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

Fluid Fascinations

De Art & Science show “Fluid Fascinations��? omvat een presentatie over de wetenschappelijke context, inclusief een live experiment (ontworpen samen met kunstenaar/designer Wout Zweers); en, gemengde media en olieverfschilderijen, en digitale fotowerken van kunstenares Valerie Zwart. De show is gebaseerd op de collectie van dia’s en foto’s van Professor Howell Peregrine (1938-2007). Howell was een Brits toegepast wiskundige inzonderheid voor stromingsleer en watergolven, een redacteur van het fameuze tijdschrift Journal of Fluid Mechanics gedurende 28 jaar, en een begaafd amateurfotograaf. Het boeiende van Peregrine’s dia’s en foto’s zit hem in hun iconische wetenschappelijke waarde. Hij gebruikte zijn eigen beelden dikwijls om ideeën over brekende golven en uiteenspattend water te introduceren en uit te werken in zijn onderzoeksartikelen. Wij hebben ons er door laten inspireren. De introductie (pdf-bestand) in de eprints is tweetalig. Beelden van de kunstwerken zijn te vinden op: http://www.zw-artprojects.nl/fluidgallery.html The Art & Science show “Fluid Fascinations��? consists of a presentation on the scientific context, including a live experiment (made together with artist/designer Wout Zweers); and, mixed media and oil paintings, and digital photoworks of artist Valerie Zwart. The show draws from the photographic images of the late Professor Howell Peregrine (1938-2007). Howell was a British applied mathematician on fluid mechanics and water waves, an editor of the famous Journal of Fluid Mechanics for 28 years, and a gifted amateur photographer. The quality of Peregrine’s slides and photographs lies in their iconic scientific value. He was known for using his images to convey and introduce key ideas on breaking waves and splashing fluids in his research articles. We are inspired by his work. The introduction (pdf-file) in these eprints is bilingual. Images of the art works are found at: http://www.zw-artprojects.nl/fluidgallery.htm

Easy on that trigger dad: a study of long term family photo retrieval

We examine the effects of new technologies for digital photography on people's longer term storage and access to collections of personal photos. We report an empirical study of parents' ability to retrieve photos related to salient family events from more than a year ago. Performance was relatively poor with people failing to find almost 40% of pictures. We analyze participants' organizational and access strategies to identify reasons for this poor performance. Possible reasons for retrieval failure include: storing too many pictures, rudimentary organization, use of multiple storage systems, failure to maintain collections and participants' false beliefs about their ability to access photos. We conclude by exploring the technical and theoretical implications of these findings

Easy on that trigger dad: a study of long term family photo retrieval

We examine the effects of new technologies for digital photography on people's longer term storage and access to collections of personal photos. We report an empirical study of parents' ability to retrieve photos related to salient family events from more than a year ago. Performance was relatively poor with people failing to find almost 40% of pictures. We analyze participants' organizational and access strategies to identify reasons for this poor performance. Possible reasons for retrieval failure include: storing too many pictures, rudimentary organization, use of multiple storage systems, failure to maintain collections and participants' false beliefs about their ability to access photos. We conclude by exploring the technical and theoretical implications of these findings

Manual engagement and automation in amateur photography

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Automation has been central to the development of modern photography and, in the age of digital and smartphone photography, now largely defines everyday experience of the photographic process. In this article, we question the acceptance of automation as the default position for photography, arguing that discussions of automation need to move beyond binary concerns of whether to automate or not and, instead, to consider what is being automated and the degree of automation couched within the particularities of people’s practices. We base this upon findings from ethnographic fieldwork with people engaging manually with film-based photography. While automation liberates people from having to interact with various processes of photography, participants in our study reported a greater sense of control, richer experiences and opportunities for experimentation when they were able to engage manually with photographic processes

Uses and Gratifications of digital photo sharing on Facebook

Despite the rapid adoption of Facebook as a means of photo sharing, minimal research has been conducted to understand user gratification behind this activity. In order to address this gap, the current study examines users’ gratifications in sharing photos on Facebook by applying Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory. An online survey completed by 368 respondents identified six different gratifications, namely, affection, attention seeking, disclosure, habit, information sharing, and social influence, behind sharing digital photos on Facebook. Some of the study’s prominent findings were: age was in positive correlation with disclosure and social influence gratifications; gender differences were identified among habit and disclosure gratifications; number of photos shared was negatively correlated with habit and information sharing gratifications. The study’s implications can be utilized to refine existing and develop new features and services bridging digital photos and social networking services.Peer reviewe

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

Practices Surrounding Event Photos

Sharing photos through mobile devices has a great potential for creating shared experiences of social events between co-located as well as remote participants. In order to design novel event sharing tools, we need to develop indepth understanding of current practices surrounding these so called ‘event photos’- photos about and taken during different social events such as weddings picnics, and music concert visits among others. We studied people’s practices related to event photos through in-depth interviews, guided home visits and naturalistic observations. Our results show four major themes describing practices surrounding event photos: 1) representing events, 2) significant moments, 3) situated activities through photos, and 4) collectivism and roles of participants