation. (This is more radical than it sounds.)

• Families are increasingly diasporic and we should design for that.

• Provide activities for cross-generational play, not just conversation.