Beyond the Screen: Creating Unconventional Artifacts to Support Long-Distance Relationships

Long-distance romantic relationships have become prevalent in today's globalized world. Although mainstream communication technologies have provided instant, cheap, and convenient channels for people to communicate at a distance, the emphasis of these technologies is placed on functionality as they are designed for a large variety of end users, rather than providing emotional communication which the author argues is meaningful and necessary for the individuals to maintain ties to their romantic partners who are forced to live physically apart for some reason. The author envisions that there is a gap between understanding the users' needs in research and designing technologies for them in practice. The author's PhD research has been dedicated to bridging this gap by mediating emotional communication for serious long-distance romantic relationships through unconventional artefacts. This manuscript presents an overview of the work thus far.