Idea / Problem / Context
Cultural connectedness and social behavior transformed as media experiences shifted from collective to personal. With the first scheduled radio broadcast in 1920, society acquired a new common thread. Scheduled television and radio broadcasts carried with them an implicit occasion. The timed nature of media broadcasts harmonized social groups and fostered a collective cultural rhythm. Our media experiences now focus upon media selection with the goal of creating a comfortable media space more appropriate than broadcast media could ever provide. Although this helps to forge richer personal involvement with media, it also contributes to a form of social and cultural isolation. However, the highly personal nature of our media selections offers opportunities to build meaningful media-related social behaviors and relationships. Since media selections are implicit expressions of oneself, they can serve as criteria for the creation of social situations involving people who are non-trivially alike. Due to the now personal nature of our media habits, coincidences of media selection between people are indicative of a meaningful similarity. These meaningful coincidences can act as a mechanism to reintroduce media-centered social occasions.
What is it?
An
engaging design space is defined by systems that recognize and present
interpersonal coincidences of media selection. The "Occasional
Coincidences" project comprises a set of design concepts for
media-related coincidence systems with social aims.
The Sync Television system is intended to spark dialog between friends simultaneously watching related television shows or movies; perhaps movies made in the same decade or television shows of the same series.
Finally, the Musicincidence software application enables people to actively search for coincidences by specifying criteria for coincidence matching. The software maintains a real-time music coincidence map of a geographic region based on the supplied criteria.
How it works?
Coincidence-aware
objects and software make media-related coincidence systems possible.
Networks of coincidence-aware objects can recognize synchronous (i.e.
simultaneous) coincidences moments after they occur. Objects with
embedded memory can record usage to compare current use with the past,
effectively uncovering asynchronous (i.e. time-separated) coincidences.
Value / potential
By
appealing to the human experience, coincidence-awareness supports
personification objects and software, deepening our relationship with
them. The reintroduction of media-centered social occasions strengthens
our connection with others and fosters media-related discussion,
evaluation, and reflection.
