The ambiPhone is an ambient distributed telephony system for the home that enhances the social experience of phone conversations. Its solution proposed consisted of a set of ambient telephony (ambiPhone) table-top units distributed in a household. While a user would move around the home, the call would follow him, jumping from one unit to another. Each unit was able to set, capture and render the call, as well as render the contact’s representation. This representation was made by means of a colored light aura in the call rendering unit. Ideally, the light would glow in different patterns according to immediacy and intimacy behaviors like turn-taking, mood, or distance from the unit.
The use of an abstract visual representation enhances the feeling of being together, creating engagement and emotional response, affording a more affective mediated communication and further eliciting the feeling of a visit, without creating obligations or putting a big cognitive load on users.
Reference: Emparanza, J. P. et al. Ambient Telephony: Designing a Communication System for Enhancing Social Presence in Home Mediated Communication. 2009.
