Hug over a distance

People in close relationships, who are separated by distance, often have difficulty expressing intimacy adequately. Based on the results of an ethnographic study with couples, a prototype was developed to test the feasibility of technology in the domain of intimacy. Hug Over a Distance is an air-inflatable vest that can be remotely triggered to create a sensation resembling a hug. Although the couples did not consider the vest to be useful in their daily lives, the prototype served to provoke and stimulate design ideas from the couples during participative design workshops. An additional and unexpected benefit was also found: the prototype enhanced the couples' understanding of the researchers' methods, suggesting that prototypes can serve as tools to make participatory design volunteers aware of their importance in academic research. Author Keywords Social interaction, haptic interface, tactile display, remote interaction, intimacy, participatory design, wearable computing,...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Florian Mueller, Frank Vetere, Martin R. Gibbs, Jesper Kjeldskov, Sonja Pedell, Steve Howard
• Keywords: CHI 2005, Difficulty Expressing Intimacy, Human Computer Interaction, Keywords Social Interaction, Participatory Design Volunteers