Smartphones for Improved Co-Located Interpersonal Communication

智能手机已经成为我们日常生活中无处不在的一部分。它们通过随时随地访问信息，极大地改变了我们的通信方式。在许多情况下，这种即时获取信息的便利能力导致缺乏共处一地的人际沟通。智能手机用户往往抵挡不住查看设备更新的诱惑，可能会沉浸在虚拟世界中，因此即使在面对面的交谈中也会忽视周围的人。因此，这种行为可能会导致在同一地点的合作活动中分心，并破坏人际沟通，因为人们感觉彼此联系较少。为了缓解这个问题，我提出的计划将探索通过从硬件和软件角度扩展智能手机功能来加强共处一地的人际沟通的方法。我将采取一条多方面的道路，其中包括三种主要方法，每种方法都可以帮助改善共同定位的协作交互。首先，我将研究如何通过新的输入和输出机制来增强智能手机的能力，这些机制将允许设备具有超出其物理边界的扩展交互空间。我将探索跟踪手和手指活动的传感解决方案，并调查智能手机周围区域的信息投影能力。有了这些功能，智能手机将为共处一地的协作交互支持更大的交互空间。其次，我将探索解决方案，使情景感知智能手机跟踪当前的使用环境和周围的人。这包括研究解决方案，使智能手机通过使用360°摄像头输入以及语音定位和分类方法等先进的传感解决方案来监控当前的使用环境。我还将设计旨在战略性地在智能手机上呈现信息的应用程序框架，以最大限度地减少位于同一地点的人之间的干扰，以支持协作活动。第三，我将研究如何利用说服性技术来提高智能手机的人际参与度。这些技术已经被证明在激励人们达到他们的行为目标方面是有效的--主要是为了健康和健身行为(例如，鼓励用户每天走10,000步)。我将探索如何利用这种技术在不同的社交环境中呈现智能手机信息，通过说服来改变用户的态度。我将设计、开发和评估具有说服力的智能手机应用程序，以研究这些应用程序是否有助于在短期和长期内形成更好的人际关系。总而言之，我提出的计划旨在通过增强型智能手机丰富个人与共处一地的人之间的人际交流体验。

Smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. They have vastly changed the way we communicate by enabling access to information anytime and anywhere. This convenient capability for immediate access to information, in many cases, contributes to a lack of co-located interpersonal communication. Smartphone users often can't resist the temptation to check their device for updates and may be absorbed in the virtual world, thus ignoring people around them even in a face-to-face conversation. Consequently, such behaviour may lead to distractions in co-located collaborative activities and undermine interpersonal communication as people feel less connected to each other. To ease this issue, my proposed program will explore means to strengthen co-located interpersonal communication by extending smartphone capabilities, both from hardware and software perspectives. I will take a multifaceted path, which includes three major approaches that could each help to improve co-located collaborative interactions. First, I will investigate ways to enhance smartphones' capabilities with new input and output mechanisms that would allow the devices to have extended interaction space beyond its physical boundary. I will explore sensing solutions to track hand and finger activities and investigate information projection capabilities in the region around the smartphone. With these capabilities, smartphones would support a larger interaction space for co-located collaborative interactions. Second, I will explore solutions to make context-aware smartphones to track the current usage context and surrounding people. This includes examining solutions to make the smartphone `smarter' to monitor the current usage context with advanced sensing solutions such as using 360° camera inputs and voice localization and classification methods. I will also design application frameworks aiming to strategically present information on smartphones to minimize interruptions between co-located persons to support collaborative activities. Third, I will investigate how to leverage persuasive techniques to improve interpersonal engagement with smartphones. These techniques have been shown effective in motivating people to reach their behavioral goals - mostly for health and fitness conduct (e.g., encouraging users to take 10,000 steps per day). I will explore how to leverage such techniques for the presentation of smartphone information in different social contexts to change users' attitudes through persuasion. I will design, develop, and evaluate persuasive smartphone apps to study whether such applications can be useful to form an enhanced interpersonal relationship, in both the short and long-term. In summary, my proposed program aims to enrich individuals' interpersonal communication experiences with those co-located with them through enhanced smartphones.