Family communication support tool using time-series visualization of individual ambient temperature

Face-to-face conversation is important for communication within a family. We focused on a serial record of individual ambient temperature for initiation of conversation. The ambient temperature data are recorded automatically as a time-series during the user´s activity. We developed and evaluated the family communication support tool using time-series visualization of individual ambient temperature. The user and other members of the family can review and compare the visualized time-series, and they can call to mind or imagine the mutual past activity of the day. Common tendency or different feature of time-series might induce their conversation. The system consists of two parts. One part is a sensor device to measure and record ambient temperature of each user. The other part is application software to visualize and display the temperature. It receives the data from the devices, and then it processes, analyzes, and visualizes the data.