Description
As people increasingly turn to digital channels to share, store, and reflect on their lives and experiences, the processes by which they manage the diverse collection of information generated over the course of their lives are changing. These processes, once a matter of hands-on curation and personal meaning making, are now deeply rooted in interactions with digital systems. In this work, we drew from prior research from personalization, memory, and information management to create four interactive, provocative systems. Through sessions with 12 adults from Pittsburgh, PA we used a combination of these systems and interviews to examine how systems might play a role in the near and long term resurfacing of personal and familial digital information. Findings point to an opportunity to create systems that can openly mediate the curation and transmission of digital content, and ways to draw meaning from the differences between how systems and people recall and represent their experiences.

Documentation
This work is described in a paper published at CHI 2015 in Seoul. [ACM Link, Local copy]

Skills
Interviewing
Javascript
Technological Probes
Grounded Theory

Collaborators
Alex Sciuto
Dr. Aisling Kelliher
Dr. Jodi Forlizzi