The Hermes@Home system is a hardware and software solution that effectively supports two classes of user: the person(s) at home and the person(s) away from home. Hermes@Home system supports awareness through messaging between members of a home. Person away from the home can send messages via a web portal to an always on information appliance–style display situated in the home, while people at home can scribble messages on the touch sensitive display of this unit for reception by the person(s) away from the home. The home unit is also equipped with a webcam, which users can place around the home and is set to take regular pictures. The away user interface is accessible online via a Web Portal. The graphical user interface (GUI) functionality is split in two parts. The left half of the display is used to display, cycle through and acknowledge received messages. The right half provides a large area on which users can scribble notes and send with the tap of a button. The current home unit is a Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook TabletPC with a touch sensitive display which (unusually for such displays) enables the user to use either a stylus or their finger.
Source: Saslis-Lagoudakis, G., Cheverst, K., Dix, A., Fitton, D., and Rouncefield, M. 2006. Hermes@Home: supporting awareness and intimacy between distant family members. In Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group (CHISIG) of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction: Design: Activities, Artefacts and Environments (OZCHI’06). ACM Press, 23–30.
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