Supporting the distributed family: The need for a conversational context

Abstract

Two studies on how to support communication between grandparents and grandchildren are presented. The first study, an interview with 12 parents, investigates the conversation between grandparents and grandchildren in face-to-face and phone situations. The results of the study suggest that in the face-to-face situation conversation is closely tied to the concurrent activity. The phone does not support this kind of conversation. This might explain why the calls are short and infrequent. In the second study, alternative communication technologies are studied using a focus group. Two of them aimed at sharing a context for conversation. They were well received. The technology that supports always-on connection was objected due to privacy concerns. Copyright 2004 ACM.