Design and field trial of EmotionFrame: exploring self-journaling experiences in homes for archiving personal feelings about daily events

Capturing people’s spontaneous thoughts or daily emotions in their everyday living space can be difficult and can pose a psychological burden from a clinical standpoint. To address this issue, we have developed EmotionFrame, which allows users to archive their daily experiences by recording videos of their current thoughts and emotions at home. EmotionFrame serves as a journaling device, and the parameters for journaling have been determined based on a depression assessment model. This study explores the benefits of users’ recording feelings about their daily events, which can also help with assessing depressive mood with the journaling data. Our three-week in-field study with eight participants showed that EmotionFrame could be integrated into participants’ daily routines based on their previous diary-writing habits. In addition, its harmonious frame shape fits in with the everyday environment. Being able to engage in spontaneous journaling in private spaces–and in a way that allowed them to see themselves–prompted the study participants to effectively record their sincere thoughts and emotions during the archiving process.