Supporting awareness and interaction through domestic media spaces

家庭成员经常想要分享经验，即使他们不能同时在同一地点。例如，一位上班的父母可能想看看孩子回家后的第一步。同样，像祖父母这样住在很远的地方的大家庭可能想看他们孙子的足球比赛或芭蕾舞独奏会。视频会议系统可以允许这种类型的实时共享，然而，这种系统通常是为简短的、类似电话的对话而设计的，用户经常面临建立连接的技术障碍。克服这一问题的一种方法是使用媒体空间：一种在一个或多个地点之间创建虚拟连接的技术，通常使用始终在线的视频和/或音频链接。媒体空间一直在运行，因此用户只需走上前就可以使用它们。尽管使用起来很方便，但如何为家庭领域设计媒体空间，以便在平衡隐私问题的同时满足家庭成员的需求，仍然不清楚。

Family members often want to share experiences even when they cannot be in the same location at the same time. For example, a parent at work may want to see his child's first steps at home. Similarly, extended family such as grandparents who live far away may want to see their grandchild's soccer game or ballet recital. Video conferencing systems can permit this type of real time sharing, however, such systems are typically designed for short, phone-like conversations and users often face technical hurdles to establish connections. One way to overcome this is through the use of a media space: a technology that creates a virtual connection between one or more locations, usually with always-on video and/or audio links. Media spaces are always running so users can simply walk up and use them. Despite this ease of use, it is still not clear how to design media spaces for the domestic realm so that they can meet the needs of family members while balancing privacy concerns.