Photo mementos: designing digital media to represent ourselves at home

We examine photos in the family home as examples of mementos, cherished objects kept in memory of a person or event. In a ‘memory tour’, we asked participants to walk us through their family home selecting and discussing significant mnemonic objects. With each personal narrative we recorded memento location, i.e. the room, place within the room and any nearby objects. Although photos were not the most popular mementos, when chosen they were highly significant, and often unique. These photo mementos were usually not representational but symbolic, where only the owner knows their many layers of meaning. Photos from different times in the person’s life were strategically placed in different rooms. Their location afforded different functions, e.g. photo mementos in family spaces reinforced family bonds, photo mementos in personal spaces were for immersive reminiscing, whereas those in public rooms had an aesthetic value and to spark conversations with visitors. Finally photo mementos were rarely isolated: they were clustered in displayed albums or stored with other memorabilia in boxes or drawers to represent a stage in life. We explore the implications of these findings by designing potential new home photo technologies, looking at how new designs might support the types of behaviours observed. Through four conceptual designs we examine how photo technology might integrate into the practices and aesthetic of the family home. The concepts led to a set of concluding considerations that need to be taken into account when designing new forms of display technology that are part of a larger domestic photo system

The ethics of forgetting in an age of pervasive computing

In this paper, we examine the potential of pervasive computing to create widespread sousveillance, that will complement surveillance, through the development of lifelogs; socio-spatial archives that document every action, every event, every conversation, and every material expression of an individual’s life. Examining lifelog projects and artistic critiques of sousveillance we detail the projected mechanics of life-logging and explore their potential implications. We suggest, given that lifelogs have the potential to convert exterior generated oligopticons to an interior panopticon, that an ethics of forgetting needs to be developed and built into the development of life-logging technologies. Rather than seeing forgetting as a weakness or a fallibility we argue that it is an emancipatory process that will free pervasive computing from burdensome and pernicious disciplinary effects

From PhotoWork to PhotoUse: exploring personal digital photo activities

© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. People accumulate large collections of digital photos, which they use for individual, social, and utilitarian purposes. In order to provide suitable technologies for enjoying our expanding photo collections, it is essential to understand how and to what purpose these collections are used. Contextual interviews with 12 participants in their homes explored the use of digital photos, incorporating new photo activities that are offered by new technologies. Based on the qualitative analysis of the collected data, we give an overview of current photo activities, which we term PhotoUse. We introduce a model of PhotoUse, which emphasises the purpose of photo activities rather than the tools to support them. We argue for the use of our model to design tools to support the user’s individual and social goals pertaining to PhotoUse

Design directions for media-supported collocated remembering practices

Since the widespread adoption of digital photography, people create many digital photos, often with the intention to use them for shared remembering. Practices around digital photography have changed along with advances in media sharing technologies such as smartphones, social media, and mobile connectivity. Although much research was done at the start of digital photography, commercially available tools for media-supported shared remembering still have many limitations. The objective of our research is to explore spatial and material design directions to better support the use of personal photos for collocated shared remembering. In this paper, we present seven design requirements that resulted from a redesign workshop with fifteen participants, and four design concepts (two spatial, two material) that we developed based on those requirements. By reflecting on the requirements and designs we conclude with challenges for interaction designers to support collocated remembering practices

Materialising Memories: Design Research to Support Remembering

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Photography, music and memory: pieces of the past in everyday life

This book explores how photography and recorded music act as vehicles or catalysts in processes of remembering, and how they are regarded, treated, valued and drawn upon as resources connecting past and present in everyday life

Mother as curator: performance, family and ethics

This thesis attends to the mother-artist developing a performance-based practice with her family in the home. This is a practice-as-research exploration which integrates areas of maternal ethics and the mother-artist, family and narrative enquiry, the home and sited practices. It consists of a written dissertation, three full (larger) scale installations set within the family home, Trace (2013), Reclaiming the Ritual (2014), 31 Days Old (2016), and a series of smaller works Bed Bound (2014) and Children’s Practice (2014-17), plus digital documentation. The main argument focuses on the role of the mother-artist who initiates an art making practice with her family and considers the personal, professional and ethical questions that can arise. Furthermore, weaving throughout the thesis is the development of what I call, ‘Mother Ethics’ - emphasising a sensitive approach to art-making with children and family, and considering practices and implications of exploring the home as a site for the dissemination of an art practice. The methodology is developed from the position of the mother and uses practice-as research creative methodologies alongside narrative enquiry, and memory work. It employs sensitive approaches to documentation, and anecdotal writing modes. This thesis is situated and contextualised within theoretical fields of maternal studies, maternal ethics, narrative studies, and site-specific dance practices. The key arguments have been developed through engaging with Sara Ruddick, Lisa Baraitser, Iris Marion Young, Llangellier and Peterson, Jerome Bruner, and Mike Pearson. For the purpose of situating my own work and drawing upon the practices of others in the related worlds of maternal, family and home, I have drawn upon current practices and discourses in particular Mary Kelly, Lena Simic, Grace Surman, Lenka Clayon, Jo Spence, and The Institute for Art and Practice of Dissent at Home

A holistic design perspective on media capturing and reliving

Copyright © 2016 ACM. People capture far more media than they are able to relive. In this paper we identify the discrepancy between media capturing and media reliving from a design perspective. We propose a holistic perspective, that invites designers of media experiences to considering all three interdependent aspects of the media process: media capturing interaction, specific media, and media reliving interaction. By adopting this view, we aim to ensure that the media that is captured will be both necessary and appropriate for the intended reliving experience. We illustrate our perspective with three design concepts. Finally, in the discussion we present several topics related to media capturing and reliving