Love Is All You Need: User Preferences of Strategies for Mediating Intimate Relationships Through Technology

Yulia Silina,Anne Hsu,Adela Apetroaia

doi:10.14236/ewic/hci2018.28

Yulia Silina, Anne Hsu + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/hci2018.28

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Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Queen Mary University of London, Newham College

Abstract

Maintaining a sense of relatedness with loved-ones is one of the top human needs and predictors of wellbeing. HCI research has increasingly focused on the ways and implications of mediating relatedness through technology. However, current research is at times removed from established theories in related disciplines and it lacks consistent tools for selecting user groups and appropriate interaction strategies. Our paper identifies the characteristics of potential users of tech-mediated devices in conjunction with related disciplines. It then examines users’ preferences for the six Strategies of Mediating Intimate Relationships though Technology , identified by Hassenzahl et al. in the paper “ All you need is Love ”, in interaction within different types of relationships (with friends, partners, siblings, etc.). Our paper proposes expanding these strategies to account for varied levels of reciprocity and for essential/unwanted strategies identified by users in different types of relationships. It concludes with implications and suggestions for future research.

Highlights

1.1 Computer-Mediated Intimate Relationships by researchers for designing artefact that mediate intimate relationships through technology (Figure 1).It is widely agreed that “love, and general feeling of being related to significant others are crucial to people‟s life satisfaction and happiness” (Hassenzahl at al., 2012), and that maintaining the sense of relatedness is one of the top human needs (Sheldon et al, 2001)
We propose a set of eleven Expanded Mediation Strategies (Table 3)
Our findings suggest that users are inclined to prefer different Expanded Mediation Strategies in different types of relationships

Summary

Introduction

It is widely agreed that “love, and general feeling of being related to significant others are crucial to people‟s life satisfaction and happiness” (Hassenzahl at al., 2012), and that maintaining the sense of relatedness ( known in HCI as connectedness, intimacy, love, belonging, closeness, or togetherness) is one of the top human needs (Sheldon et al, 2001). There are many means of communication that help loved-ones to stay in touch, from analogue keepsakes and letters to video-conferencing and complex social networks (Wright & Webb, 2010). There is a subset of augmented keepsake-like artefacts that enhance the sense of relatedness to loved-ones (LO) and maintain their psychological closeness. Authors pointed out gaps in the knowledge, highlighted inconsistencies in tools and methodologies, and the lack of incorporation of established research from other related disciplines. Summarizing the approaches described in previous HCI papers, the authors identified six reciprocal strategies employed

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