Developing Ideas Using Personal and Large Screen Displays

Notification systems are designed to inform users when certain events occur. The design of a notification system depends on the information it must keep track of and the manner used to alert a user. The challenge in this field of research is to determine what notification method is appropriate for any given situation. BrainStorm is a piece of software that facilitates the development of projects by letting people develop ideas. It consists of a large screen display running a server and clients that work as notification systems. Users can post ideas and receive updates using the clients. The large screen display shows all the information that is posted by all the users. Its purpose is to initiate casual interaction among users and to be a reference during group meetings. BrainStorm combines characteristics of face-to-face communities with asynchronous distributed communities by using the large screen display. INTRODUCTION Over time people have developed a need to keep track of information that one may need. A notification system keeps track of changing information and informs the user of changes. The type of information needed and the notification method determines how a notification system must be designed. This is what researchers strive to find. The range of information and notification methods is great. It is really hard to find a perfect notification system that can be the answer to such a broad range. When designing a notification system, one must first decide what data to notify. Information needed by users can range from meeting times to the weather. The design of a notification system will greatly depend on the data being dealt with. Once this is determined, one must find the right way of notifying the user. The ways to notify a user are endless. One goal in this area is to be able to choose the right method. Notification Methods Many notification systems exist within our environment. The alarm clock has always been a simple notification system. It alerts the user at a certain time in the day. This simple device has become a useful system that has worked for many. It is designed to alert a user by trying to interrupt the task he/she may be doing. A common example of a notification system used on a computer is the ticker. This is a system that is used to stream data such as news headlines. Users may leave such a ticker running so that they may check for changes in data while they work on their primary task. The ticker may be checking for updates after a certain period of time so that the user will be notified of changes. While the ticker may not directly inhibit one’s task, it may attract attention depending on the nature of its visual aspects. In most cases, the speed of the movement may cause a user to be distracted and keep looking at the ticker. An example of a more intrusive notification system is one that alerts a user of incoming mail by popping up a message on the center of the screen. This quick and obtrusive method alerts the user immediately of the incoming mail by diverting their attention. Such a system prevents one from continuing their primary task. Whether a user will appreciate this or not will depend on the user priorities. The issue of priorities will be discussed later. The notification systems described so far are usually used for a single user. Large screen displays can be used to show information that may apply to multiple users. Displays may be located in a common area where people are located. As people pass by the display, they can look at the information that is shown and even interact with others around them based on the information. An issue with large screen displays is the actual relevance of information shown. All the people looking at the display may not find the information useful. Primary Task The definition of a primary task can be debated. One can argue that a primary task is any task that is productive. Others can say that whatever one happens to be doing is their primary task. While this argument can go on forever, what one must really understand is that the primary task may illustrate how effective a notification