Design applications for social remembering

With the increasing availability of technology, the number of digital media people create, such as digital photos, has exploded. At the same time, the number of media they organize has decreased. Many personal media are created for mnemonic reasons, but are often not used as intended or desired. We see this as a design opportunity for supporting new experiences using personal digital media. Our people-centered design perspectives start in the real world, in people’s everyday lives, in which remembering is often a social and collaborative activity. This social activity involves multiple people in different situations, and includes digital media that can serve as memory cues. In this chapter, we present six concept designs for interactive products, specifically conceived to support everyday remembering activities that vary in their degree of socialness. From these concepts, five design characteristics emerge: social situation; type of event; social effect; media process; and media interaction.