Presence-in-absence is a subjective feeling of a significant other when he or she is not physically co-present and several emerging technologies increasingly aim to support this feeling of presence. However, no established framework for designing presence-in-absence technologies exists. We report on the design and evaluation of two novel technologies for supporting the experience of an absent significant other being present i.e. presence-in-absence. On the basis of a longitudinal field study of communication in romantic relationships, we constructed two technology sketches with the purpose of supporting presence-in-absence by employing graphical code languages: the Cube and the Picture Frame. The results of a subsequent evaluation involving potential users potentially inform the design of future presence-in-absence technologies.
['Kasper Garnæs', 'Olga Grünberger', 'Jesper Kjeldskov', 'Mikael B. Skov']
Designing technologies for presence-in-absence: illustrating the Cube and the Picture Frame