Methodological considerations of technology co-design with families and design implications on mediating family connectedness from empirical research

Abstract

Co-designing technologies with families for mediating family connectedness is an important area of research. However, the literature directly investigating both co-design with families and family connectedness is limited. This review aims to address this gap by analysing empirical studies on co-designing technologies with families for family connectedness. Seven relevant articles published from 2005 to 2019 were identified from the Scopus database and by snowballing from reference lists. The included articles were analysed on the methods and tools adopted, challenges in co-designing with families, scenarios of mediated family connectedness, and concerns related to technology. The findings show that various methods and tools have been used to engage families with six types of family ties. The key challenges of co-designing with families include scheduling conflicts, recruiting diverse families, technical issues, and setting free participants' creativities in co-design activities. The main scenario that requires technology-mediated family connectedness is remote shared/separated activities between family members. Although there are limitations regarding the limited number of samples, this review provides an overview of the empirical research about technology co-designing with families for mediating connectedness. The design and research implications drawn from the findings can contribute to future design practices of communication technologies and interdisciplinary research related to communication, social science, and technology.