We'll Stay in Touch - Intuitive Communication Means for Social Connectedness

Abstract

One of the dominant aspects in people’s well-being is social connectedness, which refers to the subjective awareness of being in close interpersonal, meaningful, and positive social relationships and social contexts. We study whether new services and high-tech products can help to increase connectedness between members of a small community, such as a family. A multidisciplinary approach is adopted in which technical and Human Factors knowledge are combined. The technology approach is strongly based on rapid prototyping, extending, reusing, and integrating existing devices and services in a novel, innovative way. Human Factors knowledge aims at user-centred design and evaluation of user experiences.

Keywords: Social connectedness, photo sharing, user experiences, evaluation

JEL Classification: I19,J14,C93