Tangible User Interfaces - Fall 2011

Facilitating communication over distance has been the topic of a lot of recent research. Most of the research that has been done in this area is about creating a feeling of presence. For this project a different direction was taken. Instead of creating the sense of presence, the main focus of this project was to find a way with which people could share their experiences over distance. After several iterations a prototype was build to show the concept. This prototype included two maps of California, USA. Two people who are far away from each other would each have a map. By using a small screen as a pointer, the one person could tell the other person where he or she has been by placing the pointer somewhere on the map. The other person would then see that this person has been to a specific location, and can then put her screen on that location as well. By doing so, she can then see pictures, the map with a more exact location and the weather of the place where that person has been. We argue that by using this kind of interface, the gap between mostly older people who are not familiar with services like Facebook or Flickr and young people who travel a lot is bridged.