Making love in the network closet: the benefits and work of family videochat

In this paper, we explore the benefits of videochat for families and the corresponding work that home users engage in to make a video call run smoothly. We explore the varieties of social work required, including coordination work, presentation work, behavioral work, and scaffolding work, as well as the technical work necessary. We outline the benefits families enjoy for doing this work and discuss the ways in which families use videochat to reinforce their identity as a family and reinforce their family values, in effect making – as in creating – love. We conclude with recommendations for improving videochat and for designing with family values in mind more generally. Author Keywords Home networking, family, home, values, video, videochat, videoconferencing , identity ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous. General Terms Design, Human Factors

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Janet Go, Joseph Kaye, Mirjana Spasojevic, Morgan G. Ames
• Keywords: Corresponding Work, CSCW 2010, Presentation Work, Scaffolding Work, Social Sciences