Remote, but Tangible: Activities for Grandparents and Grandchildren across Physical Spaces

Being together virtually has become an alternative for many people, who cannot meet physically. In relationships among grandparents and grandchildren, for instance, online meetings have become an appreciated means to connect when meeting face-to-face is not, or not often enough, an option. However, although a variety of technologies exist to do so, they rarely take into account the physical space that they are situated within, i.e., the physical surroundings of the conversation partners. In the work presented in this paper we experimented with bridging distant physical spaces in playful ways. We designed four instances of intergenerational online meetings, and explored their experiential qualities in a workshop with grandparents and grandchildren. We found that the surrounding space indeed provided rich opportunities to facilitate joint tangible activities and experiences rather than being an unnoticed background. In this work in progress, we discuss how these spaces might be considered heterotopia, which invite free play and immersing together in the activities alike, and which seem to be promising to be explored further.