Developing interaction styles to support informal communication at home

In this paper we describe FRlDGE, an experimental prototype of an informal home messaging appliance, that combines the use of paper and electronic media. It allows two-handed input, combining a graspable user interface and pen input. The paper describes the design rationale for the application and the findings of an early user test. The less experienced participants were less forgiving about some of the limitations of the technology than the participants with more computer experience. Overall, the findings show that participants were quickly able to use the application and that they liked the idea of combining paper and electronic media.