Output details

FM radio

This research documents the process of re-purposing a specific device (a radio) to support sound-based reminiscence in the social context of the family. Based on field studies of sound as a personal recording medium, the research focusses on digital media and how sound and personal stories can be made accessible in novel ways. Criteria of aesthetics, as well as engagement, were used in designing the object and the human interaction with it. Playfulness and tangibility have been intentionally used in the design of the radio to foster social experience, which participants (families) found pleasurable and engaging (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Fj_Mm1HRw).

A paper describing the preliminary field study in detail was presented at the International conference CSCW 2010 and received an honourable mention.

Petrelli has been invited to present this work and related research at the following: a keynote address at the workshop, 'Information Access for Personal Media Archives', held in conjunction with the European Conference on Information Retrieval ECIR 2010; at the British Library as part of 'Digital Lives Research Seminar'; TEDxSheffield 2013; and a number of universities across UK and Ireland.

This paper is the result of multidisciplinary effort that included: an electronic engineer (Nicolas Villar, Microsoft Research), a programmer (Vaiva Kalninaite, University of Sheffield), an ethnographer (Lina Dib, Rice University, Huston), a psychologist (Steve Whittaker, University of Sheffield). Petrelli’s role in the project was that of the interaction designer, proposing the concept, developing the human-technology interaction, and conducting the evaluation with the families. The electronics were implemented at Microsoft Research Cambridge and the FM Radio is now part of the Microsoft Research collection in Cambridge.