Intra-family messaging with family circles

This chapter makes the argument that intra-family communication is not an issue of connectivity anytime anywhere, but of providing communication media that are flexible and expressive allowing families to appropriate them and fit their own idiosyncratic ways of communicating with each other. We examine households with working parents and teenage children who are starting to find their own way in life, developing separate routines and social networks outside the family. We found that despite both generations being users of various modern media, opportunities for communication are not always taken and there is a less than desired exchange of expressive and affective messages. We sketch this design space by briefly describing some earlier works. Furthermore we present a reflective account of the design of Family Circles and some lessons learnt from its preliminary evaluation.