Pearl : living media enabled by interactive photo projection

Abstract People capture more and more photographs leading to large personal photo collections that require much time and effort to organize. A lack of organization can have a negative effect on photo retrieval and photo sharing. In this user-centred design case study, we have explored new possibilities for organizing and sharing photographs. To organize photographs, the concept living media was created; automatic positive selection based on which photographs are viewed more often and viewed for a longer time. These photographs are apparently more interesting, and therefore, they will keep their appearance; less popular photographs will slowly fade to black over time. To share living media away from the computer, the device Pearl was designed. Pearl has an integrated pico projector that projects an interactive collage of living media in a living room. Interaction with the collage, such as deleting unwanted photographs from the collage, gives input to the selection procedure of living media. Placing Pearl at a distance creates a larger projection size, suitable for sharing photographs with a group of people. Our design is evaluated in two small-user studies, where we found benefits and challenges of using a combination of positive selection and pico projectors for photowork and photo sharing.