Exploring the design and use of peripheral displays of awareness information

Abstract

Peripheral displays allow users to monitor an information source while focusing on a separate primary task. In this paper, we present our work investigating what form peripheral displays of awareness information from instant messaging programs may take and the role these displays could have in existing communication practices. We describe several prototypes of tangible, aesthetic displays of awareness information. A focus group involving users of instant messaging software revealed that the awareness information component of the software (such as sounds or flashing windows) is often used to trigger communication through more heavyweight means such as telephone or face-to-face conversation.

A toolkit for managing user attention in peripheral displays

“…Three additional applications are presented here, all based on displays that had previously been built by researchers at Berkeley without the PTK: a display of bus arrival/departure information demonstrates how our support for managing user attention helped us to improve a display design [18]; a display of ambient audio demonstrates how the separation of concerns in our toolkit allowed us to explore a variety of display designs [10]; and a display of instant messenger status built by a developer not in our group allowed us to get feedback about our toolkit design [3].…”

“…However, in this case, we asked a student not associated with the PTK project to use our toolkit. The IM Picture Frame (Figure 7) is a tangible display of user activity taken from an instant messenger (IM) client [3]. Originally implemented without the PTK, the application retrieves user status from an IM client, and displays an image at the top of the frame indicating whether the user is present, typing, or idle.…”

Move-it sticky notes providing active physical feedback through motion

“…De Guzman et al, for example, introduce the design of peripheral displays in the context of instant messaging with various tangible interfaces embedded into everyday objects [10]. In our work, we apply a similar concept to move the information display off the screen, onto paper-based sticky notes that are directly integrated into the physical environment [13].…”

Enlightening a co-located community with a semi-public notification system

“…Acquiring and maintaining knowledge of presence for users through pop-ups and blinking windows has questionable value for users at the desktop, but is even more challenging as users move about a lab environment physically interacting with each other. Even the off-the-desktop tools developed to work with IM clients, such as those developed and referenced in [1], generally are intended to be used by a single person, not a group.…”

“…In response, the research community has been investigating IM and similar desktop tools helpful to the business world. Our work moves off the desktop and beyond the domain of single-user tools, investigating how tools integrated into a collaborative environment can help not only individuals (as exemplified in [1]) but also communities of researchers in shared spaces to connect and communicate.…”