Mogic: Expressing affective messages between empty nesters and their children

This paper describes the evaluation of a communication system called `Mogic´ that aims at stimulating social interaction. The system was designed for empty nesters and their children. A context mapping study revealed that there is a need to share emotions and feelings with each other. An overview of the related work on affective systems and the theoretical models behind them is provided. Several experiments were conducted to evaluate whether there is a consistency in colours and movements that people naturally choose for expressing different emotions. The experiment shows there are variations between participants, but that some elements are consistent. The results of the empirical study with the system suggest that participants find it more difficult to express emotions than to perceive emotions. The paper concludes with suggestions for possible improvements to the system and suggestions for further user studies.