Affective Digital Text Communication Using Physical Handwriting

Archives of Design Research, 32(2), 45-55,
ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '17)

First Author

While digital text communication is valued for its speed and convenience, handwriting remains preferred in contexts requiring sincerity, such as love letters or greeting cards. This paper explores the integration of handwriting and physical representation in digital text communication through Tele-Handwriter (TH), a novel hybrid medium that instantly transmits handwritten messages via pen and paper. A comparative user study involving eight couples examined the user experience of TH alongside Shared Canvas and instant messaging during casual conversations and the exchange of affectionate messages. Findings revealed that TH enhances intimacy, conveys effort and sincerity, and embeds contextual cues that reflect the sender's identity and intent. The physical representation of messages using pen and paper proved particularly effective in communicating the sender's commitment and preserving the unique characteristics of handwriting. These results provide design insights for creating physical handwriting systems in computer-mediated communication, highlighting TH’s potential to bridge emotional and contextual gaps in text-based interactions.

Handwriting, Emotional Text Communication, Computer-mediated Communication, Instant Messaging, Research through Design