Title Page
Abstract
Contents
I. Introduction 14
1.1. Personal Motivation 14
1.2. Background 15
1.3. Research Aim and Objectives 16
1.4. Thesis Statement 17
1.5. Structure of the Thesis 17
II. Literature Review 18
2.1. Intergenerational Remote Communication Systems 18
2.2. Alternative Systems for the Elderly to Access Existing Digital Communication 19
III. Birdy 21
3.1. Design Goal and Iterative Design Process 21
3.2. Design Features 22
3.2.1. Messaging through Paper-based Handwriting and Printed emoji 22
3.2.2. Mapping the Expressions of Digital Information Using Physical Properties 23
3.3. Interaction 24
3.3.1. Receiving Messages 24
3.3.2. Sending Messages 25
3.4. Implementation 25
3.4.1. Hardware 25
3.4.2. Software 26
IV. User Study 27
4.1. Participants and Deployment 27
4.2. Interview and Data Collection 31
4.3. Data Analysis 32
V. Finding 35
5.1. Landing Aged Parents on Digital Communication through Birdy 35
5.1.1. Accessing Digital Communication via Handwriting and Paper-based Interaction 35
5.1.2. Forming Everyday Communication through a Physical Medium 35
5.2. Asynchronous Text Communication through Digital Messenger 36
5.2.1. Resolving Communication Barriers through Asynchronous Messaging 36
5.2.2. Diversifying Conversation from Small Talk to Daily Stories 37
5.3. Expressive Handwritten Paper Messages 38
5.3.1. Shaping the Tones of the Handwritten Text Message 38
5.3.2. Providing Written Cues in Paper Messages 39
5.4. The Role of the Paper in Digital Messaging 40
5.4.1. Inducing Comfort and Old memories by Manipulating with Paper 40
5.4.2. Checking the Message History by Storing the Paper 41
VI. Discussion 42
6.1. Designing Digital Communication Systems for Old Generations 42
6.2. Designing Intergenerational Communication Systems 43
6.3. Analog-digital Messaging for Affective Communication 43
VII. Conclusion 45
7.1. Conclusion 45
7.2. Limitations & Future Work 45
References 46
Table 1. Summary of each family participants' communication experience prior to using Birdy 30
Table 2. Summary of the interview contents during the study 31
Table 3. Number and types of messages sent by each family participant for three weeks 34
Figure 1. Representing two main personal motivations. (left: Meemo, which is an interactive physical... 14
Figure 2. Birdy deployed in one aged parent's (F4-P) home (left). Children checking handwritten mes-... 16
Figure 3. Previous studies in intergenerational remote communication systems 19
Figure 4. Previous studies in alternative systems for the elderly to access existing digital communication 20
Figure 5. The iterative design process of Birdy prototype 21
Figure 6. Three types of Birdy in initial sketches 22
Figure 7. Three of the final prototypes of Birdy in different colors 22
Figure 8. a and b) The details of the emoji-book and blank cards, and c) all types of round-squared paper emojis 23
Figure 9. The details of Birdy prototype. a) Display and buttons of front part, b) Paper message inserting... 23
Figure 10. Interaction sequence of Birdy. a) Grand-/children is sending a text message 'How are you... 25
Figure 11. Overall software system architecture and hardware structure of Birdy 26
Figure 12. The hardware components of Birdy (left) and the detailed inner structure of Birdy (right) 26
Figure 13. Emoji detection trials (left: using a barcode, right: using Google teachable machine) 27
Figure 14. Overview of user study 27
Figure 15. a) Poster for recruiting participants, and b) Result of online survey 28
Figure 16. Birdy in situ. a) F1-GP's Birdy, placed on her table in the living room, b) F2-GP's Birdy, kept... 30
Figure 17. Zoom interview for collecting qualitative data (left) and log data of Telegram and Birdy (right) 31
Figure 18. Examples of paper messages during the field study. a) F1-GP's messages showing messages... 32
Figure 19. Affinity diagram 32
Figure 20. The number of messages of each family participant over three weeks. Messages include all... 33
Figure 21. The time when each type of message was sent (left) and the total number of messages (right)... 34