Shoji: A Communication Terminal for Sending and Receiving Ambient Information

In modern Japan, increased human mobility has resulted in many people being geographically separated from their families and friends. There thus exists a need for communication devices that provide a link between geographically separated family members and friends. Although there are two types of communication, instrumental and consummatory, few studies have been conducted on the latter. We have developed a communication terminal that uses the exchange of ambient information as a means to promote consummatory communication. A concept for effectively communicating ambient information was derived from data collected from questionnaires. This concept was used to develop a communication terminal called “Shoji” that can send and receive ambient information such as the temperature, illumination, light color temperature, and noise level as well as information about the presence or absence of individuals, their movements, and their emotions. We evaluated it experimentally. The participants were parents and children living apart. They judged that the information was sufficiently expressed, which indicates that the terminal is useful for exchanging ambient information.