how can "mentorship" be used to encourage those who are frightened about the beginning of an LDR?
meet isabel.
meet isabel.
isabel is about to graduate from high school. she's headed off to her first-choice school in colorado in the fall, and earlier this semester, she was thrilled… but now she's feeling a little awful and conflicted, because she sort of accidentally fell in love with her boyfriend, chris. whom she once told they could "have a nice time during senior year, but not make a big thing of it," and who is now about to head for school in iowa. she thinks they're too young to be thinking too hard about their future together, but that doesn't stop her from furtively googling "high school sweetheart" statistics in the glow of her laptop. she finds a website that serves to connect people in long distance relationships to help each other get through it, and makes a post about her situation to see if anybody who's been through the same thing has any advice for her. maggie, a junior in college, sees izzie's post and relives a bit of her own fears and doubts from that time. she reaches out and offers to be a mentor to share her experiences and learning with someone who will likely parallel them.
how can the online community help someone navigate a "rough patch" in their LDR?
meet james.
meet james.
james's girlfriend kelly made a mistake from a few hundred miles away. she confessed and apologized after she went to a frat party with another guy, which in james's mind, was not a big deal, and then danced with him all night, which was kind of a deal, and then also kissed him, which was a pretty big deal. they'd never really talked about how they would handle other people, but they both know they don't feel great about how this went. unenthused about talking to his local friends about it but still hurt, he absently googles to learn about how other people deal with cheating. he comes across a long distance advice and support platform. he reads some related stories, and the multi-faceted replies they received, and decides to post his own to get another take on the situation. a handful of people warn him that one transgression often leads to another, but more people than he expected encouraged him to talk it out with kelly and give it another shot if they both still want to be together, after re-establishing clear guidelines and boundaries that they're both comfortable with.
how can interactive information design help a separated partner connect with others' experiences?
meet lucy.
meet lucy.
lucy met her girlfriend anna online. she's an ocean away, but lucy's dad works for an airline, so it's not as bad as it could be. they may only get to spend time in person once every few months, but they find time to talk and skype almost every day, and love making mixtapes and sending letters despite the postage. but the time difference means they each have quite a bit of time when they can't talk to one another, so lucy's taken to using a long distance relationship website to read stories about other couples and share stories of her own. depending on how she's feeling, she can look at funny moments, or embarrassingly sappy cute stuff, or even sad breakups when she wants to feel grateful for what she and anna have. she especially likes the "perfect futures," where people post elaborate fantasies about the lives they wish they were living with their partners, whether they're just in the same place with sweet jobs, or famous movie stars, or on an inter-stellar journey to colonize a new planet.
how can this platform allow for both online and offline friendship and companionship?
meet sarah.
sarah has been with her boyfriend nick for a few years now, and they've gotten through basic training, and a handful of transfers and new locales. the first time they were apart, she cried for days, but she found a website to help her cope better by helping her connect with others who are dealing with similar circumstances. she made online friends with a young army wife who mentored her through those hard first separations, and has developed a healthy rhythm when nick's away, taking care of their dog, and reading books. but things are about to change again: he's being deployed in afghanistan, and he won't be home again for a long time. they spend all the time together they possibly can before he leaves, but sarah knows she's going to need backup to get through this time in her life. she uses the same ldr website that helped her before, but this time she wants to find someone close by. searching through users close to her, she finds mandy, whose boyfriend has been in afghanistan for a few months already. she reaches out to her and the two make a date for lunch a few days after nick leaves, when sarah knows she'll need somebody to talk to about it.
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lucy's scenario in particular references the sorting of the stream of content by particular topics or feelings, which is something i've been pondering. i like the function in facebook where you begin typing something and if others have already typed the same thing, it becomes a link so that everyone who mentions it connects to the same idea. i also like the idea of hashtags, hyperlinked words or phrases that can trend daily and get everyone interested reading and writing the same kinds of content together all in a flurry... i'm envisioning the story-telling/moment-adding to cleverly read what you're typing, and offer tags and topics that match the words you're already using. here are some of those concepts.
