Speakers: Joseph "Jofish" Kaye, PhD Student, Information Science, Cornell University

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 4:15-5:15p

Location: 301 College Avenue, Seminar Room

In a special series, the next two IS Seminars will feature Information Science’s first class of graduate students, Jofish Kaye, Gilly Leshed, Lori Lorigo, and Sadat Shami. They will be presenting their recent research on a wide variety of Information Science topics, from the notion of context in knowledge networks to issues of anonymity, affect and collaboration in online communication. Each student will present their work for 20 minutes and take questions for 10 minutes.

This will be an excellent opportunity to see current work by our graduate students. Please make every effort to attend.

Abstract -

'Minimal intimate objects' are low bandwidth devices for couples in long-distance relationships to communicate intimacy. I describe a user study of a software intimate object built to communicate a single bit at a time. The results from both log data and journal entries suggest that even a one-bit communication device is seen by users as a valuable and rich channel for communicating intimacy, despite the availability of wider channels of communication such as email, instant messaging, and telephone. I suggest the constrained nature of the communication affords active reinterpretation by its users, and discuss the results in the context of the study of intimacy in human-computer interaction.

Bio -

Joseph 'Jofish' Kaye is a graduate student in Information Science. His research explores alternate uses and aims of technology, including designing for metrics other than productivity and efficiency. He has degrees in Brain & Cognitive Science and Media Arts & Sciences from MIT.

For more information please contact Jeff Hancock.