4Photos: a collaborative photo sharing experience

In this paper, we describe the iterative design and user study of "4Photos", a multi-screen table centrepiece allowing media content to be shared and enjoyed in a social setting. It was our intention to design an object with the purpose to gather qualitative data concerning the social effects of new ways of democratic, serendipitous and playful photo sharing. To facilitate this we used online photo repository content that most often gets experienced in an individual setting. Using 4Photos we positioned this content within a social setting and observed how the presentation of these images enabled new ways of 'phototalk' to arise. We describe the design process, the final concept and reflect upon observed practices that emerged from people's usage of 4Photos. We then present several design implications and discuss future directions for continuation of this research.

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