Blossom is a multiperson awareness system that connects distant friends and family, but reacts to the existing communication means by focusing on background awareness rather than direct communication, and on implicit asynchrony that breaks down notions of reply timeframes implicit in current communication technologies.
Digital communication grew out of a need for formal contact. As such, much of it is based on back-and-forth communication. Devices such as cellphones are also quite forground — requiring users to pay attention to incoming messages, and setting expectations about replies and timeframes. In a shared household, however, communication is not always explicit. There is a level of communication that comes solely from momentary shared experiences.
Blossom provides an awareness medium that does not rely on the attention- and reciprocity-demanding interfaces that are provided by digital communication media such as mobile phones, SMS and email. Combining touch-based input with visual, haptic, and motile feedback, Blossoms are created as pairs that can communicate over the network, echoing the conditions of each other and forming an implicit, always-there link that physically express awareness, while retaining the instantaneous capabilities that define digital communication. Current Blossoms are touch-sensitive, and show that they have been touched using illumination. We’re also looking at a form that can open and close.