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Animo: Sharing Biosignals on a Smartwatch for Lightweight Social Connection

Fannie Liu, Mario Esparza, Maria Pavlovskaia, Geoff Kaufman, Laura Dabbish, Andrés Monroy-Hernández
Event UbiComp/IMWUT 2019
Research Areas Human Computer Interaction

Abstract: We present Animo, a smartwatch app that enables people to share and view each other’s biosignals. We designed and engineered Animo to explore new ground for smartwatch-based biosignals social computing systems: identifying opportunities where these systems can support lightweight and mood-centric interactions. In our work we develop, explore, and evaluate several innovative features designed for dyadic communication of heart rate. We discuss the results of a two-week study (N=34), including new communication patterns participants engaged in, and outline the design landscape for communicating with biosignals on smartwatches.