AuraOrb: using social awareness cues in the design of progressive notification appliances

One of the problems with notification appliances is that they can be distracting when providing information not of immediate interest to the user. In this paper, we present AuraOrb, an ambient notification appliance that deploys progressive turn taking techniques to minimize notification disruptions. AuraOrb uses social awareness cues, such as eye contact to detect user interest in an initially ambient light notification. Once detected, it displays a text message with a notification heading visible from 360 degrees. Touching the orb causes the associated message to be displayed on the user’s computer screen. When user interest is lost, AuraOrb automatically reverts back to its idle state. We performed an initial evaluation of AuraOrb’s functionality using a set of heuristics tailored to ambient displays. We compared progressive notification with the use of persistent ticker tape notifications and Outlook Express system tray messages for notifying the user of incoming emails. Resul...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: OZCHI
• Authors: Mark Altosaar, Roel Vertegaal, Changuk Sohn, Daniel Cheng
• Keywords: Computer Human Interaction, Notification, Notification Appliance, Notification Headings, OZCHI 2006