Memory Matching in Support of
Interpersonal Communication
Although intelligent environments can tend to reduce
their users to passive consumers, they also generate information
that a system can leverage for the support of rich
interpersonal communication. The CONVERSATIONPIECE
project builds on research by the contributors and others on
the construction of artificial personal memories, the sharing
of experience, and social matching. By performing memory
matching on the artificial memories built up for two individuals
within an instrumented environment, a CONVERSATIONPIECE
system will suggest topics of common interest
and bring about communication that would otherwise not
have taken place. The design and development process will
be user-centered, comprising a study of scenarios and user
requirements, iterative design and testing of the user interaction
and the internal processing, and evaluation in a naturalistic
setting. The ultimate goal is for the basic conception
to be transferred to a variety of types of intelligent environment.