Paper Reading #4: Intimacy in LDRs over video chat

Intimacy in Long-Distance Relationships over Video Chat

CHI 2012, May 5-10, Austin, Texas, USA

Dr. Carman Neustaedter	Dr. Saul Greenberg
A professor at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. He enjoys puzzles (mostly mind puzzles) even to the point where he placed a puzzle in his 411 page dissertation.	A professor of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. Saul enjoys outdoor activities such as mountain biking and hiking.

Summary

The authors of this paper did a thorough analysis of Long-Distance Relationships (LDRs) and how video chat (or Skype) is effective in communication.  After interviewing twenty-four individuals about their LDR, they concluded that the majority of the time couples spend on video chat is considered simulated cohabitation.  Couples will simply "be" on Skype and work on their own work or do their own liesure.  This simulates an environment that seems like they are just hanging out after work "at home."

Related Work

1. Time spent together and relationship quality: Long-distance relationships as a test case
2. Relating at a distance: Negotiating being together and being apart in long-distance relationships
3. Trust without touch: jumpstarting long-distance trust with initial social activities
4. Media use in long‐distance friendships
5. Sensation: a Presence Enabler for Long-Distance Relationships using Skype and Visual Presence Representation
6. Time and Space on Skype: Families Experience Togetherness While Apart
7. Physical Intimacy and Equity in the Maintenance of College Students' Romantic Relationships
8. Willing to Learn: A Look at Romantic Relationships while Abroad
9. Online communities: Networks that nurture long-distance relationships and local ties
10. Would you do it again? Relationship skills gained in a long-distance relationship

Based on the related work that I found, the work done here isn't exactly novel, but does come to some new conclusions.  I enjoyed reading the work and think that there is a lot of uses for their research.

Evaluation

All of their data was strictly qualitative but somewhere between objective and subjective.  They interviewed a bunch of people and gathered the information to analyze it.  Although the interviewees probably told the truth and gave facts, they may have been slightly skewed with subjectivism.  It is hard to say whether their data was objective or subjective.  The conclusions they made, however, were objectively based on the data collected.

Discussion

I hope this research is used in the future to develop better or more useful forms of communicating (or at least allowing options for LDRs).  So much of a LDR is hanging out and I think that the future will hold new technologies that bring this capability to life.  This was not mentioned, but I think one idea would be watching movies together (somehow keeping the video synced so they can see each other's reactions).