Intra-family communication needs; How can awareness systems provide support?

This paper presents the concept of ambient awareness that pertains to using ambient intelligence technologies for the purposes of sustaining awareness between individuals or groups of people, over sustained periods of time. The first explorations of this concept are conducted within the context of supporting awareness for busy parents having young children. We sketch the requirements drawn from an interview study, involving 20 interviews with working parents and we identify unmet communication needs that this type of technology may support