The Family Scrapbook is a local application and a service. With the application, family members can post digital media (pictures, messages), which the whole family will receive instantly. All the family posts are saved in one place, creating a collective album for the family, despite the distance between them. On the service side, the Family Scrapbook relies on a third party to provide storage space, and also to sell the application.
The Family Scrapbook allows people to give their remote families a regulated view port into their lives. As a separate application, it is easier to access than the web, and it allows more prominent alerts for new postings, creating a stronger sense of family ambient presence. Also, the scrapbook saves all postings from the individual digital mess and stores them safely, so that they can testify about the shared life of the remote family.
The application could be obviously used by other social groups, but it works best for the family because it becomes a part of a larger commitment to stay in touch, which people make regardless. The Family Scrapbook also has the potential to be a family game. If the commitment has been made, the group will keep the application alive. If the group flails collectively, the application dies. If only one member does not keep his end of the bargain, group pressure will force him to get back into the game.
