Linköping Studies in Science and Technology

Thesis No. 1110

Intra-Family Information Flow and Prospects for Communication Systems

by

Hans Nässla

Submitted to the School of Engineering at Linköping University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Licentiate of Engineering

Department of Computer and Information Science Linköpings universitet

SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden

Linköping 2004

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Abstract

Today, information and communication technology is not only for professional use, but also for private tasks. In this thesis, the use of such technology for managing family information flow is investigated. Busy family life today, with school, work and leisure activites, makes coordination and synchronisation a burden. In what way cell-phones and Internet provides a support for those tasks is investigated, together with proposals for future technology.

The problem with coordination and synchronisation were found to be managed by a bulletin board placed at a central point at home. Besides the bulletin board, we found that calendars, shopping lists, and to-do lists are important. The families we investigated in field studies were all intensive users of both Internet and cell-phones.

Since the bulletin board played such an important role in the family life, we equipped families with cameras to be able to track what happened at those places with help of photo diaries. The field studies revealed that each family had their own unconscious procedure to manage the flow of notes on the bulletin board.

With technology, new problem will emerge. We investigated how notes on typical family bulletin boards may be visualised on a computer screen, and compared click-expand, zoom-pan and bifocal interfaces. The click-expand interface was substantially faster for browsing, and also easier to use.

An advantage of information and communication technology is that it may provide possibilities for multiple interfaces to information, and not only different terminals but also from different places. At home, a digital refrigerator door or a mobile web tablet; at work or at school, a conventional computer; when on the move, a cell-phone or a PDA. System architecture for these possibilities is presented.

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Acknowledgements

First, I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Sture Hägglund and Docent David Carr; without their support this work would not have been completed.

The work behind this thesis has been performed within an industrial framework, so my thanks also go my managers: Lars-Erik Eriksson, Bo Söderberg, Anders Nyman and Göran Sandström. As can be induced from the list above, this project has survived both several companies and re-organizations. But, as the wording goes: “A good project never dies”.

During the work period, many colleagues have both stimulated and contributed, among them Marcela, Daniel, Erik, Rabbe, Per, Olle, Henrik and Anna.

The families that have contributed with stimulating input and valuable time are all acknowledged.

During the last phase of putting things on paper, Dagmar has acted as a mentor.

For inspiration, Isabella has been there.

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Content

ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................................... III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................. IV

CONTENT.............................................................................................................................................V

LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................... VIII

LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................................X

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................. XI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................1

PERSONAL COMPUTERS, INTERNET, AND CELL-PHONES .........................................................................1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..........................................................................................................................3 INVESTIGATIONS ...................................................................................................................................3

The Pilot Study................................................................................................................................4 The Group Interviews ......................................................................................................................5 Photo Diaries ..................................................................................................................................6 Browser Study .................................................................................................................................7 Synthesis .........................................................................................................................................7 Prototypes .......................................................................................................................................7

OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS .....................................................................................................................8 PREVIOUS WORK BY THE AUTHOR .........................................................................................................9

CHAPTER 2: APPROACHING THE FAMILY.................................................................................11

HOMES, WORKPLACES, AND THEIR INVESTIGATION..............................................................................12 BUILDING THEORY..............................................................................................................................13

Ethnography..................................................................................................................................13 Engage the User for Design ..........................................................................................................15 Case Studies..................................................................................................................................16 Experimental Design .....................................................................................................................17

TECHNIQUES.......................................................................................................................................17 Interviews......................................................................................................................................17 Scenarios ......................................................................................................................................17 Prototypes and Mock-ups ..............................................................................................................18 Probes...........................................................................................................................................18 Diaries ..........................................................................................................................................18

SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................................20

CHAPTER 3: CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH THE FAMILY ...........................................................23

INTERNET @ HOME ............................................................................................................................23 GROUPWARE.......................................................................................................................................25

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FAMILY SUPPORT................................................................................................................................ 27 HOME OF THE FUTURE ........................................................................................................................ 29 ARTEFACTS........................................................................................................................................ 31 BROWSERS ......................................................................................................................................... 33 DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................................ 34

CHAPTER 4: FAMILY CONNECTIONS.......................................................................................... 35

BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 35 PROCEDURE ....................................................................................................................................... 35 THE FAMILIES .................................................................................................................................... 39 COMMUNICATION TODAY ................................................................................................................... 39 COMMUNICATION SUPPORT TODAY ..................................................................................................... 42 FUTURE COMMUNICATION SUPPORT .................................................................................................... 43 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................... 45

CHAPTER 5: FAMILY COMMUNICATION ON THE THRESHOLD TO THE IT SOCIETY ... 47

BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 47 PROCEDURE ....................................................................................................................................... 47 COMMUNICATION ............................................................................................................................... 48 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY............................................................................................................... 49 GENERATION DIFFERENCES................................................................................................................. 50 COSTS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY ............................................................................................................. 51 EXTERNAL NETWORKS ....................................................................................................................... 51 FUTURE SYSTEMS............................................................................................................................... 52 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................... 53

CHAPTER 6: INTERACTING WITH THE FAMILY BULLETIN BOARD .................................. 55

BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 55 PROCEDURE ....................................................................................................................................... 56 THE FAMILIES .................................................................................................................................... 58 THE BULLETIN BOARDS ...................................................................................................................... 62 THE NOTES ........................................................................................................................................ 63 THE CHILDREN................................................................................................................................... 65 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................... 66

CHAPTER 7: BROWSING THE DIGITAL FRIDGE DOOR .......................................................... 69

BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 69 EXPERIMENT ...................................................................................................................................... 70

The browsers................................................................................................................................. 70 Design .......................................................................................................................................... 72 Subjects ........................................................................................................................................ 72 Tasks ............................................................................................................................................ 75 Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 75 Hypothesis .................................................................................................................................... 76 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 76

RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................ 77 Effectiveness................................................................................................................................. 77

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Efficiency ......................................................................................................................................78 Satisfaction ...................................................................................................................................79

DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................80

CHAPTER 8: SYNTHESIS..................................................................................................................83

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................83 REQUIREMENTS...................................................................................................................................83 THE USER INTERFACES........................................................................................................................87 THE IMPLEMENTATION........................................................................................................................88 THE DESIGN .......................................................................................................................................88 EXPERIENCE .......................................................................................................................................91 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................92

CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK....................................................................93

CONCLUSIONS.....................................................................................................................................93 Methodology .................................................................................................................................93 Information flow............................................................................................................................94 Use today ......................................................................................................................................95 Use tomorrow................................................................................................................................95

FUTURE WORK....................................................................................................................................98

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................101

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List of Figures

4-1 The prototype used in Workshop 1.

4-2 The set-up for Workshop 1.

4-3 One of the prototypes used in Workshop 2.

4-4 The family view with both private and public information.

5-1 The simple screen used during interviews.

6-1 A family communication device.

6-2 Probe for Family 2.

6-3 The bulletin board from Family 1.

6-4 The layout of the bulletin board for Family 1.

6-5 The refrigerator door from Family 2.

6-6 The layout of the bulletin board for Family 2.

6-7 Sketch of the hallway from Family 1, with the bulletin board on the wall.

7-1 The application with tasks to the left and the browser area to the right.

7-2 The iconic browser, and also the starting view of the zoom-and-pan browser.

7-3 The zoom-and-pan browser, zoomed in.

7-4 The bifocal browser.

7-5 Means with 95% LSD intervals, browser.

7-6 Means with 95% LSD, by age.

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7-7 Distribution of user preference by browser type.

7-8 Percentage of time used with each browser for participants older than 30 or younger than 26.

8-1 Overview of the user interface.

8-2 The cell-phone interfaces.

8-3 The 4-layer architecture.

8-4 The simulated web tablet in the home.

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List of Tables

1-1 Households in year 1999.

2-1 The four studies.

4-1 The family and its activities.

4-2 The family's communication.

6-1 The families and their activities.

6-2 The bulletin boards.

7-1 Properties of the subjects.

7-2 Mean time for each browsing technique.

7-3 Mean times for older and younger participants.

7-4 Participants' mean rating of satisfaction.

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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

CSCW Computer-Supported Co-operative Work

GUI Graphical User Interface

HCI Human-Computer Interaction

ICT Information and Communication Technology

LCD Liquid Crystal Display

MUD Multi-User Dungeon

PDA Personal Digital Assistant

PTA Parent-Teacher Association

SMS Short Message Service

UI User Interface

Chapter 1: Introduction

Information and communication technology (ICT) has spread through the society. With its start in professional life, it has recently spread also into private life and affected the general population. The possibilities for sharing and exchanging information has made the emerging technology valuable in many forms. This thesis addresses the question how it may help families manage their information flow.

The introduction chapter continues with an overview of technology, followed by guiding questions and procedures, the investigations performed, results, and an outline of the rest the thesis.

Personal Computers, Internet, and Cell-Phones

During the 1980s and 1990s, the personal computer was introduced as an empowering work tool. Computing power was suddenly available at the desk. The introduction of graphical user interfaces, supplemented with direct manipulation and desktop metaphors, made the tool even more usable. The user interfaces tried to mimic the artefacts and objects of the physical world (desktop, map, file, document, etc.).

The personal computer, with addition of networking, made it possible to use multi-user applications that allowed colleagues to work together, the term groupware was introduced for these applications. Also here, the physical environment that was mimicked was the office, with shared calendars, common document archives, and joint editing tools. The introduction of networking also lead to widespread use of e-mail and the worldwide web.

The introduction of cell-phones resulted in communication not only at the office but also when on the move; when commuting, when travelling, at visits, etc. The travelling businessman was for a long time the archetypal cell-phone user, although also the craftsman started to use the cell-phone intensely.

During the 1990s, the price fell on computers and cell-phones, and the equipment spread into private use. The worldwide web with information and entertainment, cell-phones with messaging systems, and fixed broadband

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connections to the homes as well as wireless Internet accesses all resulted in introduction of information and communication technology for the layman. Particularly teenagers were eager to adapt to the possibilities.

Until lately there has been less focus on the effect of the new technology on family life, and how the family might benefit from it. New tasks and new physical environments indicate that the traditional office metaphor is not sufficiently suitable for a group of individuals that live and work in an environment characterised more by the refrigerator door instead of the desktop.

Today’s family can be complex; it consists of parents, children, ex-partners, grandparents, and other relatives. Work outside the home, schools, children’s activities, homework, cooking, and maintaining personal networks are some of the duties that make time a scarce resource.

The concept groupware, has been defined as (Johansen, 1988, p. 1):

”a generic term for specialised computer aids that are designed for the use of collaborative work groups ... Groupware can involve software, hardware, services, and/or group process support”.

Go et al. (2000) defined familyware as a group of tools for communication among people who have close relationships. I would instead like to define familyware as:

”a generic term for specialised computer aids that are designed for the use of families to support their collaboration and communication. Familyware can involve software, hardware, services, and/or group process support”.

We want to explore this area, and in the thesis the family information flow through electronic means is studied by investigating:

• the physical world;

• the digital world of today;

• multiple access by digital means

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Research Questions

Much technology has arrived in the close vicinity of the family. In my research, I focus on "IT mature" families, that have cell-phones, home computers, and Internet access at home. They are technology friendly, and spend money on it. The families that I investigate in my research also all have children in school. The typical "mom-dad-children" household is not that common any more. Most of all households consist of only one or two persons, according to the statistics (see Table 1-1).

The questions motivating my research are:

• How do the families manage their information flow?

• How do they use information and communication technology (ICT) for this?

• How might they be helped by innovative ICT support?

Investigations

The thesis consists of 4 studies; one pilot study, one study with group interviews of a number of families, a third study with photo diaries for documenting the dynamic behaviour of bulletin boards, and a fourth study where different browser technologies were compared. In studies 1-3, the families have lived in

Table 1-1. Households in year 1999 [SCB 2002, p. 66].

Persons Percent

1 47 %

2 27 %

3 10 %

4 10 %

5+ 5 %

Total 4.3 millions

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suburban Stockholm. In study 4, the subjects lived in Luleå, an industrial and university city in northern Sweden.

The Pilot Study

The pilot study concerned a series of interviews with 3 mothers of "IT-mature" families. The interviews were semi-structured and centred around 3 aspects:

• The family, its habits and hobbies;

• How they manage their communication today;

• How they use information and communication technologies to help in these matters.

It was obvious that the families lived very rich lives with lots of engagement, in particular for the children. To our surprise, we found that the parents also managed their families in part from their work. For instance, one mother said that she had contact with her husband twice a day while at work, and at least one of the parents called their children every day when the children returned home from school. Another mother reported that they had a family calendar where they collected notes about activities, training schedules and travels. The problem managing the sports activities among the children was mentioned by one mother as something both parents had to cope with, by negotiating and co-ordinating transport at the local shopping centre, in the street, at the sport hall or via telephone chains.

In the discussions with the mothers, we used a simple prototype consisting of some photos of parents and children, together with some hand-written notes. Out of these discussions came some requirements on construction of an information appliance, such as:

• It should be placed at a central, dedicated place at home;

• It should be mobile within the home, so that it could be brought to the TV sofa or breakfast table;

• It should have a shared data space, so that the same information could be accessed when not at home, for instance by the parents from work or by the children from school;

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• It should be possible to access the information that belonged to other organizations or networks, for instance the sports-club schedules or the school schedule;

• The interaction must be easy and simple to use so that all generations within the household could use it.

We found that information organization is very important, since the number of notes could be large, and lots of information could be stored within such an application. The mothers all emphasised general notes, to-do lists, calendars, shopping lists, and address books as important items for the information application.

The Group Interviews

In the second study, we interviewed ten families in all in their homes. This gave a broader understanding of a larger population. As a complement, we also interviewed 3 pairs of grandparents in their homes. The discussion was about:

• The families, their habits and work;

• Their communication today;

• How they use information and communication technology;

• The perceived future.

The parents were knowledgeable, and they knew very well what they wanted out of technology, and how to use it. We also found that SMS (Short Messaging System) was not only used by youths, but also by the parents, so that the parents could keep contact with their children.

The discussions with the grandparents revealed that when they were young, there was a limited access to communication devices, particularly for blue-collar workers. They didn't have access to mobile phones, and often not even fixed phone at work.

Today, we can say that contact between the parents, and between parents and children, is strong. The family members keep in contact every day.

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When discussing the future with the help of a simulated web tablet, particularly the families that characterise themselves as disorganized would very much like support for managing their lives, for instance providing reminders so that they don't forget things they have to do.

The families also mentioned that they thought that old and new technology would continue to work together in parallel. For instance, not everything would be suitable to have in the computer environment. Paper would still be around for a very long time.

The families of today live a busy life; there is a need for synchronisation among family members, negotiation, and also a need to feel safe, for instance about the well-being of the children. Even here, the aspect of "homing from work" was obvious; people manage their private lives from work.

Information and communication technology is important in today's family life. Easy access is important, it must be possible to easily get hold of communication facilities. It must also be possible to reach the spouses, children or parents without disturbing them, and also to provide reminders for important issues. It was also felt important to be able to access information from home when not at home.

Photo Diaries

In our third study, we investigated how family bulletin boards are actually used. Our purpose is to get a better understanding, so that this knowledge will assist in our aim to design an electronic bulletin board for intra-family information flow.

We equipped families with cameras to use at home and to take snapshots of their bulletin board whenever new information appeared or old information disappeared. This is used to get a proper understanding of the tasks that are to be supported, and also the needs of the users. After the time period, we tried to inquire:

• Who took it home?

• Who placed it on the bulletin board?

• What was the note about?

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• What happened to the note afterwards?

Both families mentioned that the new notes appeared "wherever there is space", but it was obvious that they moved to distinct areas on the bulletin boards, dependent on their characteristics. The placement of the bulletin board in the home also affected how it was used.

Browser Study

There are many notes on a refrigerator door, and there will also be many notes on the future electronic bulletin board. The electronic bulletin board could have a computer screen as presentation surface, also a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a display of a cell-phone. How will it be possible to present all this information, and also to browse in the information space?

An investigation took place, where iconic, zooming and fisheye viewer interfaces were compared to find what is most feasible to use. We found that an iconic interface was more efficient, and the subjects had problems using the two other interfaces. No significant differences regarding effectiveness was found.

Synthesis

Based on the requirements found during the four studies, a design has been developed to enable information flow within families. The basic principle behind the design is to enable access of information from different places; at home, at work, at school, and when on the move. Different terminals may be used, e.g., web tablets, PC screens, PDAs, and cell-phones.

Prototypes

Within the studies, a number of prototypes have been developed to illustrate the concept of a family information board.

The first one was used as a discussion topic in the pilot study. It was a one-page PowerPoint presentation consisting of photos of members of an imaginary family, along with the cat, and a couple of notes. This prototype tried to illustrate the future digital bulletin board. The one-page presentation was framed and used as a simulation of a web tablet during the second study.

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As a result of the first series of interviews, the idea of an electronic bulletin board was presented in an interactive PowerPoint presentation. It contained photos of the family members to the left, along with images of the organization the family belonged to. This characterised flaps as a navigation tool. On the right side, a number of flaps contained various types of information: notice board, calendar, to-do list, shopping list and address book. The information was visible in the middle, with a writing area together with ready notes.

This prototype was later revised, based on the second study, in a number of ways. A Java server and Java clients were connected on the Internet, where the server could store the note information, and the clients could access the information and present it as well as modify it. Several clients could be connected to the same server, and they could be updated dynamically.

A couple of experiments were also performed with developments of clients, where we used XML and Dynamic HTML to both present and update the information locally in the clients.

Overview of the Thesis

In Chapter 2, the matter of how to approach the IT mature families will be discussed. Various methods and techniques will be described and how they relate to my work.

In Chapter 3, findings from previous studies regarding families and homes, and their use of information and communication technologies will be discussed, and in what way my studies are related to these.

In Chapters 4-7, four different studies will be described with procedures and results.

In Chapter 8, a synthesis will be formed where the results from the four studies will form the basis for a design.

In Chapter 9, a summary will be given, together with remaining issues and new questions will be raised to form a proposal for continuous work.

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Previous Work by the Author

The following is a list of the author's previous work on the application of family information flow:

• Nässla, Hans & Carr, David (2000): The Family Connections. Proceedings of i3 Annual Conference 2000, Jönköping, Sweden, 13-15 September 2000, pp. 67-71.

• Nässla, Hans (2001): 'Grandpa Never Used to Call Grandma from Work, But Now the Parents Call Each Other and Their Kids Everyday' -- Family Communication on the Threshold to the IT Society. Proceedings of the HFT 2001, Bergen, Norway, 5-7 November 2001, pp. 293-296.

• Nässla, Hans & Carr, David (2003): Investigating Intra-Family Communication Using Photo Diaries. Proceedings of HCI International 2003, Crete, Greece, 22-27 June 2003, pp. 984-988.

• Hedman, Anna; Carr, David & Nässla, Hans (2004): Browsing Thumbnails: A Comparison of Three Techniques. Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Information Technology Interfaces (ITI2004), Cavtat, Croatia, 7-10 June 2004.

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Chapter 2: Approaching the Family

In this research, information flow within families with school-age children is investigated, together with how an ICT support for the families should be designed. In an interdisciplinary field such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), the use of more than one research approach to address the same question is often valuable (Mackay & Fayard 1997). Within HCI, techniques are constantly being borrowed, invented and re-invented; users and their activities must be understood, new design ideas must be generated, and different design possibilities must be distinguished. HCI is neither a pure scientific nor a design discipline, but actively incorporates aspects of both. Since the interaction between humans and computers is in the focus, the traditional scientific deductive and inductive models must be complemented with design.

The investigation includes a total of four studies. In each study, techniques were combined for the purpose of increasing knowledge of the topic under investigation, family information flow. The first study started rather open, so a broad approach was taken with the purpose to understand how families manage their information flow, and how they use ICT tools for this purpose. Workshops with interviews and prototypes were used. For the second study, a broader experience was expected by investigating a larger sample of families. For this, group interviews with probes were used. For the third study, the intention was to understand the dynamics of bulletin boards. For this purpose, photo diaries with probes were used. For the fourth study, the purpose was to understand the differences between various visualisation principles. For this, laboratory tests with prototypes were used. A comparison of the studies is shown in a matrix, see Table 2-1.

In the following, first a discussion whether homes and families are different from workplaces and staff will take place. After that, different research methods, such as ethnography, case studies and experimental design, will be discussed. Then comes a discussion on techniques, such as interviews, scenarios, probes and diaries. At last, the chosen methods and techniques will be discussed in respect to what was suitable for this research.

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Homes, Workplaces, and Their Investigation

It can be advocated that homes are different from the workplace (i.e., office space), since homes are not built for data networking. Homes are also inhabited by several generations, such as babies, children, elderly, and also pets. The purchase of home technology is not only directed by productivity, but also by aesthetics, fashion, and self-image. The family may be complex and non-hierarchical compared to a workplace (Hindus 1999).

This description is partly right, but there are other relevant factors as well. The home is filled with technology: kitchen with oven, refrigerator, microwave; living room with TV, stereo; telephones all over; fire and burglar alarms, etc. However, data traffic seems to be problematic. The home is also used for work, just like the working place is used for private matters.

When Norman discussed the use of refrigerator doors as message boards (Norman 1992), he argued that the proper way to design anything is to start off understanding the task that is to be done and the needs of the users. To make computers interact with humans in such familiar and humanlike ways that the family members require little or no special instruction, would require designers and programmers to know more about how people interact in communicating with each other (Chapanis 1975).

Table 2-1. The four studies.

Study Object Technique Artefact Findings

1 habits workshop screen shot, PowerPoint

functionality, habits

2 habits group interview

web tablet habits

3 bulletin board photo diary bulletin board dynamics

4 viewers laboratory test browser interface principles

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When investigating work in place, observational studies are valuable when the same activities are performed, when they are similar and structured, and the work consists of a set of tasks that is performed by many users in a specified workplace. On the other hand, interviews or self-documentation are valuable when the work is done anywhere, at any time, and with a high degree of difference among many users (Conaty et al. 2001). For the family tasks under investigation, the question whether they are "similar and structured" or not, can't be answered for sure at this point.

Ethnographic field studies may seem to be ideal for investigating how a family manages its information flow, and how it uses artefacts and technology for that. However, even a quick-and-dirty ethnography study at home tends to include several days of continuous fieldwork, which is likely to be undesirable if not unacceptable. Methods must be selected to develop an understanding of the phenomenon under investigation in its own terms (O'Brien & Rodden 1997).

Building Theory

Ethnography

A good ethnographic study results in a large amount of data, and the study is done in a practical way. According to Hughes et al. (1997), the ethnographer will contribute information to design and system development by making the real world visible, with details and a rich language. The designer's problem is that he works with abstractions and complexity, and conquers complexity by introducing abstractions. So the contribution from the ethnographer is difficult to use, there is a lack of efficient communication and co-operation that needs to be bridged. It is important that the specialists are allowed to be just that, so the designers will decide and select, while the ethnographers will catch and visualise the social aspects and what is happening in their context.

The terms "design ethnography" and "garage ethnography" have been used for attempts to gather information from families and homes, with the intention to invent techniques for those groups and places. In one such study (Mateas et al., 1996), the researchers made a round trip in the homes, together with the families. They registered where different artefacts were placed, and how the space was used. After that, they split the family into two groups, one with the parents, another with the children. Now they tried to understand a typical day

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in the home, as well as routine weekly and monthly activities. A typical day was worked through with the help of a flannel board with felt pieces.

Some of the findings were:

"Space in the home is not equally significant but rather exhibits behavioural cluster. For example, families spend most of their time in the Command, Control and Hang-out spaces (often corresponds to family room and kitchen). This is where family members greet each other, discuss their day, use the phone, share the same space while performing different activities, etc. Yet in every home we found the PC in the Work Space. Even when the PC is physically in the family room, its remote corner is not part of the Hang-out space.

Time is definitely not structured in large blocks of free time surrounded by non-free time. Rather, the day consists of a large number of small blocks of time, each of which is constrained to varying degrees ... Free time is a myth.

Finally, most communicative activities take place between collocated family members supplemented by contact with remote family and friends. Within the family value system, this collocated time is highly valued."

So what happened to ethnography? What is the difference between "ethnography" and "design ethnography"? One is the danger that the researcher will loose perspective and see the world with the designer's eye and not with the inhabitants'.

Ethnography consists of 3 elements:

• data collection, e.g., interviews and participating observation

• theory, in which the collected data will fall on

• philosophical ground

Design ethnography will often consist of just the first element, so it is in reality a field study (Finken 2000). The designers may be seen as agents for change, in that they modify the society with their new system. This is far from the ethnographer who is restricted to analysis and presentation of the society.

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Anthropologists rely on firsthand experience to shape their inquiry, viewing early formulations as partial, tentative, and open to revision. Field studies seem to form the basis of an ethnographic investigation (Blomberg 1995).

How would one proceed to investigate individuals that live and work together? When the focus is on families, more than the society or the individual? Lewis (1959, 1970) proposes 4 different methods:

• The local

All data regarding the families are collected and presented under headings such as material culture, economic life, social relations, religious life, interpersonal relations, etc.

• Several eyes

During long, intensive, autobiographical discussions with each family member, insights will be given into the individual psychology and emotional tone, along with an indirect, subjective view of the dynamics within the family.

• Abnormal event

The third technique is to investigate a problem or crisis that occurs, and let the family react to it. The reactions will reveal several aspects of the psychodynamics of the family.

• Detailed observation

A typical day is used for detailed observation, and in combination with the other methods, depth and meaning can be obtained. The described days are not synthetic but real, and the selected days are arbitrary.

Engage the User for Design

According to Muller, Hallewell Haslwanter & Dayton (1997):

"(…) the ultimate users of the software make effective contributions that reflect their own perspectives and needs, somewhere in the design and development lifecycle of the software."

Since no one has all the knowledge that is needed for system design, direct participation of end-user is a means to enhance the process of gathering information for the design. It is, however, important to enable the user to not

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only play a role as a "good/no-good sayer" at the end, but instead contribute throughout the whole process.

Case Studies

Yin (2003, pp. 13-14) gives a two-part definition of a case study:

1. "A case study is an empirical inquiry that

• investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when

• the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident …

2. The case study inquiry

• copes with the technically distinctive situation in which there will be many more variables of interest than data points, and as one result

• relies on multiple sources of evidence, with data needing to converge in a triangulating fashion, and as another result

• benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis."

So what is the difference between case studies and experiments? Case studies are generalizable to theoretical propositions, while experiments are generalizable to populations. Experiments also give control of the situation.

In a broad overview of roughly 75 work place studies, Plowman, Rogers & Ramage (1995) found that few of the studies resulted in specific design guidelines, while the rich material provided in the studies gave general design recommendations. That would support a more theoretical proposition while providing less ready-to-use software engineering recommendations.

Qualitative research has been used for building theories, and it is characterised by (Ely 1991, 1993, p. 10) as methods where the events under investigation can only be understood correctly if they are seen in their context. The situation is not artificial, but natural, and the researcher wants the informants to speak for

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themselves, so that their perspectives may be visible, and the informants should educate the researcher about their own lives.

Experimental Design

Sometimes we already have a theory, and want to test whether a hypothesis is supported by the theory. The hypothesis has been formulated by earlier studies, and is a relation between two (or more) variables. By the experiment, the independent variable is changed, and the dependent variable's behaviour is studied (McCarthy 1995).

Techniques

Interviews

Interviews are valuable when we want to capture people's thought, which is difficult with other means (Ely 1991, 1993, p. 85). The interviews may be performed both individually and in group. It is important not to effect the interviewees and allow them to express themselves.

Scenarios

Systems descriptions in the form of written text, storyboards, animations or video to visualise behaviour of future systems have been used, often with object-oriented models of the user's task domain. This technique will present a set of perspectives and approaches, by using visions of use-oriented design (Carroll 1995, pp. v-vi). It is said that (Carroll 1995, pp. 3-4):

"The defining property of a scenario is that it projects a concrete description of activity that the user engages in when performing a specific task, a description sufficiently detailed so that design implications can be inferred and reasoned about."

In scenario work, concreteness is essential (Kyng 1995, pp. 88-89):

"First, concreteness is needed to allow the users to exercise their expertise ... avoid the blindness created by designers choosing test cases without the application area, the reality."

Are the scenarios giving a reliable impression of how new services will work in specific situations? Yes, but it requires that the scenarios provide realistic

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situations. Scenarios used at the present time tend to exclude conflicts as well as emotions and motivations of the characters, which often results in a too idealistic view of the interactions (Strom 2003).

Prototypes and Mock-ups

In early stages of design, simplified prototypes can be of great value. They can stimulate user involvement, and help transcend the border between reality and imagination. They do this by encouraging user involvement and by providing an understanding to the user (Ehn & Kyng 1991, p. 172). It may also is valuable for the designer to be able to understand the user's perspective by participating in simulations with prototypes.

Probes

To equip the private man with notes, postcards and disposable cameras, was used by Gaver et al. (1999). They called the equipment social probes, and the intention was to let the informants document their everyday life and react to the equipment itself.

This technique has also been used for investigation of the design for families (Hutchinson et al. 2003). In this undertaking, the family members are seen as active partners in the design process, and methods are sought after to enable families to more directly inspire and shape the technologies that are developed. To accomplish this, they use technology probes that involve:

"installing a technology into a real use context, watching how it is used over a period of time, and then reflecting on this use to gather information about the users and inspire ideas for new technologies."

They claim that their probes are not prototypes, but rather tools, to help determine which kind of technologies would be interesting to design in the future. To facilitate this, the probe must be open-ended and explicitly co-adaptive.

Diaries

The use of diaries for self-documentation may be seen as a tool for research in the home that achieves a relatively high standard of objectivity. Personal interactions are a key part of a successful study, and the participants must be

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convinced to make a considerable effort. The participants may, however, try to focus their logs, and even adjust their activities to emphasise areas that they thought would interest the researcher. The process requires considerable effort, which might hinder the investigation. Even 15 minutes a day must be scheduled and may disturb work (Rieman 1993). It is very important to let the participants use their own ways to document their lives, when using this kind of self-documentation (Ellegård & Nordell 1997). The use of diaries would allow a longer field study of the family, instead of just occasional visits to their home, while simultaneously providing a fairly non-intrusive way of registering what happens.

Diaries are used within cultural geography (Ellegård & Nordell 1997), where time, place and collaborators together help define when, where and how the subject's life is spent. With help of the diaries, the activities that fill the days will reveal projects and routines that will constitute the life. It is the subject's own experiences that will decide how time is perceived. The time will run continuously, and it is important not to have a pre-structured diary, since in that case, the diary will be felt to be too restricted. The activities should not be predefined. It is better to let the subjects use their own language. It must be easy to carry the diary along, so a notebook could be suitable. It is valuable to let the location be visible in the diary, as well as with whom the subject is together (Ellegård 1993).

Out of the list of activities that the subjects use, a coding schema will be defined (Ellegård 1994). If they use their own language, different terms may occur, both for one subject and for several subjects. The activities may be at different detail levels, so different projects and their content may be detected. These findings are in accordance with the aforementioned importance of time (Mateas et al., 1996).

A problem with diaries as a data collection technique is that it is dependent on the subjects' own estimation of behaviour, and that the data provided hardly can be checked for accuracy (Tillberg 2001). It is also difficult to decide how accurate the subjects are in their documentation.

Regarding diary studies, it is said to provide valuable information about work patterns and activities (Bell 1993, pp. 102-108). As in all research activities, it is essential to meet the people who will be giving you their time so that you can explain the purpose of the exercise fully, inquire about likely problems and, if possible, resolve them. Reluctant subjects will rarely provide usable data, so

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preliminary consultation is of the utmost importance. A problem with diary studies is that the diary will cause the subjects to modify the very behaviour we wish to record. Diaries deal mainly with behaviour rather than emotions. Instructions must be explicit. There is a problem with representativeness: For instance, is this week exceptional? Diaries can be used as a preliminary to interviews, to get background data into what questions to ask. The use of diary may be seen as an approximation to the method of participant observation, and it may follow the formula "what/when/where/how". It will help them by monitoring their own activities. It is good if the interviewer is able to convince the subjects that what they are doing is likely to be of practical use.

Summary

In the thesis, 4 different studies will be described. They have used different methods:

• The first investigation started rather open, so a broad approach was taken. Case studies, prototypes, interviews and workshops were used. Three families were investigated (case study), two workshops per family were used, interviews with them were conducted and 3 different prototypes were used.

• For the second investigation, case studies, group interviews and probes were used. Ten families plus 3 pairs of grandparents were investigated (case study), group interviews with them were performed and a prototype was used as probe.

• For the third investigation, case studies, probes and photo diaries were used. In this investigation, 3 families were involved (case study), and they used cameras and notebooks (probes).

• For the fourth investigation, laboratory test with experimental design and prototypes was used. Here, 3 different interfaces in the form of browsers were compared, comparative studies among them were performed, and questionnaires were used to get information from the test group.

The use of interviews instead of questionnaires gave some surprising insights into the families' lives, e.g., one couple informed us after that their daughter had left the discussion that they had had good support from e-mail and cell-phones during a period when the daughter had problems in school. During this period

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of time, they could easily communicate with the teachers in school, which would probably never have occurred as an item in any questionnaire.

The use of photo diaries gave us insights regarding the dynamics of the bulletin boards that were not part of the family members conscious knowledge, e.g., that there were dedicated areas on the bulletin board for long-time archival. This would never have been revealed through a questionnaire or during an interview session. Observational studies would have been impractical since the changes on the bulletin boards occurred only 2-4 times a week, and most time spent by the bulletin boards would have been wasted.

The laboratory test enabled us to investigate which one of several designs gave best results and was perceived as the preferable system, while using a very limited time period.

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Chapter 3: Close Encounter with the Family

During recent years, the use of information and communication technology within families and households has attracted research interest within Europe and the USA. Here, I will discuss some investigations related to my own studies ICT support for information flow within families.

In his investigations of information technologies for the home, Venkatesh (1996) focuses on interaction between the social space (family behaviour) and technology space (household technologies). He stresses not only that existing household activities will determine the nature of information technology use, but that there also is a feedback in the opposite direction from technology to household activities. Family communication is mentioned as an important application that will use technology such as telephone answering machines, fax machines, home computers with e-mail and Internet connections, and online services. In my investigation, the use of information technology within a couple of families is studied, along with their bulletin board, a typical non-information technology artefact.

Internet @ Home

An essential requirement for ICT support is the availability of Internet access at home. The Internet has existed for several decades, but it was the introduction of graphical World Wide Web browsers that made it popular among private users (Berners-Lee et al. 1994). The number of users has increased since the mid-1990s, and some current figures say that in Sweden, 53 % of the population have Internet access at home (SCB 2002, p. 236, 239). Today, there is even a scientific discussion on how to calculate and evaluate the use of ICT among private users, se e.g. Hoffman et al. (1996) and Petrov (2000).

The cost of equipment and services may hinder the introductions in this area, so several of the pioneering field tests of Internet at home have provided equipment and access for free, or at reduced price. Examples of these studies are the HomeNet field trial (Kraut et al. 1996), and the Bågen network (Räsänen 1999). Once financial barriers are lowered, lower-income, less-educated people

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are as likely to become as enthusiastic as the others (Kraut et al. 1996). However, recent studies show that the social background still is essential for computer use; blue-collar workers own and use home computers and Internet from home less than white-collar workers (Nelander et al. 2000).

The HomeNet project is based on a service model with low barriers to entry. Starting in March 1995, the families could borrow a computer, or buy one at half price. Each family also received a modem, an extra telephone line, and full Internet accounts for each family member. The services included the web, e-mail, news, MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons), and special HomeNet newsgroups.

Despite the increase in personal computers and online services, we have too little understanding of how people at home use the new services and what they want from them. Similarly, we have little understanding about how these services, once used, affect people’s lives. Good empirical research is crucial to both designing what might be termed the new home computing and understanding its impact. An increased heterogeneity in the population using computers at home can be seen. Teenagers seem especially central to the growth of the new home computing. Many businesspeople stress the mass media features of the Internet – to broadcast information, entertainment, and ads to a large population of consumers. In contrast, people at home seem to value the Internet for more personal uses: to maintain social relationships and to participate in their local communities (Kraut 1996).

But what are the services that make people return to the Internet? For the HomeNet users, the web and other broadcast services together with e-mail and other interpersonal services constitute themselves as conceptually distinct services. They are, however, complementary. People post news or e-mail messages, commenting what they have found on a web page. They visit sites that have been described in e-mail. HomeNet participants who used any Internet service used most of them – e-mail, listservs, newsgroups, and the web. For the Bågen, it seems to be web surfing that attracts the users (Räsänen 1999), and a similar pattern was found in a field test in Detroit (McClard & Somers 2000), where the users used more web than e-mail. This may be explained by the high-speed, always-on Internet connection of both these experiments that in a better way facilitates web browsing.

These studies indicate 3 things:

• economic and social differences in introduction of technology

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• contact with friends and social networks is important

• difference in use of services between modem users and those with always-on connections

The services that are provided and used are in general traditional web surfing, e-mail, news and MUDs. These services are adopted by the users and used where suitable, but not much effort has been spent on investigating what services are lacking for the family. This is the theme for my investigations.

The Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV), in operation since October 1993, has a different approach, in that the BEV provides access to new services and information, including health information from local doctors, local bus schedules, projects by school children, the rugby football club schedule, discussion of regional power line and highway proposals, information on area museums and a string quartet, and access to the Internet (Carroll & Rosson 1996).

Groupware

A family is a social organization, and a family communication system will be a kind of groupware; not for a professional group but for a much different one. Groupware and Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) have been research areas since the mid-1980s.

Three different ways to look at and qualify groupware systems are described in the literature. One is application based, one is user based, and one is technology based.

Johansen (1988) defines groupware as a computer aid for the use of collaborative work groups. A number of user scenarios are described by Johansen, and out of these, six can be considered suitable for family communication:

• Face-to-Face Meeting Facilitator

• Group Decision Support Systems

• Project Management Software

• Calendar Management for Groups

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• Computer-Conferencing Systems

• Group Memory Management

Robinson (1991) presents 3 criteria for successful CSCW applications. The criterion of Equality:

“There should be equality in terms of who benefits from, and who does the work in the application.”

E.g., if an electronic calendar is to work effectively, all the people involved must maintain the electronic calendar, and must be willing to let the computer schedule times they do not specify themselves. The person who calls the meeting would benefit. Applications in which some people benefit at the expense of extra work for others are unlikely to be accepted.

The criterion of Mutual Influence:

“Participants should be able to retract, restate, change, or take a totally different position in the light of views and feelings expressed by others.”

People usually don’t know the thoughts, intentions, and feelings of or facts available to others with respect to a particular issue. These are discovered in the course of conversations and discussions in formal meetings and informal encounters. A central property of conversation and discussion is that people change their minds in the light of the whole discussion, including their own previous expressions

The criterion of New Competence:

“An application that allows people to do something they could not do before has a great advantage over an application that enhance or supports an existing ability or practice or skill.”

In particular the new competence criteria is interesting, since new applications might provide new possibilities not provided before and thus will give new experiences and competence

Ellis and colleagues (1991) define groupware as:

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"The class of applications, for small groups and for organizations, arising from the merging of computers and large information bases and communications technology."

There is no rigid dividing line between groupware systems and other systems. Instead it is possible to define a spectrum of common tasks. This dimension will range from a conventional timesharing system, which supports many users concurrently performing separate and independent tasks, up to systems for real-time interaction for writing or reviewing documents, with focus on the same task at the same time.

It is also possible to define a spectrum of shared environment. The typical electronic mail system transmits messages, but it provides few environmental cues. An electronic classroom may use multiple windows to post information about the subject, and about the environment; the attendants, the agenda, questions and comments from the students, etc.

Ellis mentions two conventional dimensions regarding taxonomy; the space and the time. Regarding space, the participants may be at the same place or at different places. Regarding time, the participants may be interacting in real-time, synchronous, or in asynchronous mode.

Family Support

Familyware (Go et al. 2000) is a group of tools for communication among people who have close relationships. While it is possible to initiate formal communication to investigate relatives' health or emotional state, a more lightweight manner can also be used. Familyware provides specific support for small and intimate communities, and supports sharing the feeling of connection by sharing objects with simple signals.

The target group members already have close relationships, so the establishing of emotional relationships is not the focus, but instead the maintenance of such relationships. In an office environment, the authors also want to provide interaction technologies for this small, local, private community within the larger, public work setting. Familyware supports asynchronous distributed interaction, in order to avoid disturbing the user's primary work responsibility. The communications are explicitly initiated; they are conceived of as discrete events with specific (affective) meanings.

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Some mobile phones have different types ring sounds for different callers, but yet not different types of vibration. The interaction will span both generations and genders. Interaction devices for Familyware should be small, portable and personal.

Go develops three scenarios were developed for Familyware: Teddy Bear - Photoframe, with feelings expressed in a physical behaviour that serves as the trigger to signal the child's father; Rattle - Photoframe, to support communication between a baby and his/her parent; Necklaces, to signal emotion when a youth holds the necklace in his hand and thinks about his girlfriend, and the temperature will increase in the necklace of the girlfriend.

A technology probe has been developed to be used to investigate the distributed, multigenerational family partners (Browne et al. 2001). Gaver et al. (1999) introduced the cultural probe to consist of maps, postcards, disposable cameras and other materials to document the everyday life of elderly people. In this work, they try to use technology to gain an understanding of communication needs, rather than cultural norms.

The Family Message Board (Browne et al. 2001) is meant to be as simple, adaptable, and open-ended as possible. The design needed to allow families to find innovative and unexpected uses for it. The universal popularity of paper sticky notes for informal communications and reminders is included in digital form. The authors wanted to simulate the experience of writing real paper notes, moving away from standard desktop computing and towards a single, small, embedded, portable, device that users could view and write on with a digital pen.

One interesting probe is the Family Message Board, which is meant to be installed in homes, and used by families to stimulate thoughts and encourage interaction. It takes free-form input from a single pen. The device should not be complicated, and not threaten the family's perception of privacy. The message board should encourage families to suggest such features on their own if they really wanted them. The message sphere provided is not only for family members at multiple locations, but also for multiple family members at the same location sharing a single device for message creation and viewing. No sense of individual ownership is in the space.

The notes are stamped with the name of the device that created it, and the note is displayed in the same location on all devices. New notes are arranged

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according to their creation time. The notes may be rearranged by dragging them out on the message space.

A Personal Equilibrium Tool (PET) has been developed to help co-ordinate activity and balance work and family schedules, that would be especially useful for dual-career families (Fleuriot et al. 1998). For a family, there is not a business but a domestic relationship. For them, the information may need to be accesses at different levels by family members of all ages, and the location in communal or private space will affect whether an artefact is viewed by family members as open or closed to them. For this study, a number of ethnographic interviews were carried out with seventeen people who work in professional and/or creative areas. Preliminary results suggest that most people rely on paper-based diaries to manage their time, and that both partners see for the most part these as private artefacts.

Home of the Future

So what can we expect of the home? Terminals and appliances will be needed for the communicating family, and communication networks are also needed. Maybe we can expect intelligence in our home?

An adaptive house should be unobtrusive and require no special interactions. Inhabitants operate the adaptive house as they would an ordinary home. The adjustments are monitored and serve as training signals, indicating to the house how it should behave (Mozer 1999).

Maybe we will increase the use of our domestic environment for professional work, we will spend more and more time in our home (Tollmar & Junestrand 1998). We are about to experience new ways of communicating in our domestic environments. The technology will e.g. permit us to break limitations in physical proximity by real-time video communication.

The design of the Domisilica system (Mankoff & Abowd 1997) envisioned a future where objects in the home are enhanced with computational capabilities that make them accessible away from the home. The refrigerator, for example, may function for making shopping lists, leaving notes, and posting information and pictures. By attaching a computer display to the refrigerator front, we can display virtual notes and web pages which have been "posted" onto the

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refrigerator. A remote user can view the contents of the refrigerator in a GUI or hear them over the phone.

Domisilica consists of a central database which stores a model of the home; a Java toolkit for developing UI; several devices for use in the kitchen; a system for converting text-speech for audio interfaces; and portable device which can be used to hear audio. A kitchen inventory system has been implemented, which uses a bar code reader and an image recogniser to identify food items, as they are unpacked. When designing the system, a centralised model of the real world was chosen. A pen computer is currently being built into a refrigerator door.

The following set of modalities is currently supported:

• GUI for full-bandwidth connections

• text for limited-bandwidth connections or small displays

• audio output for low-vision users, to provide "atmosphere", and eventually for any situation where audio might be more appropriate

• audio-to-phone output for receiving status updates via a portable system (work is going on considering input, at which point users will be able to phone the system and interact with it using a combination of DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) and voice)

The promise of ubiquitous computing is that the increased pervasiveness of computation will lead to less intrusive and more valuable services to the end user. One feature of ubiquitous computing that will demand a software solution is context awareness (Abowd 1998).

Location is a simple example of context, i.e. information about people or devices that can be used to modify the way a system provides its services to the user community. Other categories of context include informational, emotional, intentional, and historical. The general mechanism for context-aware computing is summarised in the following steps:

1. Collect information on the user’s physical, informational or emotional state.

2. Analyse the information, either by treating it as an independent variable or by combining it with other information collected in the past or present.

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3. Perform some action based on the analysis.

4. Repeat from Step 1, with some adaptation based on previous iterations.

In the personal information management domain, we want data highlighted in one service that can use that data.

What is important is that the ubiquitous computing systems will be capable of supporting activities without increasing the cognitive load on the users in the space. The interest is to develop an infrastructure for ubiquitous sensing and recognition of activities in environments; transparent to the everyday activities, while providing an awareness of what is happening in a space (Essa 1999).

The physical world of the home and its virtual counterpart serve to augment the capabilities of each other. Example of these is a refrigerator, CyberFridge (Mankoff et al. 1998), which provides inventory management and supports communication activities within a household. A software architecture is outlined to dual augmentation through an extension to MUD technology. Another example is the Snatcher Catcher (Lundberg et al. 2002), which is an interactive refrigerator that will keep records of its contents.

Artefacts

There is an interaction between technological space and social space (Venkatesh 1996): New technology will affect the family life, and the family life will affect technology. But what is happening with ICT equipment at home, and in private life?

A Set-Top Box test in Great Britain (O’Brien et al. 1999) provided a fully interactive demonstration version of a model acting as an interface to a range of digital services: video and audio selection, games, shopping, local information, public transport timetables, ticket booking, etc. The aesthetic impact of the technology was of central importance. The device may be bound up in the public face of the household, being foregrounded and attention drawn to, or hidden away, blended into other aspects of the home's character. They may be forgotten when not in use. The flexible access to functionality may cause problems since preconceptions about the nature of domestic environments may easily be built in. The ability to undertake activities within different locations was central to the successful management of the home, and tensions may result in that the technology inhibits this ability. The precise nature of household

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activities might differ, but all individuals in all households work at maintaining some form of co-ordination.

A number of technical projects have investigated various ways to provide communication between households and extended families. The use of photographs to enable emotional communication between children and their grandparents by using icons on photo frames shows that different emotions may be communicated. To surrogate social support, a qualitative sense of a person's daily life is transmitted to relatives (Mynatt et al. 2001). Scanners at home may enable paper documents in a digital home environment. Investigations have shown that such facilities are useful (Hindus et al. 2001).

How will a web tablet appliance be integrated into household activities? In a U.S. investigation (McClard & Somers 2000), the goals were to understand how a web tablet appliance would be integrated into household activities, to understand how using the tablet to access the Internet would differ from using a personal computer, and to define the functional and design requirements for a web tablet. The tablet was a full Windows 95 tablet with a passive matrix display, a small screen size of 7.5 inch, weight of 2.2 pounds, resolution of 640 * 480 pixels, and a base set of applications.

The portability was seen as the best attribute of the tablet, some households reported using it outside the homes on the porch or deck, in the yard or at the neighbour's.

The tablet and PC share some favourite web categories such as financial sites. On the tablet, participants spent a lot of time listening to streaming audio. On the PC, using streaming audio was an infrequent activity. Similarly, game and sports-related sites were frequently visited on the tablet but not on the PC.

A nice advantage of the tablet was that the participants can use it in places they can't use their PC, often in comfortable positions on a couch, in an easy chair or in bed. The screen was not integrated with the keyboard, and that was the largest complaint. It was difficult to find a desired viewing angle, and it was inconvenient to carry two pieces. The keyboard was difficult to position. The weight of the tablet, 2.2 pounds, was light enough to be comfortably carried.

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Browsers

For an electronic bulletin board, the notes will probably be represented as icons of the size of thumbnails on a computer screen, a PDA or a mobile device. The thumbnail browsing task requires both an overview for locating the relevant note and a detailed view for reading it. The details of the note will be readable by expanding the icon, where the literature suggests three different ways:

• Click-to-expand, similar to the ordinary window interface on modern computers

• Zoom-and-pan, where the whole set of notes will be equally magnified

• Fish-eye, where the notes will be un-equally magnified, similar to using a magnifying glass

Plaisant et al. (1995) recommends a detail-only view when the zooming factor is four or less, or when a global view is unnecessary. However, the overview will probably be vital for finding a particular note on a large bulletin board. The animation of a zoom-and-pan interface helps users by maintaining a continuous spatial reference. The same has been claimed for the fish-eye view.

In an experiment, scroll-bar, zoom, and fish-eye interfaces were compared with and without animation (Donskoy & Kaptelinin 1997). Their zoom interface used two levels where pressing the right mouse button zoomed out to an overview. For the fish-eye interface, the focus changed when the mouse was clicked. Participants retrieved 12 named icons from three windows, each of which contained 48 icons. Since no location was given for the target objects, browsing rather than navigating was required. The lowest task completion times were achieved with the zooming interface, with animation as well as without. The fish-eye technique turned out to be the slowest, and was also the only technique that was faster with animation than without. However, in general the subjects preferred animation.

In a comparison of four image browsers, no significant difference was found between a thumbnail browser and a zoom-and-pan browser (Combs & Bederson 1999). However, about half of the subjects did not use the zoom at all. The browsers were designed for browsing photographs. The two other browsers were 3D browsers, and the subjects performed better with the 2D browsers than

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with the 3D browsers. They also made fewer incorrect selections with the 2D browsers, and rated them higher.

Discussion

A couple of thoughts that will be considered for the investigations are:

• Family members spend their time at different locations, not only at home: some children may be at home, some children at school, and the parents at work. This has not been considered sufficiently in the "intelligent home" studies.

• Family members manage their family affairs at different times; they may be busy with professional work or schools during the day, and don't have time to be available and disturbed then; instead they may prefer possibilities to decide for themselves when to be disturbed.

• Family communication may take many forms: synchronous interaction, for instance direct voice communication with family members, while some family communication may take the form of asynchronous interaction, such as posting messages on a common family bulletin board.

• A family communication system may allow all family members to post information about a topic, and about the home, the family, the agenda, questions and comments from the children, parents and school.

• Family communication systems will be interesting to the family members, provided it will give something new to the family.

• The smaller children will probably not participate as heavily as the older children and the parents.

• In a family, the power situation is not equal; the children will not have the same power as the parents.

• Dedicated devices and appliances will be needed for family communication.

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Chapter 4: Family Connections

”We (the parents) have contact twice a day. We co-ordinate if there is something special to take care of. (…) One of us talks to our son at least once a day. We get information on where he is and where he is going after school.”

Background

In this investigatation, families have been studied to find out how they manage their information flow and how they use ICT for that purpose. The aim of the investigation was to explore design of future products for information sharing within families. Workshops with family members have been used to enable reflexion on family lives, stimulate learning and thinking, and to capture requirements on such products.

The focus has been on understanding the families, their means for communication today and how they may use new services. The aim was to find critical aspects of the family information exchange, so that new services would be able to both replace current solutions and also provide solutions to yet unfulfilled needs.

Procedure

In this investigation, 3 different families each with a mother, a father and at least one child in school have been studied. The families all had access to cell-phones as well as PCs and the Internet at home. These families do not represent all Swedes, but we can see that the social change is going towards the point where a cell-phone, a PC and Internet access is available to almost everybody.

When starting this investigation, we were inspired by "design ethnography" as outlined by Mateas et al (1996). However, due to time limitations, only the mothers in these families took part in the investigation, but mothers often play a central role in the family networking, see e.g. Ling (1999), whose investigation of telephone use in Norway found that the woman's primary use of the telephone is for maintaining social networks. The mothers in our investigation all worked

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for a telecommunication company in Stockholm, although they did non-technical work themselves.

We met the mothers individually twice at their work for one-hour workshops. This allowed them to think about and reflect on their family lives, while simultaneously learn about how they manage their information flow and think about how new technologies might help them and what

requirements that would put on new services.

With the mothers, we discussed 4 things:

• The family: work, school, and leisure activities

• Their communication today: co-ordination and synchronisation

• How ICT supports their communication today: cell-phones, PCs and Internet

• How ICT might support their communication in the future: devices and functions at home and outside the home

When we discussed future services as solutions to their problems, we presented a picture as a simple prototype,

Figure 4-1. The prototype used in Workshop 1.

Figure 4-2. The set-up for Workshop 1.

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see Figure 4-1. It contains images of family members, a writing area for new messages and 4 stored paper notes. The picture was presented on the wall by help of an overhead projector, see Figure 4-2. This picture helped us envision the communication needs and possibilities, and stimulated discussion. During the discussions, we also used transparencies and white boards.

We were 3 discussion leaders, one of us made an initial analysis based on our notes, sketches and tape recordings, and after that all of us worked through the material together to improve on the findings. The analysis was divided into 3 parts:

• An initial analysis to characterise the families and look for common themes

• Understanding of what kind of and how often information flows between the family members and their contacts

• The connection between the families' needs and the emerging service ideas

After the first workshop, a second prototype was developed, see Figure 4-3. It

Figure 4-3. One of the prototypes used in Workshop 2.

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consisted of interactive PowerPoint, a PC and a flat screen with touch sensitive surface. A third prototype consisted of Java client applications using Swing graphics and a Java server application. It allowed two or more PCs to interact together on a simulated electronic bulletin board, it helped the families imagine the network possibilities of such a bulletin board.

These two prototypes were used during the second workshop individually with the same mothers, where our findings were discussed and we were able to dig deeper into the lives of the families. Our findings were partly visualised by the prototypes, so we used them as discussion facilitators.

The mothers used the second prototype to search for information, such as:

• What is the phone number to Alexander?

• When will Grandmother visit us?

• What to buy to Anne for birthday present?

The third prototype was used to visualise scenarios regarding access to family information from work and school.

Table 4-1: The family and its activities

Aspect \ Family 1 2 3

Parents Mom + Dad Mom + Dad Mom + Dad

Children (age) 14 15 (+21, 23, 25) 10, 12, 14

Car / boat 2 / 1 2 / 8 2 / 1

PC / Internet 2 / Yes 1 / Yes 3 / Yes

Cellular / CATV 2 / Yes 2 / Yes 2 / -

Leisure Ice-hockey Slalom, soccer

Road society

Handball, aerobics, dance, horse riding

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The second workshop allowed the mothers to think about various issues, such as terminals, information organization and functions.

The Families

The families were selected to be nucleus families and technology friendly. Some general facts about the families are reported in Table 4-1, such as the size of the family, the number of cars and boats, the number of ICT equipment at home as well as primary leisure activities.

Each family consisted of a father, a mother and at least one school child. There is probably an ex-husband or ex-wife on the periphery. The children have many activities, particularly sports. Both parents work. They are engaged in their children’s sports activities, in their own housing, in their summer cottages and in the children’s schooling. At home, they have cable TV, at least one computer, fixed telephone and at least two mobile phones. The family has at least one summer cottage, at least one car and at least one boat.

Communication Today

Both the mothers and fathers are working, and they keep in touch during the day to synchronise their family's affairs. During the afternoon they keep in contact with the children to get information about what they will do during the rest of the day. The children are informed about when the parents will return home, and at what time dinner will be served.

The family often receives information on paper notes from the external network to which they belong. Since the children go to school, they get weekly plans; information about study days and sports days; and requests to bring swimming suits to school. The sport organizations send schedules for weekly training, and there may be reminders for visits to the doctor or the dentist. The family must also collect phone numbers to the children's playmates, and shopping lists and to-do lists. These notes are posted on the refrigerator door, and sometimes there are 5 notes, sometimes there are as many as 25 notes. Coupons and offerings from the local shopping centre are also stored on the refrigerator door.

Much interest is focused on the children and their activities. School is the priority, but also leisure activities such as sports are important. Schedules are necessary for transportation to and from training events and games. Other

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parents negotiate to agree on turn taking. A few quotations from the workshops describe the situation:

”The family members put notes on the kitchen table. There are notes about what to do today, where the parents are, and what to eat.” [Family 1]

”Notes are placed on the large refrigerator and freezer doors. There are 10-15 notes on each door. The notes have information about training schedules, school schedules, phone number to the children’s friends, and the phone numbers to the older children.” [Family 2]

”There is a family calendar in the kitchen. On it are notes about activities, training schedules, and travels.” [Family 3]

”All parents [in the area] help with transport to and from the activities. We co-ordinate by meeting at the local shop, in the street, at the sport hall or via phone chains. ” [Family 3]

Table 4-2: The family's communication

Aspect \ Family 1 2 3

Notes Refrigerator / Breakfast table

Refrigerator Refrigerator

Family calendar No No Yes

Phone contact M+D

Yes Yes Yes

Phone contact M/D + kids

Yes Yes Yes

PC use Mostly children Shopping, job finding

Telecommuting

E-mail Not much Yes Mostly children

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A summary of the communication habits and the use of ICT tools for communication is shown in Table 4-2. The refrigerator door is used in all families for storing notes; phone contacts are regularly taken; the use of e-mail, however, differs among the families.

In managing the family, we found that handling the information flow was most important. So instead of focusing on whether or not the refrigerator has run out of milk, we will look at how to support contacts between the busy family members, and contacts between the family and its networks. In the analysis, we tried to find common themes in the mothers’ discussions. This enabled us to define a number of scenarios, from which we pick two typical situations:

1. “Homing” from work

Mom and Dad both work. They make contact twice a day over the phone, sometimes they use pagers. They coordinate if there is something special to do. More typical questions are: Who is to take care of the dog? Who will do the shopping? Parents will leave the children notes on the breakfast table, regarding dog and cat food, sports clothing, and such.

Mom or Dad also telephones the children on a daily basis. They get information on where the children are and where they will go after school. Will they be home for dinner? What homework is there for tomorrow? The children are kept informed about where their parents are and how they may be reached.

2. “Messaging” from school

For younger children, the teacher and parents communicate by writing notes in a small “notice book”. Most of the information goes from the teacher to the parents: events at school, things for the child to bring to school, and the child’s development.

For older children, the teacher and parents communicate by sending notes. The information can be about sports activities or excursions. Sometimes, the children forget to show the information to the parents, and sometimes it takes a while before the notes from home reach the teacher. A piece of paper is easily forgotten in the schoolbag.

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Since we have not yet explored the ICT support of today, the scenarios have been defined without technology as far as possible, attempting to keep them "non-objectified". But we will now investigate how the families use information and communication technology to enhance their lives.

Communication Support Today

It is the parents, and in particular the mothers, that manage the information flow within the family. Much communication occurs via telephone, and sometimes voice mail and pagers are used. This communication takes place both during the day and in the evening, as exemplified below:

”We (the parents) have contact twice a day. We co-ordinate if there is something special to take care of. (…) One of us talks to our son at least once a day. We get information on where he is and where he is going after school.” [Family 1]

”Our son borrows the cell-phone when he goes out, so that he can reach us. (…) We want to have contact with the children that have left home. This contact occurs during the evening since they are all working.” [Family 2]

”We (the parents) have daily contact. Sometimes we use paging system so we don’t intrude on the work situation. (…) Our children call home from their playmates.” [Family 3]

The families use the telephone to co-ordinate what needs to be done, and to find out where the children are. Parents have contact to negotiate what to do and who will do it. In order not to intrude on the work situation, they leave each other short messages using voice mail. The parents call the children at least once a day, mostly to find out what the children are doing after school. Children borrow the parent's cell-phone when they go outdoors. Grown-up children who have moved out stay in contact using the telephone. Parents tend to have their cell-phones on so they don't miss a call from their children. At the same time parents can find it frustrating when their teenagers use the telephone all evening long. For that reason, they are considering yet another telephone line. The family has at least one computer at home. Parents use it for working at home, but the children use it most of the time. The family has Internet access from home, but the e-mail is not used so often.

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Future Communication Support

As a result of the workshops, the fundamental units of the family information system were found to be a bulletin board, a calendar, and a to-do list, a shopping list, and a combined address and telephone book.

Due to the large number of notes that may occur, it was argued that a separation of the information into parts related to each individual was important, so the information system contains information for the whole family as well as for each individual; all under different flaps. Even though the information is separated for each individual, all notes in the family information system are visible to all family members from any terminal connected through the Internet. This is a principle that applies to today's artefacts at home, such as the refrigerator door. The individual family agreed that the family information system was not a place for secrets, the separation is only there to organize the notes.

A screen dump of the design used during Workshop 2 is shown in Figure 4-3. It contains pictures of the whole family and the family members to the left, together with icons for the different organizations and networks to which the family belongs (school, daycare, football club, horse riding, scouting, and the local shop). These pictures represent flaps in a file. It also contains icons for bulletin board, calendar, to-do list, shopping list and address book to the right. These pictures represent sub-flaps in a file. The application is manipulated by pressing the flaps on the left hand side and the flaps to the right to find the relevant information, for instance the son's address book.

It is essential that the information may be reached by the parents from their work, and also by the children from school. This will provide new possibilities that are not easily achievable today, and will provide the family with an increased value. Instead of phoning each other and leaving notes on the breakfast table, it is possible to write notes to the family information system, and the notes are readable both from home and from work as well as when "on the move".

If the school also will have an information system, it could be possible for the children and parents to visit the school information system and see if something new has occurred. They do this by selecting the school’s icon to the left on the screen. It is also possible for the family to leave messages for the teacher. By using the school information system, there is no risk of the children forgetting to

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leave messages; the parents can see for themselves. However, certain messages may be of a private nature, direct dialog regarding the specific child. So the parents may see general information regarding the class and also specific information regarding their own child. The latter information will not be distributed to other parents (Figure 4-4, to the left).

The separation of information is possible by publishing general information under the picture of the whole class, on top of the school's screen, as seen to the right in Figure 4-4. Dedicated information is published under the specific picture of the pupil; this information will only be visible to the pupil himself and his parents. In the same way, information published by the parents on the school information system will only be visible to themselves and the teacher. If the teacher regards the information to be of general interest, he may make it public by dragging the note to the picture of the whole class.

All the mothers expressed that it was necessary to have a single function device, otherwise the family would be less likely to use it. The information stored here is of the kind family members must see as they pass by it, not the kind they want to turn on a device to be able to see. For this matter there is also a need to let the device have a dedicated place at home. The refrigerator door is such a place where it would be suitable to hang on a pad for easy access, for those families where the kitchen is a centre for information. The pad must be mobile and wireless, so that it can be taken down from its dedicated place and brought onto the breakfast table or any other place where the family is gathering for the moment.

Figure 4-4. The family view with both private and public information.

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The findings are in accordance with the study by Mateas and colleagues (Mateas et al. 1996):

”Finally, most communicative activities take place between collocated family members supplemented by contact with remote family and friends. Within the family value system, this collocated time is highly valued.”

To be able to easily write on it, the device should have a touch sensitive screen and support a stylus for input. It must also have a suitable size (at least A4 paper size). Since all family members will use the device, it must be easy to use, with a non-Windows interaction style suitable also for smaller children and grandparents. The single function device also means that this place is used only for common issues; private (secret) affairs are managed by other means (e.g., other PCs at home).

Conclusions

So why would a family use a new tool for communication? There must be some novelty aspects, such as:

• Does something that can't be done today

• Is not properly solved today

• Gives something new and interesting

According to Robinson (1991), one essential factor for a CSCW application to succeed is that it adds new competence to the users. It must give them new capabilities; something they have not been able to achieve before. In our investigation we see three new such competencies, which might be provided by a family information system:

• Access from outside home is made available: it is, for instance, possible to access the information from work.

• Reminders: it is possible to get reminded about events that will occur in the future. E.g., to bring skates to school tomorrow with a reminder the previous evening.

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• Connection to other organizations, e.g. school, shopping centres, football team etc., which makes it possible to have a faster, more active and useful communication with these.

The family situations place certain requirements on our system. First, we noticed that written information to be exchanged among family members was nearly always placed in a central location, e.g., on the refrigerator door. This principle should be maintained for a primary access device. Second, we saw that much communication occurred via telephone, often using existing messaging technology such as voice mail and pagers. This means that a family communication system must be accessible from outside the home. Third, not all communication is among family members. Therefore, there must be a way for important outside organizations such as schools to send messages to the family. These requirements, plus technologically limits, give rise to the following set of requirements:

• An access device with a display of at least A4 size;

• The device must be located in a central place;

• Mobile and wireless (to be transported to family meetings);

• Stylus-based input;

• Shared data space between the family and external organizations.

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Chapter 5: Family Communication On The Threshold To The IT Society

"We will probably have both new [PC] and old technology [paper] in parallel ... But it is difficult to imaging in concrete terms."

Background

In this chapter, an investigation of how Swedish families manage their information flow is described. The investigation is based on group interviews of 10 families and 3 pairs of grandparents. It reveals that the traditional use of family calendars, and notes on refrigerator doors and bulletin boards has been complemented by the introduction of both cell-phones and home PCs to form new communication patterns for family communication. New applications will emerge for family life and private use, and it is sound to base future development and experiments on today’s situation. Conclusions about product designs for family communication are provided.

Procedure

The study involved 10 families living in a suburb of Stockholm. The families consisted of a mother, a father and at least one child in school. They were characterised as "IT-mature”. The families had both fixed and cell-phones. They had personal computers and Internet access in their homes. The number of children in the families turned out to vary between one and five. As a complement, 3 pairs of grandparents were interviewed to explore generation differences; to understand how they communicate with their spouses as well as with their children and grandchildren.

In this investigation, we were inspired by "design ethnography" as outlined by Mateas et al (1996). Each family took part in a group interview over coffee in their home. The interview lasted approximately one hour and a half. The interview leader brought buns to go with the coffee. The discussion was semi-structured in three parts:

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• The family: work; school; and leisure activities

• Their communication today: how to synchronise activities

• Their use of ICT support: their PCs; cell-phones; and how they are used

After the coffee, the family went for a tour through the home, and they showed the artefacts that they used for synchronisation and reminders, e.g. the occurance of notes on the refrigerator door; the use of a family calendar; presence of any family phone book; the place for bulletin board, etc.

To discuss future technologies and future needs, a simple screen (see Figure 5-1) simulated a future artefact, and its use at home was used. We stimulated the family members to think about where it would be placed at home and how it would be used.

The discussions were all recorded on tape, and the tapes were transcribed afterwards. In the analysis, we first tried to develop an understanding of the visited family, resulting in categorisations of both the families and their communication. After that, we looked for interesting themes and structures across the families.

Communication

The children are busy with sports and music activities, which has an effect on the whole family. Schedules for the activities are important, and these are collected on the refrigerator door, together with similar information. One

Figure 5-1. The simple screen used during interviews

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example provided by one of the families is:

Father: We have all schedules on the fridge door ... We often receive notes. Then, the kids must pay attention to their chores when they finish school. In general, it works.

Three of our families also mentioned other means for organizing information, in the form of whiteboards or bulletin boards. One family said:

Mother: Then we have a whiteboard by the phone, which we use for taking notes. But it has not started to function yet.

Daughter: It is fairly new. If somebody calls, and the desired person is not at home. Often, we forget who called. [We need to] Take notes.

One family also stressed that there is a difference between places for information at home:

Father: On the breakfast table are things that must be taken care of the same day or maybe tomorrow. The fridge door is for a longer time, maybe a schedule for a whole semester. This is next month, a visit to the dentist. You remind yourself. Activities in the future.

Mother: What we write here [on the breakfast table] is more everyday things. [On the fridge door] Are things that others have come up with and told us to do. Governed by the outside.

Father: The fridge door regulates our lives. With the notes on the breakfast table we regulate our family.

Information Technology

All families have cell-phones as well as Internet access. Most of them have used it for several years. This family provides an example:

Mother: Yes, we have a fixed phone. And 4 cell-phones in use.

Son: [We bought our first cell-phone] 6 years ago.

Daughter: We have 3 computers at home, one laptop and two desktops.

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Mother: It may have been 5 years ago we got Internet at home.

The parents phone each other at work to make arrangements and synchronise activities, and the children are called when they return home from school. The parents mention that this is both for synchronisation and in order to keep aware of the children's well being. The communication is bi-directional. SMS is getting popular, especially for the youngsters. Two families mentioned using it often.

Mother: Sending messages. SMS. We use it now and then, around the clock.

The messaging is particularly valuable on those occasions the children are abroad for study, work or vacation.

Another family mentioned that they use both SMS and e-mail extensively during the working day, since these means won't disturb their work. This was particular valuable during a period when their daughter had problems with truancy. They reported:

Mother: When our daughter had problems in school, we had e-mail contact each day with her teacher. In this way we knew about her whereabouts. We as parents and the school could form a strong team during this period and be updated whether she appeared in school or not. This was all thanks to the e-mail. We had e-mail access at our work without our daughter's knowledge.

Most of the parents are technology friendly although they are not engineers, and many of them are indeed knowledgeable users, or as one father says:

Father: We have 3 computers at home, and we have 5 cell-phones, the kids have one each. We have the equipment we find useful, and we use it.

Generation Differences

The tight contact between the children and parents during the day seems to be opposite from the older generation, the grandparents. The access to communication devices was limited in earlier days. An example is given by a couple:

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Grandmother: We never called each other. He never called me, to tell when he would arrive home. Never have I been given notice.

Grandfather: I told you in advance when I knew it would be overtime and late.

Grandmother: But we never used the phone for this.

The grandparents also have inherited their home computers from their children, sometimes as a result of giving their grandchildren a new computer. The cell-phones have been purchased to give a safety margin to a still mobile life. They make it possible to call for help when in need.

Costs of New Technology

The use of modern information and communication technology is costly, there is equipment such as phones and computers; subscriptions for phones and Internet access; and traffic costs for phones and Internet. The families spend quite a sum on these parts. Regarding the cell-phone, the children often have a fixed amount on a pre-pay card each month. One family gives an example of how it may work:

Mother: He makes many phone calls. But he has a pre-paid card now.

Son: It will last only for 5 minutes.

Mother: In this way there is a limit.

However, when that amount is consumed, the parents may still reach them over the cell-phone.

External Networks

Two of the families mentioned that their sports clubs have training schedules and other information available online. The families also access that information. However, one father who is organizing one local sports club, complained about the problem with Internet use:

Father: I read e-mail everyday, which seems to be uncommon, even among those that give me their e-mail address, but only read it once a fortnight. Those that have no e-mail will receive it on paper. The

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problem is with those that leave an e-mail address but still don't read e-mail. You know that if you write a letter today, they will read it tomorrow, but not for sure if it is an e-mail.

So today's use of Internet communication seems to lead to uncertainty regarding whether the message has been read or not. This way of communication is still new, so the behaviour is unclear.

There are new patterns that have established themselves. For instance, the cell-phone is switched off for the night, which is not the case for the fixed phone at home. One family reported this to be an advantage:

Daughter: When trying to connect to people late in the evening, it is usually better to use the cell-phone, since that is a telephone that people switch off when "it is too late". If they answer, I can then call their fixed phone [which is cheaper to use].

Future Systems

Some of the parents had clear ideas about future technologies (note that they were not engineers). One family reported:

Father: I would like a portable device at home, with high capacity.

Mother: But maybe it will be lost at home, just like our wireless phone?

Father: It could contain a calendar, and also our addresses. We could use it instead of the notes on the door. It could give an alert with a red lamp when something is forgotten.

Mother: I don't want a fridge that talks to me and says: "You have been here 3 times already"! ... We often forget the shopping list at home.

Father: It could contain functions such as today + tomorrow issues. And what to buy. It must plan a week ahead. And it should move forwards automatically to the next day. Must be on all the time.

Another family stressed the importance of appliances everywhere:

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Father: For the future I want LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens, large ones, 50 - 60 - 70 inches. At many places: the living room, smaller ones in the kitchen, the bedroom. A central server at home. A keyboard by the TV set. I want information on screens with news. Reminders popping up and flashing "You have forgot, don't forget, send a greeting to Pettersson". To use e-mail is difficult, I must go in and search. What about a screen fridge? Well, the whole door will be a screen. The fridge is a central place in our home: everyone is hungry and goes to the fridge.

A third family stressed the importance of integrating computers and phones:

Father: We will probably have both new [PC] and old technology [paper] in parallel. A thin computer screen with notes on, onto which we will enter all kinds of information and also get reminders ... It would be good to have a connection to the cell-phones as well, and to send text to it. This will give us access when not at home. It must also be possible to send from the cell-phone. But it is difficult to imaging in concrete terms.

By increased age come less movability, decreased sight and hearing ability, and longer access time for memory. The grandparents have realistic views of their own capacity and its effect on technology use. One couple mentioned:

Grandmother: We are getting older, and sight decreases. A thin and tiny screen at home would not be of much help, we would rather need a wall screen to be able to watch it.

Conclusions

The investigation has provided valuable insights into family communication. What we can extract as important aspects of today's situation and also for the design of future communication products for the family are:

• Easy access is vital (cell-phones are examples today)

• Synchronisation of activities is important

• Management of the information flow within the family is important

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• Negotiation among the family members is needed

• Parents need to feel reassured about the children's well being.

Messaging systems that make the family members reachable all the time are needed. Direct access to each other in order to keep aware of the family members' well being is equally important. Valuable for these aspects is future design of the telecommunication services. The availability of ICT has already had an effect on the lives of these families. To get in touch with family members is much easier nowadays compared to the lives only one generation ago. The phone is most important here, but the introduction of messaging (SMS and e-mail) both at home and at work may have an even stronger impact. How to integrate these means will need further studies.

Busy lives with strong needs for synchronisation and information flow are currently managed by the use of notes on refrigerator doors and bulletin boards, but development of electronic bulletin boards and similar means might simplify these tasks.

A messaging system with which the family members may be reachable at all time, but which doesn't intrude on their work situation, is one corner stone for a future family communication system. As mentioned earlier, communication that gives the family members direct access to each other is another corner stone. Both further user studies and design experiments are needed to develop suitable principles for good interfaces.

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Chapter 6: Interacting With the Family Bulletin Board

"They [new notes] stay where they were placed. There is a lack of space so they must be placed so that they don't hide each other."

Background

The studies reported in Chapters 4 and 5 pointed to a bulletin board as being a central artefact for communication among family members. Although it may take many forms (bulletin boards, whiteboards, refrigerator doors or breakfast tables), every family in these studies used a central place for collecting items such as school and sports schedules, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting notices, and party invitations. A common problem with these family bulletin boards was that the information on them was often unavailable when needed. (The family member was not at home!) However, an electronic bulletin board could be available from work via the Internet. With the carefully designed software, it could even be available from a mobile phone. But, this design needs to be based on how families use their bulletin boards.

In this study, we have investigated how families manage their information flows, and in particular how artefacts are used for passing messages among

family members. The aim of the investigation is to explore design of future products for information sharing within families (a prototype used during the previously mentioned interview sessions is shown in Figure 6-1). In this investigation, photo diaries will be used to document the dynamics of such notice boards. Based on the

Figure 6-1. A family communication device.

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diaries, conclusions will be drawn regarding the design of electronic bulletin boards for family communication.

Procedure

In our investigation, we have met 3 different families with mother, father, and at least one child in school. By selecting families with both mother and father, they will probably have a more active social life. By selecting school-aged children, there will be communication with the school, and possibly also some after-school activities such as music or sports, which is unlikely for younger children.

The investigation started with interviews of the families to find out their habits and hobbies, and also how they organize their working day, for instance if the parents call home from work, and how transfer to after-school activities are arranged. Other issues of interest were how they collected information, such as school schedules, schedules for sport activities, phone numbers, etc.

The families were given a disposable camera, and instruction to take pictures of their bulletin board as soon as something happened on it, whether new notes came up on it or old notes were taken away. One family was also given a note book (see Figure 6-2), and instructed to write down information about each note, such as:

• Who brought it home?

• Who placed it on the bulletin board?

• What was it about?

• What happened to it afterwards?

The camera and notebook were used in a way similar to cultural probes (Gaver et al. 1999). The equipment allowed self-documentation of their everyday life.

The diaries were kept for 3-4 weeks, and a couple of times during this period we asked the families about the progress of the investigation.

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When all the photos and information about them were collected, we analysed them with regard to what kind of notes there are, and in what way they are part of the family life. From these notes, a taxonomy can be established, which will say what kind of notes there are, such as:

• Information from school

• Schedules for sports activities

• Phone numbers to friends

• Enquiries to be returned back to school

Communication patterns could be revealed by investigating:

• By whom and in what way are the notes handled?

Figure 6-2. Probe for Family 2.

Table 6-1: The families and their activities.

Aspect \ Family 1 2 3

Children (age) 9 6, 12 12

Home computers / Internet access

3 / modem 2 / modem 1 / broadband

First home com-puter (years ago)

20 10 -

Activities / associations

Homeowner's association

Politics, sports Sports

Bulletin board type

Corkboard Refrigerator door

Paper clip with notes

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• Are there different areas on the bulletin board used for different kinds of notes?

• Will the placement in the room affect the use of the bulletin board?

After this analysis, we went back to the families to discuss my findings, and raised any questions that emerged during the analysis.

The Families

The families, themselves, all consisted of two parents with one or two children. They could be considered “information technology mature” in that they owned at least one home computer with an Internet connection. Table 6-1 summarises the families with respect to common aspects. In addition to their bulletin board, all three families used a family calendar for long-term planning.

Family 1 consists of a mother, a father and their son who would soon be 10 years old. They live in a town house in a suburb west of Stockholm, with a small garden. They have two cell-phones; they purchased their first cell-phone four years ago, and the second one was purchased less than a year ago. The mother is fond of animals, and sometimes brings her cell-phone when she goes out, but she often forgets it. Where they live, the radio coverage is poor, particularly in the forest where she walks the dog. The father purchased his first home computer 20 years ago, and now they have a total of three home computers: two desktops and one laptop. They have been using Internet from home for five years, and are now interested in getting a broadband connection at home.

The father is treasurer in the homeowner's association, but the family is not active in any other organizations. The son was studying judo earlier but not any longer. He spends most of the afternoons at the after-school club. They keep in contact with the grandparents through the phone, but would prefer e-mail. With e-mail, they will not be disturbed but can answer when they have time. The father has an e-mail address, and the mother should have one also, but they had problems installing it.

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They have a family calendar for long term planning, and a bulletin board for what the parents considered to be most often used, primarily regarding the son. The mother and father each have their own calendar. For the school there are notes regarding excursions, weekly schedules, "bring the bicycle to school", etc. The son's school lasts until 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and then he stays at the after-school club ("Fritids" in Swedish) until 6 o'clock, where he sees his friends and may have a snack.

Family 1 began and ended the diary with 13 notes on the bulletin board. However, six new notes appeared during the diary period, and six notes disappeared. In addition, one of the notes disappeared and re-appeared during the three-week study period.

Family 1 (see Figure 6-3) had a school schedule (upper left corner), telephone numbers (top part), things to be brought away from home (to the right, near the front door), and long-term and archival material (bottom part). New notes were placed in the centre and moved later toward the edges (see also Figure 6-4 for an overview). The limited area available resulted in notes hanging over the edges.

1. School schedule, changed after 3 weeks, then valid for 6 months

2. Phone list of the son’s friends, about a year old.

3. Autumn school vaca-tion, inquiry about son’s daytime activities

4. PTA meeting notice, recently arrived

5. Son’s passport appli-cation, stored here, has been attached for a year

Figure 6-3. The bulletin board from Family 1.

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Family 2 consists of a mother, a father and two sons, aged 6 and 12. They live in a house in a suburb south of Stockholm, with a wooded garden with a small hen house. They have three cell-phones; the older son has had his since his twelfth birthday. The family purchased their first home computer 10 years ago, and it was used mainly as a typewriter. Now they have a total of three home computers. They have been using Internet from home for four years, and are now ready to install a broadband connection at home.

The mother is politically active, and the parents spend lot of time with school and other parts of the children’s activities. The father doesn’t use his e-mail address, but the mother uses hers every day. The older son checks his e-mail twice a week.

They have a family calendar for long term planning, they use the refrigerator door for information from outside the home, and they leave notes to other family members on the breakfast table.

Figure 6-4. The layout of the bulletin board for Family 1.

Phone numbers

School schedule

New material

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Family 2 had 12 notes when their diary began and 21 when their diary ended. In total, 12 new notes appeared, three notes disappeared, and seven notes went up and down again during the four weeks.

Family 2 (see Figure 6-5) had a school schedule (top centre), recipes and articles (top left and right), school, sport and after-school items (lower left and right), and things to be handled by the parents (just below the school schedule). New notes were placed in the lower centre and moved upward and outward with age (see also Figure 6-6 for an overview).

Family 3 consists of a mother, a father and a son, aged 12. They rent a flat in a suburb west of Stockholm. They have a home computer and also a fixed broadband connection. The son is active playing table tennis.

They have a family calendar at the entrance to their flat, and they also collect notes, such as schedules, sport activities, library information and lottery tickets, in a paper clip at the entrance. This family placed new notes on top.

Family 3 had 10 notes collected at the instance we examined them.

1. School schedule, lasts for a semester

2. An article, that ought to be read several times

3. Auto safety inspec-tion, reminder to schedule a visit

4. Sport center, opening hours

5. PTA meeting, invitation that has recently arrived

Figure 6-5. The refrigerator door from Family 2.

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The Bulletin Boards

The bulletin boards were fairly dynamic although the number of notes did not vary greatly (see Table 6-2). All of the notes have a story; some of the notes were temporarily on the bulletin board, while others stayed there for a longer period of time.

The bulletin board from Family 1 is located close to the main entrance door, and the notes that will be taken away from home are located to the right on the bulletin board, near the door. Examples of such notes are information going from the family to the school and information to the after-school club (Figure 6-7).

Figure 6-6. The layout of the bulletin board for Family 2.

School schedule

Recepies and articles

Parental items

School, sport and after-school items

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The Notes

The notes on the families' bulletin boards (a total of 60 notes) seemed to be of seven distinctive categories:

• newly arrived notes

Those have not yet been sorted.

• cuties

Articles that ought to be read more than once, paintings by the kids, and funny comic strips.

Figure 6-7. Sketch of the hallway from Family 1, with the bulletin board on the wall (Distances in millimetres).

kitchen

entrance

main entrance

(door)

shelf

bulletin board

900

400

1300

350 600 900

600

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• will come in handy

Things that are not needed for the time being, but will be practical to have ready when needed, like passport applications; opening hours at the library and the local medical centre; and house repair ads. These might be present for many months.

• archival

Archival is things like phone numbers for friends and the power company, and will be kept indefinitely.

• schedules

Schedules, both for school and after-school activities, will be kept present for a long time, at least for one semester.

• short term

Table 6-2: The bulletin boards.

Aspect \ Family

1 2 3

Place Entrance Refrigerator Entrance

Notes in beginning 13 12 10

New notes 6 12 -

Notes that disappeared 6 3 -

Notes that appeared anddisappeared

1 7 -

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Things like coupons, party invitations or PTA meeting invitations, with a lifetime of a couple of weeks.

• to take away from home (return to school or sports club)

Some notes contain information to be brought back to school or the sport club, and will last just a day or two.

Both Family 1 and Family 2 reported that they placed notes “anywhere there was room”. The mother in Family 1 said:

Mother: They [new notes] stay where they were placed. There is a lack of space so they must be placed so that they don't hide each other.

However, the photo diaries revealed a clear pattern. Family 1 placed new notes in the centre, and older notes migrated to the edges (see Figure 6-4). Family 2 placed new notes on the bottom, and notes moved up and out as they aged (see Figure 6-6). Family 3 placed all notes in a pile using a paper clip.

The Children

Regarding the children’s use of the bulletin board, we noticed that:

1. The 6-year old son in Family 2 had a note on the refrigerator door with his first written sentence. He was not aware of it, but his mother was proud of it.

Mother: [His] First written note.

Son, 6 years old: When did I write that?

Mother: You wrote it on the ninth of January, it was three weeks ago.

Son: Have I made that? I didn’t write the numbers, anyhow.

Mother: No, I did that, to be able to remember the date.

2. The 9-year old son in Family 1 was not tall enough to reach the school schedule. Figure 6-7 shows that the bulletin board was placed 130 cm above floor, so the son was unable to read the schedule on the bulletin board without difficulty. The parents confirmed the observation that they managed the notes.

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3. The 12 years old son in Family 2 used the school schedule everyday and also sometimes wrote notes on the refrigerator door.

Son, aged 12: I don’t write any notes.

Mother: But sometimes you do.

Son: Well, sometimes I do that.

Mother: And you use the refrigerator door frequently, every day, for your schedule.

Son: Yes.

4. The son in Family 3 was also old enough to be responsible for his activities, so he read relevant notes himself, although his parents also reminded him.

Conclusions

In this investigation, the use of three family bulletin boards has been observed by obtaining photo diaries. The diaries have been studied in order to obtain requirements for an electronic bulletin board. Although a limited number of bulletin boards were involved, some preliminary implications for design can be drawn.

• Paper must be accommodated: Although many of the notes may be distributed in electronic form in the future, paper will probably still be in use (e.g., rebate coupons and free tickets). That means there will be a need for places to attach paper notes on the electronic bulletin board, perhaps in the form of a corkboard.

• Note browsing and management must be supplied: Both Families 1 and 2 used more space than is likely to be available on a display, yet notes often overlapped and hung over the edges. Clearly, miniaturization, browsing, and organization functions will be needed. However, each family’s own note placement method should be accommodated.

• No special design for children must be created: Although much of the material concerned the children in the families, it was clearly manipulated by the parents for children younger than about twelve. By this age, the children can read and can be expected to operate the same interface as their parents.

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Our first family was active taking photos the first few weeks, but later on lost interest, although we kept in contact with the family repeatedly during the period. This is in accordance with the notes from Bell (1993) that reluctant subjects will rarely provide usable data, so preliminary consultation is of the utmost importance.

There is however a problem with these kinds of investigations. What role will the children play? According to Salvador & Mateas (1997), the children's information is used mainly for confirmation. Our experiences are that the children can play an important role in the investigation, by giving information about their lives.

According to Mateas et al. (1996):

"Space in the home is not equally significant but rather exhibits behavioural cluster. For example, families spend most of their time in the Command, Control and Hangout space (often corresponds to family room and kitchen). This is where family members greet each other, discuss their day, use the phone, share the same space while performing different activities, etc."

It was obvious that Family 1 used the right part of the bulletin board for communication with the outside, and Family 2 had two separate areas for communication with the family and with the outside.

In conclusion, we believe the information obtained in this investigation can form the basis for expanding the usefulness of family bulletin boards by enabling them to be digitally accessed.

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Chapter 7: Browsing the Digital Fridge Door

Background

Managing information flow is important for families: taking care of schooling; transfer to and from after-school activities; contact with relatives and friends, etc. Families seem to use bulletin boards, refrigerator doors and calendars for these tasks, instead of office applications in their home computers. We also know that the amount of information varies depending on the size of the family and their social network.

With this background, we want to explore alternative interfaces for family communication. We know that the conventional rules of interface design have a long tradition, but also weaknesses in being too limited for new technology and use, see for instance Gentner & Nielsen (1996).

Our field studies showed that one family with 2 children had 15-20 notes on their refrigerator door, and another family with more children could have as many as 10-15 notes on each of the refrigerator and the freezer door. So how will it be possible to present all this information in digital form, provided that the families in the future will have web tablets at home, networked PDAs when on the move and PC screens when at work? They will certainly want to manage their family life from all places.

The situation we are considering here is that families may have up to 30 notes on their refrigerator doors, and we want to investigate the consequences when those notes will be displayed on a 19-inch computer screen. For an iconic representation, a thumbnail of the note or the first page seems natural. However, the method for navigation and for presentation of full-sized objects is less clear. Among the alternatives that will be considered are an iconic browser, a zoom-and-pan browser, and a fish-eye browser. The iconic browser operates in a manner similar to the standard windowing system. Clicking a thumbnail creates a new window that appears on top of the bulletin board and contains a readable-sized version of the note. The zoom-and-pan browser was

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implemented using the Jazz toolkit (Bederson et al. 2000), and uses the navigation techniques provided by it. For the fish-eye browser, a bifocal viewer (Leung & Apperley 1994) is used. A comparative investigation with the 3 different ways to visualise by distorting the views was conducted.

Experiment

In the experiment, we compared how subjects' reading activity was supported by an overview+detail, a zoom, and a bifocal interface. Subjects answered questions about issues such as private shopping, bus timetables, opening hours at the library and sport schedules. We analysed usability differences between the interfaces by comparing erroneous answers and time needed to answer questions, as well as satisfaction and preference data.

Twenty-four subjects were recruited, half of them from the university and half of them from the local community. The subjects received a cinema ticket for their participation. Since there was a gap in age with half of the subjects being younger than 26, and the other half older than 31, a breakpoint was used to compare performance by age.

Each subject performed a set of tasks with each of the different browsers in a within-subjects experiment design. The task sets were different for each browser, and subjects were randomly assigned a browser-to-task-set mapping. The order of browsers was also randomly assigned. For each task set there was a group of 30 notes specific to that task set. For each subject, the total time to complete a task set as well as the number of errors was measured. These measures became our dependant variables with browser type, task set, gender,

age, and student status as independent variables.

The browsers

The experiments were conducted by running 3 different test programs, each of them containing a task panel covering the left-fifth of the screen (see Figure 7-1). The questions were displayed and answered in this panel. The remaining area was used by the

Figure 7-1. The application with tasks to the left and the browser area to the right.

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browser. The test program logged answers and task completion times.

The iconic browser (see Figure 7-2) works like a standard iconic desktop. The notes are shown as icons in the overview window. When an icon is clicked, a new window opens, positioned so that it does not cover the task panel. The size of the new window matches the size of the enlarged note, unless the size of the note is

too large to fit the screen. Then the new window will feature scrollbars. An enlarged note is closed by clicking on the ”X” button in the upper right corner of its window. Answering a question on the task panel caused the enlarged note to disappear, since this operation activated the main window and put it on top.

In the zoom-and-pan browser (see Figure 7-3), the notes were shown as icons but the content of the window could be magnified or shrunk continuously by

moving the cursor over the screen. Initially, it displayed all notes on the screen in the same size and order as the iconic browser. Zooming to readable size was done by pressing the right mouse button and moving the mouse to the right. Zooming out was done in a similar way, with mouse movement towards the left. With the left mouse button pressed, the view could be panned in any direction by

Figure 7-2. The iconic browser, and also the starting view of the zoom-and-pan browser.

Figure 7-3. The zoom-and-pan browser, zoomed in.

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dragging the mouse. Since the lack of an overview can cause the user to get lost, a restore button had been included in the lower left corner of the screen, on the task panel. Pressing this button restored the starting view with all notes visible.

The bifocal-view browser (see Figure 7-4) consisted of 3 x 3 regions where the middle rectangle was a flat magnifying glass that could be dragged in any direction to view any part of the bulletin board. The other regions contained the distorted

surroundings of the bulletin board. The regions above and below the centre region were compressed horizontally, and the regions to the right and to the left of the centre region were compressed vertically. The four regions in the corners were compressed both horizontally and vertically. As the magnifying area was moved, the other regions changed size according to the location of the centre region.

Design

The experiment consisted of a session in which 21 subjects used the 3 interfaces in order to find 9 items of information for each interface. The session lasted approximately 60 minutes. Tasks and interfaces were systematically varied. We formed 9 groups based on the 3 interfaces and the 3 bulletin boards used in the experiment.

Subjects

Twenty-four participants took part in this study, but 3 were dropped due to technical problems. Of the remaining subjects, 12 were students from the Luleå

Figure 7-4. The bifocal browser.

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Technical University and 9 were adult non-students with computer experience from the local community.

Of the 21 subjects, 11 were male and 10 females. The average age was 31, ranging from 20 to 53. There was a gap in age within the test group. Half of the group was younger than 26 (mean 23.5), and the other half were older than 30 (mean 39.3). Women and men were equally represented in both the younger and older groups.

Most of the subjects were experienced with computers and used them frequently. Twenty of the subjects reported using computers for at least 8 hours per week. A total of 20 had their own home computer. The predominant operating system was some version of Microsoft Windows. A majority of the subjects used computers for office work and for surfing the Internet. Nine subjects also used their computers for playing games. Five subjects stated that they used computers for other things such as movies, pleasure, and work (other than office tasks). Eight of the twelve students had programming experiences, but none of the non-students had. Five of the students studied Computer Science, two studied other engineering areas, and four studied something completely different.

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Among the non-students, four subjects worked with accounting and administration, one was a freight-office worker, and the remaining were a janitor, a teacher, an art director, and one who was unemployed.

The students spent on average 2.9 hours a week playing computer games. Of these, two did not play games at all, five played less than an hour a week, three played up to five hours a week, and two up to ten hours a week. The non-students played computer games on average 6.2 hours a week. Three subjects did not play games at all, two played less than an hour, three played between 5 and 15 hours a week, and one played 25 hours a week. Similarly, older users played games more than younger. (See Table 7-1 for a summary.)

Table 7-1. Properties of the subjects.

Population All Partici-

pants Stu-

dents

Non-Stu-

dents

Younger users (<26)

Older users (>30) Men

Wo-men

Totals 21 12 9 11 10 11 10

Men/Women 11/10 7/5 4/5 6/5 5/5 11 10

Mean age 31 26.6 37 23.5 39.3 29.1 33.1

Mean hours/week computer usage

27.4 28.4 25.9 26.3 28.6 28.2 26.5

Mean years com-puter usage

12.7 12.1 13.6 10.1 15.7 13.0 12.5

Mean years com-puter ownership

6.9 7.5 6.1 5.7 8.2 8.6 4.5

Mean hours/week playing games

4.3 2.9 6.2 3.2 5.6 6.0 2.4

Have programming experience

8 8 0 7 1 7 1

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Tasks

The subjects were given question-answering tasks, where the subjects answered 9 questions about the information available on a simulated bulletin board.

Examples of questions are:

• "When will the library close on Thursday?"

• "What does it cost to send an economy letter of 75 grams within Sweden?"

• "What is Anna's phone number?"

• "How large is the house for sale in Norrby?"

The notes on the bulletin boards were collected from some Swedish families, and scanned into digital form. A total of 30 notes were shown on each of the 3 bulletin boards. Three extra bulletin boards were used for practising the interfaces. Some of the notes contained large amount of written text, but these were not used as target notes. Each question was presented with five alternative answers; the last one was always labelled ”Information missing”. This allowed the subjects to move on to the following question, even if the requested information had not been found. The subjects were however told that all information requested in the tasks was on the bulletin board, and they were also told that there were no trick questions with ambiguous answers.

Procedure

The experiment took place in an office without external disturbances, where one subject participated at a time. Upon arrival, the subjects were told about the purpose of the experiment. Next, subjects filled out a questionnaire about age, gender, their education, their profession, and their computer experiences. Then the subjects were trained in using the three interfaces and completing the tasks. They used an additional set of notes for the training. Training was supported by a description of the specifics of operating the interfaces. The questions were presented in a subframe of the interface, in which the subject selected the answer among alternatives, see Figure 7-1. After the three browsers had been completed, the subject filled in a second questionnaire regarding their opinions of the browsers. The experiment lasted for approximately 60 minutes for each subject.

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The instructions, tasks, notes, training material, and questionnaires were all in Swedish, the native language of the subjects.

Hypothesis

The following results are expected from this experiment:

• The iconic browser would be more efficient that either the zoom-and-pan or the bifocal browser

• The zoom-and-pan browser would be more efficient than the bifocal browser

• Students would perform better than non-students

• Students would perform proportionally better with the zoom-and-pan and the bifocal browsers than non-students

• There would be no difference in performance between men and women

Data Analysis

We measured the usability of the three interfaces by estimating effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Effectiveness was estimated by calculating the number of correct answers to the questions for the different interfaces. The efficiency was estimated by calculating for each subject what percentage of time was spent using the three different interfaces. Satisfaction was estimated by letting the subjects value the interfaces on a scale from 1 (bad) to 7 (good). They also commented on how they perceived the different interfaces. No time limit, however, was imposed on the subjects.

We performed a multifactor ANOVA with the total time used to complete one task set with one browser as the dependent variable. Independent variables were browsing technique, student status, age group, gender, task set, and browser order.

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Results

Effectiveness

On a total of 567 tasks (21 x 3 x 9), there were only 18 errors (3%). The errors were evenly distributed among all browsers. Nine errors were incorrect answers, where the notes had been found but misinterpreted. Nine errors were cases where the notes could not be found, and the alternative ”Information missing” was selected.

Table 7-2. Mean time for each browsing technique (*statistically significant, LSD, p < 0.05).

Browsing Technique

Mean time (in seconds)

Iconic 265.0*

Zoom-and-pan 393.2

Bifocal 334.1

230

300

370

440

Iconic Bifocal ZoomBrowsing Technique

Task

Tim

es

Figure 7-5. Means with 95% LSD intervals, browser.

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Efficiency

The ANOVA test found a significant effect for browsing technique (F = 8.33, p = 0.0008), and a significant effect for age group (F = 8.16, p = 0.0062). No significant effect was found for student status, gender, task set, or browser order. There were no significant interactions among experiment factors. Range tests with a 95% Least Significant Difference (LSD), for both browsing technique and age, showed that the iconic browser was significant faster than both the zoom-and-pan browser and the bifocal browser (see Table 7-2 and Figure 7-5). Also, younger participants were shown to be significantly faster than older ones (see Table 7-3 and Figure 7-6).

Table 7-3. Mean times for older and younger participants (*statistically significant, LSD, p < 0.05).

Mean time (one

browser)

Age (over 30) 379.6

Age (under 26)

282.0*

240270300330360390420

Younger Older

User Group

Task

Tim

es

Figure 7-6. Means with 95% LSD intervals, by age.

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Satisfaction

The subjects were asked to rate each technique on a scale from 1 (bad) to 7 (good). The iconic browser received higher means ratings (see Table 7-4). Subject's ratings for the iconic browser centred around 6, while the ratings for the zoom-and-pan browser seemed to be a little lower. The bifocal browser ratings were spread throughout the range with no clear centre (see Figure 7-7).

Table 7-4. Participants' mean rating of satisfaction (1 - 7).

Browsing Technique

Participants’ ratings

Icon 5.6

Zoom-and-pan 4.5

Bifocal 4.4

02468

1012

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Rating

Freq

uenc

y of

Rat

ing

IconicZoomBifocal

Figure 7-7. Distribution of user preference by browser type.

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Discussion

In this investigation, 3 different browsers for visualisation of miniaturised notes on an electronic bulletin board have been compared. The iconic browser was the fastest. The zoom-and-pan was the slowest, although the statistical difference to the bifocal browser was not significant. Especially, older subjects seemed to have problems with the zoom-and-pan browser. Nearly all longer times were in the older group, and the variation was high for this group. One participant was even unable to finish the experiment before another appointment so her data was not included in the analysis. This data suggests that some portion of the older population may have problem with zoom-and-pan interfaces.

As expected, students were faster than non-students, but adding age as a factor showed that all differences could be attributed to age. Although younger subjects performed faster as a group, the percentage of time using each browser was about the same for both groups (see Figure 7-8).

During a pilot test, a typical learning effect with respect to the contents of the bulletin board was seen. The pilot participants spent longer time on the first task in each set. In each successive task, they seemed to have better knowledge of the notes on the bulletin board and were more likely to move directly to the correct note. During the experiment, an extra task was added to allow for training, so in total 10 tasks were present for each bulletin board, and only 9 of them were included in the analysis.

Older

26%

41%

33%

Younger

27%

39%

34%

Iconic Zoom Bifocal

Figure 7-8. Percentage of time used with each browser for participants older than 30 or younger than 26.

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With the iconic browser, subjects used one of two strategies: Either they opened note after note until they found the correct one, or else they tried to identify the correct note from its thumbnail. The iconic browser was familiar to all the subjects, and also easy to use. Some stated that there was too much work involved with opening and closing windows in order to find the right note. One participant expressed a wish for an explanatory line of text under each icon or some other characteristic that would have made it easier to distinguish one note from another.

Many used the zoom-and-pan browser by first zooming in to readable size, and then panning the bulletin board. A few subjects instead zoomed in and out, and used the pan only for the initial size. Half of the subjects did not use the restore button, and only 3 used it more than once for each task. There was no significant difference in performance between subjects who used the restore button and those that did not. Several participants claimed to like the zoom-and-pan browser once they had learned to use it. Other participants complained that they had to use the mouse too much, that it was hard to get an overview, easy to get lost, and that it did not stop zooming when they wanted.

With the bifocal browser, most subjects seemed to search linearly. They seemed to have difficulty with the apparent movement of notes as they moved the magnifier. A few subjects had problem with the mouse being too sensitive to movements and easily moved off of a note after they initially focused on it, while others thought the mouse worked properly. The interaction between the size of the bulletin board, the magnification, the size of the magnified area, and the sensitivity of the mouse must be individually adapted for best results. A couple of the participants stated that they felt as if the bifocal browser was the fastest although they performed better with the iconic browser. Some participants found the bifocal viewer confusing, while others liked it, although ”it required some training”, as one of the subjects said.

As a conclusion, we may say that the iconic browser seems to be both effective and efficient for this task, given use of a conventional computer screen.

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Chapter 8: Synthesis

Introduction

If a support system for family communication should be designed, how would it work? What behaviour would it have? What technology would it use? Here, we would like to present a prototype of a family communication system which will support families in managing their information flow. The system is based on an electronic bulletin board. The requirements gathered from the studies will be stated, an overview of the user interface will be given, the implementation and the design will be presented, and some experience with its use will be presented.

Requirements

The investigations gave rise to the following set of requirements.

For the family tasks:

• Many activities.

Today’s family can be complex; it consists of parents, children, ex-partners, and other relatives. Work outside the home, schools, children’s activities, homework, cooking, and maintaining personal networks are some of the duties that make time a scarce resource. [Chapters 4 and 5]

For management of the information flow:

• Access to information;

Access to information regarding what to do, what to buy, calendar, addresses, and also other kind of information is needed. [Chapter 4]

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• Shared data space between the family and external organizations;

The family members keep in contact with their external networks and doing that through the family communication system is valuable. [Chapter 4]

• Synchronisation of activities;

The possibilities to synchronise activities are important, e.g., at what time will the parents pick up the children for sport activities. [Chapter 4]

• Negotiation among the family members.

The possibility to agree on who should do what is needed. [Chapters 4 and 5]

For multiple places:

• Access from home;

At home, there usually is a command and control centre. It is often in the kitchen. Other places are also used for discussing family matters, such as the dining room and the living room. [Chapters 4, 5 and 6]

• Access from work and school;

Some of the family work is done at work. For example, synchronisation between parents, and checking up on the children’s well being after school. The children spend much time in school, so that place is often used for communication during the school days. [Chapter 4]

• Access when on the move.

When commuting, going shopping or travelling, it is sometimes necessary to access information regarding the family. [Chapters 4 and 5]

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For the devices in use:

• A primary access device at a central place;

An access device with a display of at least A4 size is needed in the command and control centre. It needs a dedicated place at home where everybody can see it and use it. [Chapters 4 and 5]

• Mobile and wireless;

The primary access device must be mobile in order to transport it to family meetings. [Chapter 4]

• Stylus-based input;

When the primary access device is placed in the kitchen, with limited space, a keyboard will be uncomfortable. The use of a stylus will be more convenient, also when the device is moved around at home. [Chapter 4]

• When on the move.

For the occasions when the family members are mobile, a cell-phone or a PDA with radio access will be handy. Sufficiently large screen and input facilities are necessary to be able to interact with the family communication system. [Chapter 4]

For user interfaces:

• Overview + detail;

When presenting much information on a small screen, a technique based on overview + detail seems to work best. [Chapter 7]

• Note browsing and management must be supplied;

Families tend to use more space than is likely to be available on a display, yet notes often overlap and hang over the edges. Clearly, miniaturisation, browsing, and organization functions will be needed. However, each family’s own note placement method should be accommodated. [Chapter 6]

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• Paper must be accommodated;

Although many of the notes may be distributed in electronic form in the future, paper will probably still be in use. Examples are Post-It notes, rebate coupons and free tickets. At home, there will be a need to attach paper notes on the frame of the electronic bulletin board, perhaps on a corkboard. [Chapters 5 and 6]

• No special design for children need be created.

Although much of the material concerned the children in the families, it will be manipulated by the parents for children younger than about twelve. By this age, the children have their own activities, and can also be expected to operate the same interface as their parents. [Chapter 6]

Figure 8-1. Overview of the user interface.

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The User Interfaces

The use of the application on a personal computer is based on drag-and-drop facilities, either using a mouse or using a touch-sensitive screen. On a cell-phone, arrow movements plus selection buttons are used. The computer screen is shown in Figure 8-1, and the cell-phone screen in Figure 8-2. The principal parts are described below.

Each family has its own bulletin board. The information is structured into various flaps for the family members, and each member has a set of five functions: Notes, To-do list, Calendar, Shopping list, and Address book (see Figure 8-1).

To the far left are a number of icons, representing the whole family and each family member. To the far right are a number of icons, representing the different functions: Notes, To-do list, Calendar, Shopping list and Address book. There is also a garbage can, used for throwing away information. In the top middle, there is a writing area. Below the writing area, information is visible; in this case two notes about “Perssons till middag idag (The Perssons for dinner today)” and “Vem hämtar blommorna (Who will pick up the flowers) ?”.

The interface works as a flap–subflap system, where the family member is selected by clicking on the icon to the left, and where the function is selected by clicking on the icon to the right. In this way, individual and function is chosen.

Figure 8-2. The cell-phone interfaces.

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The selected individual and function are represented by yellow frames in the user interface.

New information is entered into the writing area, and will be stored by clicking on the “post” text and drag it to the flap under which to save it.

If a time stamp is wanted on the information (e.g., if it is to be saved in the calendar), the menus on the note will be used.

The information will be accessible from home, and using it should give a homely feeling. It will be accessible from anywhere; from work or school using a personal computer, and when on the move by using a cell-phone.

The Implementation

A prototype implementation was developed to be able to visualise the family communication system. It consisted on one side of a networked Linux server based on an Apache web server, a MySQL database, and a TOMCAT Java servlet machine. On the other side, the personal computer consisted of a Java application running the user interface in AWT, and the mobile terminal was a cell-phone with a built-in WML browser.

The network consisted of an IP-LAN for the server, an IP-LAN for the personal computer, and GPRS for the mobile terminal. On the network, HTTP was used for communication with the personal computer, and WAP for the mobile terminal.

As mark-up languages, HTML and plain text were chosen for the personal computer. WML was chosen for the cell-phone.

Various ways to enter text was included in the prototype: by conventional keyboards, by soft keyboards on the computer screen, by touch sensitive screens, and by using a digital writing pad.

The Design

A terminal-server system was needed to make it possible for the family members to communicate with the electronic bulletin board. On the terminal side, it consisted of an application running the user interface for the family. On the other side, it consisted of a networked server (Nilsson & Söderberg 2001).

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The communication was via the Internet, with TCP. To be able to use terminals without Internet capabilities, for example cell-phones, gateways to other communication protocols were used. In both cases, the application protocol was built upon TCP/IP and/or GSM/GPRS. This is a solution that differs from Fagrell et al. (2000) in that they have several network adapters included in the server part, while our solution includes a gateway that is considered as a network component. In this way, new network architectures will require a change in neither our architecture nor in the implementation, provided the network operator will offer such a gateway.

If we now turn to the information view, a 4-layer architecture has been defined. It consists of a data layer, a selection layer, a visualisation layer, and a manipulation layer, see Figure 8-3.

The data layer contains all relevant data about the family's life. The data is stored in tables; blobs plus relevant information such as time and owner.

Figure 8-3. The 4-layer architecture.

manipulation layer

visualisation layer

selection layer

data layer

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data = family + individual + function + relevant time + reminder time + blob

family is the family the data belongs to

individual is the family member it belongs to

function is what the data will be used for

relevant time is the date and time when the data will be used

reminder time is the date and time when the family will be reminded about the event

blob is the data that the family will use

By keeping content of the data layer semi-structured (Malone et al. 1987), it will be possible to keep the data fixed and move it by changing specific items. E.g., a data item will be changed to belong to another family member by only changing the individual parameter.

The selection layer will contain a subset of all data, selected to consist of data for a specific family and family member.

selection = family * individual * function * data

family is the family the data belongs to

individual is the member of the family for whom the data is relevant

function is what the data will be used for

The visualisation layer will contain the presentation of the selection. The browser will decide how the selected data will be presented.

visualisation = browser * selection

browser is the presentation method used on the chosen terminal

For a personal computer, the browser may be an overview + detail browser, while it may be a linked text list for a cell-phone. For the personal computer, the browser will save the movements so that each terminal may visualise different layouts.

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The manipulation layer contains a complete user interface.

manipulation = interaction tool * visualisation

interaction tool is the equipment and tools that may be used to manipulate the user interface

Experience

A group of colleagues tried the software for two weeks. They thought it was easy to use and that it provided valuable functionality to them. For them, the electronic bulletin board worked like a chat board where they could discuss different matters. They also valued the access to a calendar within the same user interface as well as the to-do list. The functionality was not extensive, but the way it was organized was appreciated.

One family tried the cell-phone interface for a couple of weeks. It was possible to

read information on its limited screen. It was however cumbersome to enter text because it is difficult to find good interfaces for this on traditional cell-phone.

There is a lack of space at home. One family tried a simulated web tablet in their kitchen for a couple of weeks. From this trial, we found out that when making salad, the web tablet didn't disturb the work, but when washing up the dishes, the available space was too limited (see Figure 8-4).

Figure 8-4. The simulated web tablet in the home.

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Discussion

The functionality seems to be accepted by the users of our system. Due to the limited interaction facilities of a cell-phone, this was not seen as good for entering information, although the possibility to access the electronic bulletin board was accepted.

Regarding the limited space in the kitchen, it is important to note that the most successful domestic technologies interleave neatly with the full complexity of social organization of home life; in allowing users to establish their own sets of usage practices (O'Brien et al. 1999). We have seen this in the photo diary study, which is why we allow free placing of notes on the computer screen.

There are a number of topics we would like to investigate further:

• How would this application be used in real life for a longer period of time?

What functions are valuable, and will the application stimulate suggestions for new technology? How will the application fit in with the families' life and the current ways of managing their information flow?

• How will the application be integrated with other means for communication?

Will the application work well with the notes at home? Will audio be needed, so that telephones and answering machines may be integrated into the application? Will access to the electronic bulletin board be possible, using a telephone and speech synthesis?

• Use of other kinds of terminals?

Would it be possible to allow access from a PDA, and would graphical or text information be most suitable for those terminals? Would it be possible to integrate the television set with the information system? Would a game controller be suitable, provided it has communication facilities included?

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Chapter 9: Conclusions and Future Work

Conclusions

Much technology has arrived in the close vicinity of the family. In this research, we have focused on "IT mature" families, that have cell-phones, home computers, and Internet access at home. They were technology friendly, and spent money on it. The families that we investigated also all had children in school.

The families lived very rich lives with many activities, in particular for the children. They have problem managing the children’s sports activities and had to cope with it by negotiating and co-ordinating transport to and from events. Today, families use not only bulletin boards and refrigerator doors for co-ordination, but also telephones, SMS and email.

The families wanted an electronic bulletin board for family information flow. It should consist of a dedicated appliance at home. When outdoors, a mobile terminal or cell-phone should be used to access the electronic bulletin board. At school or at work, a conventional computer screen should be used.

The questions motivating my research were:

• How do the families manage their information flow?

• How do they use information and communication technology (ICT) for this?

• How might they be helped by innovative ICT support?

Methodology

In the thesis, 4 different studies were described, They have used different methods:

• The first two investigations started with a wide focus, so a broad approach was taken.

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• For the third investigation, a field study was performed to understand the use of an artefact at home.

• For the fourth investigation, the study was narrowed down to compare the suitability of 3 different interface principles.

The use of interviews instead of questionnaires gave some surprising insights into the families' lives, which would have been impossible to gather by a questionnaire.

The use of photo diaries gave us insights regarding the dynamics of the bulletin boards that were not part of the family members conscious knowledge, e.g., that there were dedicated areas on the bulletin board for long-time archival. This would never have been revealed through a questionnaire or during an interview session. Observational studies would have been impractical since the changes on the bulletin boards occurred only 2-4 times a week, and most time spent by the bulletin boards would have been wasted.

The laboratory test enabled us to investigate which one of several designs gave best results and was perceived as the preferable system, while using a very limited time period.

What role will the children play? According to Salvador & Mateas (1997), the children's information is used mainly for confirmation. Our experiences are that the children can play an important role in the investigation, by giving information about their lives.

Information flow

Regarding the management of information flow within the families, our findings are:

• Family members spend their time at different locations, not only at home: some children may be at home, some children at school, and the parents at work. This has not been considered sufficiently in the "intelligent home" studies.

• Family members manage their family affairs at different times; they may be busy with professional work or schools during the day, and don't have time

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to be available and disturbed then; instead they may prefer possibilities to decide for themselves when to be disturbed.

• The smaller children will probably not participate as heavily as the older children and the parents.

• In a family, the power situation is not equal, the children will not have the same power as the parents.

Use today

Regarding the use today of ICT for communication within the families, our findings are:

• Family communication may take many forms: synchronous interaction, for instance direct voice communication with family members.

• The availability of ICT has already had an effect on the lives of these families. To get in touch with family members is much easier nowadays compared to the lives only one generation ago. The phone is most important here, but the introduction of messaging (SMS and e-mail) both at home and at work may have an even stronger impact.

Use tomorrow

Regarding the use tomorrow of ICT for communication within the families, our findings are:

• Some family communication may take the form of asynchronous interaction, such as posting messages on a common family bulletin board

• A family communication system may allow all family members to post information about a topic, and about the home, the family, the agenda, questions and comments from both the children, parents and school.

• Family communication systems will be interesting to the family members, provided it will give something new to the family.

• Dedicated devices and appliances will be needed for family communication.

So why would a family use a new tool for communication? There must be some

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novelty aspects, such as:

• Does something that can't be done today

• Is not properly solved today

• Gives something new and interesting

One essential factor for a CSCW application to succeed seems to be that it adds new capabilities to the users. It must give them something they have not been able to achieve before. In our investigation we see three new such capabilities, which might be provided by a family information system:

• Access from outside home is made available: it is, for instance, possible to access the information from work.

• Reminders: it is possible to get reminded about events that will occur in the future. E.g., to bring skates to school tomorrow with a reminder the previous evening.

• Connection to other organizations, e.g. school, shopping centres, football team etc., which makes it possible to have a faster, more active and useful communication with these.

The family situations place certain requirements on our system. First, we noticed that written information to be exchanged among family members was nearly always placed in a central location, e.g., on the refrigerator door. This principle should be maintained for a primary access device. Second, we saw that much communication occurred via telephone, often using existing messaging technology such as voice mail and pagers. This means that a family communication system must be accessible from outside the home. Third, not all communication is among family members. Therefore, there must be a way for important outside organizations such as schools to send messages to the family.

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These requirements, plus technologically limits, give rise to the following set of requirements:

• An access device with a display of at least A4 size;

• The device must be located in a central place;

• Mobile and wireless (to be transported to family meetings);

• Stylus-based input;

• Shared data space between the family and external organizations.

Messaging systems that make the family members reachable all the time are needed. Direct access to each other in order to keep aware of the family members' well being is equally important. Valuable for these aspects are future design of the telecommunication systems.

Busy lives with strong needs for synchronisation and information flow are currently managed by the use of notes on refrigerator doors and bulletin boards, but development of electronic bulletin boards and similar means might simplify these tasks.

Some findings from the study of today´s use of bulletin boards at home were:

• Paper must be accommodated: Although many of the notes may be distributed in electronic form in the future, paper will probably still be in use (e.g., rebate coupons and free tickets). That means there will be a need for places to attach paper notes on the electronic bulletin board, perhaps in the form of a corkboard.

• Note browsing and management must be supplied: Miniaturization, browsing, and organization functions will be needed. However, each family’s own note placement method should be accommodated.

• No special design for children must be created: Although much of the material concerned the children in the families, it was clearly manipulated by the parents for children younger than about twelve. By this age, the children can read and can be expected to operate the same interface as their parents.

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Three different browsers for visualisation of miniaturised notes on an electronic bulletin board have been compared. The iconic browser was the fastest. The zoom-and-pan was the slowest, although the statistical difference to the bifocal browser was not significant. Especially, older subjects seemed to have problems with the zoom-and-pan browser.

As a conclusion, we may say that the iconic browser seems to be both effective and efficient for this task, given use of a conventional computer screen.

Future Work

A number of issues remain for further investigations. Some of these are:

• Longitudinal Studies

These studies have mainly been qualitative, where ethnographical approaches have been used. Vitalari et al. (1985) has investigated how time is spent at home, including use of TV and home computers. They sent out questionnaires to computer users and inquired about their computer use, attitudes, level of satisfaction and demographics. To combine such questionnaires with time-use diaries, qualitative anthropology and home communication diaries can give a rich description of the investigated families (Anderson et al. 1999). A continues repetition over a longer time may show changes in behaviour and attitude. It would be interesting to cross check the differences found from longitudinal studies and our investigations regarding the penetration of ICT usage, with the purpose to compare the findings from those approaches.

• How would a family communication system be used in real life for a longer period of time?

What functions are valuable, and will the communication system stimulate suggestions for new technology? How will the system fit in with family life and the current ways of managing information flow? The actual daily use of an electronic bulletin board within a family would show the behaviour. It would also be possible to understand what functions are used and hence valuable for a family.

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• How will the family communication system be integrated with other means of communication?

Will the system work well with the notes at home? Will audio be needed, so that telephones and answering machines may be integrated into the application? Will access to the electronic bulletin board be possible, using a telephone and speech synthesis?

• Interfaces for children?

We stated earlier that the bulletin boards of today are not used by children by age below 12. But maybe an electronic bulletin board would be suitable for younger children? We would like to test an electronic bulletin board with a drawing and/or audio interface to investigate whether that is usable for young children, when they can make drawing on the bulletin board and/or talk and listen to messages on it.

• Use of other kinds of terminals?

Would it be possible to allow access from a PDA, and would graphical or text information be most suitable for those terminals? Would it be possible to integrate the television set with the information system? Would a game controller be suitable, provided it has communication facilities included?

• Paper must be accommodated;

Although many of the notes may be distributed in electronic form in the future, paper will probably still be in use. At home, there will be a need to attach paper notes on the frame of the electronic bulletin board, perhaps on a corkboard. These notes should be accessible from remote places, so ways for presenting them in digital form need to be developed, with scanner or positioning equipment.

We now think we have both some preliminary results that may be usable for developing a first generation of family communication systems, and some proposals for continuos investigations.

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LINKÖPINGS UNIVERSITET

Rapporttyp Report category

Licentiatavhandling

Examensarbete

C-uppsats

D-uppsats

Övrig rapport

Språk Language

Svenska/Swedish

Engelska/English

Titel Intra-Family Information Flow and Prospects for Communication Systems

Författare Hans Nässla

Sammanfattning Today, information and communication technology is not only for professional use, but also for private tasks. In this thesis, the use of such technology for managing family information flow is investigated. Busy family life today, with school, work and leisure activites, makes coordination and synchronisation a burden. In what way cell-phones and Internet provides a support for those tasks is investigated, together with proposals for future technology. The problem with coordination and synchronisation were found to be managed by a bulletin board placed at a central point at home. Besides the bulletin board, we found that calendars, shopping lists, and to-do lists are important. The families we investigated in field studies were all intensive users of both Internet and cell-phones. Since the bulletin board played such an important role in the family life, we equipped families with cameras to be able to track what happened at those places with help of photo diaries. The field studies revealed that each family had their own unconscious procedure to manage the flow of notes on the bulletin board. With technology, new problem will emerge. We investigated how notes on typical family bulletin boards may be visualised on a computer screen, and compared click-expand, zoom-pan and bifocal interfaces. The click-expand interface was substantially faster for browsing, and also easier to use. An advantage of information and communication technology is that it may provide possibilities for multiple interfaces to information, and not only different terminals but also from different places. At home, a digital refrigerator door or a mobile web tablet; at work or at school, a conventional computer; when on the move, a cell-phone or a PDA. System architecture for these possibilities is presented.

ISBN

ISRN

Serietitel och serienummer ISSN Title of series, numbering

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology

Thesis No. 1110

Nyckelord Keywords

Datum Date

URL för elektronisk version

X

X

2004-07-23

Avdelning, institution Division, department

Institutionen för datavetenskap

Department of Computer and Information Science

Familyware, Groupware, Bulletin boards, Information flow, User-centered design, Design ethnography, Home, Interaction design, Family communication

91-85295-09-4

0280-7971

LiU-Tek-Lic-2004:39

Department of Computer and Information ScienceLinköpings universitet

Linköping Studies in Science and TechnologyFaculty of Arts and Sciences - Licentiate Theses

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