Xinyu Liu | Knot 结: An experiment on social interactions

 
Knot 结 is an experiment of intergenerational communication through web interactions and bracelet making. For many youths in China, it’s hard to communicate with parents/grandparents deeply. Many feel awkward talking about deep topics with parents/grandparents and the intergenerational conversation often turns out to be a right-or-wrong debate and ends up unhappily. Through interviews with youths in college, the study reveals that youths are unwilling to have deep, intergenerational conversations because 1) they feel that love between close ones is expressed through mundane, short communication; 2) they know the close ones too well that they don’t have anything new to exchange; 3) they prefer synchronous communication like phone calls/face-to-face when it comes to deep conversations, but they don’t have much time/opportunities as many are studying abroad and living a busy life far away from their home. This project, hence, approaches the question: Is it possible for youth to have deep conversations with our parents/grandparents? It attempts to encourage thoughtful and peaceful deep communication through asynchronous interactions and archive the communication in a way that is accessible to both the younger and the elder generations. Specifically, the project consists of 1) a web application that allows users to exchange long voice messages and archive the messages as traditional Chinese knots; and 2) a DIY bracelet with a QR piece that can be scanned to access the archive page between two friends.
General Process: Through the web application, a user initiates an archive page to start and store the voice communications with a friend. The page is only accessible between he/she and his/her friend so that it creates a private space for deep communication. Then, the user can order knotting materials and a QR piece that leads to the archive page. He/she will knot a bracelet as a gift and send it to his/her friend. When the user’s friend receives the QR bracelet, he/she can scan it and play/reply to the archived messages.
Design Highlights:
There are five patterns of knots, each corresponding to a special topic. The meaning of the message will be analyzed through AI and categorized into one of the topics. The corresponding knot will be assigned to represent the message. The design uses a visual clue that is acceptable to both young and old.
When the voice message is not replied to, the knot will appear incomplete. The knot will be completed when both the message receiver replies the sender. The design aims to encourage users to reply and interact with their close ones.
The time in a day will be divided into 12 sessions according to the Chinese ancient way of time-keeping. Knots will be put on the rope according to the time user send the voice message. Users are only allowed to create one knot per 2 hours. This design encourages users to think deeply about their message and use the app in a more emotional & thoughtful way than the WeChat voice message.
The app will provide two options for message input: 1) input through text and use voice clone technologies to generate voiceover for the text message in users’ voices. 2) input voice directly through recording. The design aims to tackle users’ fear of long voice message
While the project aims at encouraging deep intergenerational communication, it is more of a social experiment than a design based on existing needs. Whether we really need deep communication with parents/grandparents or not is left as an open question. Users can have their own opinions about who they want to send the message to, whether they want to communicate through voice, and whether they are more willing to communicate deeply after experiencing the project. Users can choose to record their voices in the recording booth and say something to their close ones, which will be collected and made into an archive that is not open to the public. This archive will indicate how the users think about and use the app and whether the way of communication is changed through experiencing the app.