The future of personal video communication: moving beyond talking heads to shared experiences

Abstract

Personal video communication systems such as Skype or FaceTime are starting to become a common tool used by family and friends to communicate and interact over distance. Yet many are designed to only support conversation with a focus on display 'talking heads'. In this workshop, we want to discuss the opportunities and challenges in moving beyond this design paradigm to one where personal video communication systems can be used to share everyday experiences. By this we are referring to systems that might support shared dinners, shared television watching, or even remote participation in events such as weddings, parties, or graduations. This list could go on and on as the future of personal video communications is ripe for explorations and discussions.