Raison d’Etre Object: A Cyber-Hearth That Catalyzes Face-to-Face Informal Communication

Abstract

We propose a new concept, raison d’etre objects, and a new ware, cyber-hearth, that affords snugness in face-to-face communication in a shared informal place such as a refreshing room or lounge. We carried out observation experiments on the behavior of individuals in such a place and found interesting tendencies: most people behave unconsciously to pay attention to physical objects by watching or handling as excuses for entering or staying there. This might be because participants are unusually close each other in terms of proxemics. We developed a prototype cyber-hearth IRORI that incorporated raison d’etre objects with a facility for enhancing conversations, employing a metaphor ‘hearth’ (‘irori’ in Japanese) as a total design principle since ‘irori’ is well recognized as a snug, traditional informal place in Japan. We preliminarily evaluated IRORI by conducting a user experiment. The results of the experiment suggested that IRORI attained snugness and therefore were effective for catalyzing face-to-face informal communication.