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Demanding by Design: Supporting Effortful Communication Practices in Close Personal Relationships

Authors:

Bhagyashree Patil,

Leon WattsAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

Pages 70 - 83

https://doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998184

Published: 25 February 2017 Publication History

Abstract

The investment of effort into personal communication can be highly meaningful to people, and has particular significance for the mediation of close relationships. This paper presents qualities of effort investment that are seen to be valuable. Furthermore, we consider how these qualities might sensitise designers of communication technologies to the meaningfulness of effort. We report a qualitative study focusing on individual descriptions of meaningful effort invested into everyday correspondence. We encapsulate our findings in the form of five qualities that characterise valued effort: discretionary investment, personal craft, focused time, responsiveness to the recipient, and challenge to a sender's capacities. Drawing on ideas generated in brainstorming sessions, we present two illustrative concepts for new communication technologies, highlighting how our findings can guide the creation of designed artefacts.

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Cited By

Baughan ATian LShekar PZhang AHiniker A(2024)Supporting Hard Conversations in Close Relationships Through DesignProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869188:CSCW2(1-22)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686918
Kim JWolfe RChordia IDavis KHiniker A(2024)"Sharing, Not Showing Off": How BeReal Approaches Authentic Self-Presentation on Social Media Through Its DesignProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869098:CSCW2(1-32)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686909
Kelly RXing YBaker SWaycott J(2023)Video Calls as a Replacement for Family Visits During Lockdowns in Aged Care: Interview Study With Family MembersJMIR Aging10.2196/409536(e40953)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/40953
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Index Terms

Demanding by Design: Supporting Effortful Communication Practices in Close Personal Relationships
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

February 2017

2556 pages

ISBN:9781450343350

DOI:10.1145/2998181

General Chairs:
Charlotte P. Lee
University of Washington
,
Steve Poltrock
Retired
,
Program Chairs:
Louise Barkhuus
Stockholm University and Cornell Tech
,
Marcos Borges
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
,
Wendy Kellogg
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Copyright © 2017 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 25 February 2017

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Leverhulme Trust

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CSCW '17

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SIGCHI

CSCW '17: Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

February 25 - March 1, 2017

Oregon, Portland, USA

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CSCW '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 183 of 530 submissions, 35%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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CSCW '25

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October 18 - 22, 2025

Bergen , Norway

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Cited By

Baughan ATian LShekar PZhang AHiniker A(2024)Supporting Hard Conversations in Close Relationships Through DesignProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869188:CSCW2(1-22)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686918
Kim JWolfe RChordia IDavis KHiniker A(2024)"Sharing, Not Showing Off": How BeReal Approaches Authentic Self-Presentation on Social Media Through Its DesignProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869098:CSCW2(1-32)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686909
Kelly RXing YBaker SWaycott J(2023)Video Calls as a Replacement for Family Visits During Lockdowns in Aged Care: Interview Study With Family MembersJMIR Aging10.2196/409536(e40953)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/40953
Liu BKang JWei L(2023)Artificial intelligence and perceived effort in relationship maintenance: Effects on relationship satisfaction and uncertaintyJournal of Social and Personal Relationships10.1177/0265407523118989941:5(1232-1252)Online publication date: 18-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075231189899
Jain GTeng YCho DXing YAziz MSmith B(2023)"I Want to Figure Things Out": Supporting Exploration in Navigation for People with Visual ImpairmentsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35794967:CSCW1(1-28)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3579496
Spence JKoleva BBenford SDarzentas DFlintham MGlover KWagner HGibson RThorn E(2023)“More than a cliché”: Experiencing Hybrid Gifting in the WildACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/357701530:4(1-31)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3577015
Valencia SCave RKallarackal KSeaver KTerry MKane S(2023)“The less I type, the better”: How AI Language Models can Enhance or Impede Communication for AAC UsersProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581560(1-14)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581560
Jiang YDing XMa XSun ZGu N(2023)IntimaSea: Exploring Shared Stress Display in Close RelationshipsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581000(1-19)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581000
Zhao WKelly RRogerson MWaycott J(2023)Older Adults Using Technology for Meaningful Activities During COVID-19: An Analysis Through the Lens of Self-Determination TheoryProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580839(1-17)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3580839
Kwon H(2022)Exploring Digital Gifting RitualsArchives of Design Research10.15187/adr.2022.05.35.2.7335:2(73-85)Online publication date: 31-May-2022
https://doi.org/10.15187/adr.2022.05.35.2.73
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