Mediating intimacy

TLDR

Intimacy is a key element of domestic life, yet how interactive technologies are used within intimate relationships and how to design them to support intimate acts remains poorly understood. This study aims to fill that gap by investigating and designing technologies for intimate relationships. We employed cultural probes, contextual interviews, and other ethnographically informed techniques to explore technology use in intimacy, then used the resulting themes to inform and prototype design concepts. The research produced a thematic understanding of intimacy and how interactional technologies can support intimate acts.

Abstract

Intimacy is a crucial element of domestic life, and many interactive technologies designed for other purposes have been appropriated for use within intimate relationships. However, there is a deficit in current understandings of how technologies are used within intimate relationships, and how to design technologies to support intimate acts. In this paper we report on work that has addressed these deficits. We used cultural probes and contextual interviews and other ethnographically informed techniques to investigate how interactive technologies are used within intimate relationships. From this empirical work we generated a thematic understanding of intimacy and the use of interactional technologies to support intimate acts. We used this understanding to inform the design of intimate technologies. A selection of our design concepts is also presented.