InPhase: a communication system focused on "happy coincidences" of daily behaviors

To supplement existing forms of communication such as telephone and e-mail, this research proposes a new method of communicating "awareness" between people who are separated by long distances. In this paper, we investigate cases where coincidences in daily behaviors lead to casual conversation and thus intimacy and togetherness. We propose a new method of communicating these "happy coincidences" between a pair of remotely located houses. By equipping furniture and appliances such as doors, sofas, refrigerators and televisions with sensors, we developed a system where these items are connected to remote equivalents and their near simultaneous use is communicated.