Unobtrusive in-person intervention during couple interactions

Develop brief, unobtrusive technological support that can be delivered during face-to-face couple interactions without distracting partners from each other or feeling invasive.

Background

Most existing relationship-support systems focus on text-based interactions, whereas the co-design participants expressed a need for support during in-person conversations. Such settings impose stricter requirements because the interface, content, and timing must align with the interaction and avoid diverting attention from the partner or making the intervention feel invasive.

The paper identifies the delivery of brief, unobtrusive support during face-to-face interaction as an unresolved interaction-design challenge for ubiquitous-computing researchers. This problem concerns designing shared or otherwise minimally distracting interfaces that can intervene at appropriate moments while preserving the couple’s direct interaction.