Photo mementos: Designing digital media to represent ourselves at home

Abstract

We examine photos in the family home as examples of mementos, cherished objects kept in memory of a person or event. In a 'memory tour', we asked participants to walk us through their family home selecting and discussing significant mnemonic objects. With each personal narrative we recorded memento location, i.e. the room, place within the room and any nearby objects. Although photos were not the most popular mementos, when chosen they were highly significant, and often unique. These photo mementos were usually not representational but symbolic, where only the owner knows their many layers of meaning. Photos from different times in the person's life were strategically placed in different rooms. Their location afforded different functions, e.g. photo mementos in family spaces reinforced family bonds, photo mementos in personal spaces were for immersive reminiscing, whereas those in public rooms had an aesthetic value and to spark conversations with visitors. Finally photo mementos were rarely isolated: they were clustered in displayed albums or stored with other memorabilia in boxes or drawers to represent a stage in life. We explore the implications of these findings by designing potential new home photo technologies, looking at how new designs might support the types of behaviours observed. Through four conceptual designs we examine how photo technology might integrate into the practices and aesthetic of the family home. The concepts led to a set of concluding considerations that need to be taken into account when designing new forms of display technology that are part of a larger domestic photo system.

A life story in three parts: the use of triptychs to make sense of personal digital data

“…More recently, the triptych has gained a foothold in popular culture, used to create memorabilia depicting weddings and graduations. Previous work has emphasised the importance of physical photographs for remembering [12] and their affordances when placed in different environments-mementos in a family space can emphasise those bonds, whereas photographs placed in a private space afford immersive reminiscing [13].…”

Making memories

“…Many designs have been made to explore ways to interact with the cues that we currently own. Photohelix [20], Pearl [27] and NeverFadeAway [38], for instance, explore the interactive display of photos in the home environment. Caraclock [41], Cueb [16] and 4Photos [4] are also based on digital photos, but have a very social focus: photos are presented in certain combinations to spark conversations.…”

MyEvents: A Personal Visual Analytics Approach for Mining Key Events and Knowledge Discovery in Support of Personal Reminiscence

“…Prior work on physical mementos shows the importance of everyday objects for reminiscence [PWB08]. Digital mementos have attracted significant attention in recent years [KW11, NGN08, PBW14, PW10, vdH14, WKP*12]. Compared with many of the previous works, this paper casts its focus on the recall of a set of key events that an individual experienced in their personal history, thus facilitating a significant part of reminiscence by bringing back memories at key locations such as home, school, work place, holidays and other activity venues.…”