Digital jewellery and family relationships

Ubiquitous computing technologies are defining an emerging cultural fabric that is becoming interwoven into everyday life and giving form to ‘digital culture’, through which human meaning and communication derives from the potentials of such technologies. As the pervasive and ambient computing agendas move forward, the possible augmentation of both physical space and the human body with small lightweight sensing and transmitting devices opens up many possibilities for new forms of communication, social interaction, digital experience and community involvement. While many researchers point to a future in which social interaction, personal well being, and sense of community are enhanced through such technology, others point to a vision that raises concerns around power, privacy, control and personal liberty (McCullough 1996, Cooper 1999). There is thus a need for improvements in theory, design methodologies and practice to ensure that future developments are appropriately human-centred, so as to enhance people’s quality of life rather than detract from it. Researchers in human-computer interaction have begun to address these issues in a number of ways. Norman (2004) and others have begun to address emotional design, Shneiderma