InTouch: Crossing Social Interaction with Perception

With visual feedback serving as a major output of current social interaction through Internet, we aim to explore how alternative sensory outputs can enrich the experience of mediated social interaction. Thoughtfully making design choices, we deliver an artifact called InTouch to address the qualities we are interested in. InTouch consists of four sections in a wooden box surfaced with elastic Lycra. Each section stands for a communication link with a friend. By pressing a link, an individual can express her consideration for a friend. When pressed, the color changes from blue to red, while raising the temperature on a friends’ device. The temperature of each link is provided from a thermoelectric cooler (TEC), turning hot or cold based on the input electrical current. One movement triggers two senses, namely touch and vision, forming perceptual-crossings as perceiving while being perceived. In addition to the description of the system, we discuss the motivation and concept behind design, present a pilot test and point out directions for future work.