A toolkit for managing user attention in peripheral displays

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, computer interfaces have been confined to conventional displays and focused activities. However, as displays become embedded throughout our environment and daily lives, increasing numbers of them must operate on the periphery of our attention. <i>Peripheral displays</i> can allow a person to be aware of information while she is attending to some other primary task or activity. We present the Peripheral Displays Toolkit (PTK), a toolkit that provides structured support for managing user attention in the development of peripheral displays. Our goal is to enable designers to explore different approaches to managing user attention. The PTK supports three issues specific to conveying information on the periphery of human attention. These issues are <i>abstraction</i> of raw input, rules for assigning <i>notification levels</i> to input, and <i>transitions</i> for updating a display when input arrives. Our contribution is the investigation of issues specific to attention in peripheral display design and a toolkit that encapsulates support for these issues. We describe our toolkit architecture and present five sample peripheral displays demonstrating our toolkit's capabilities.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Software libraries

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces

  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Prototyping; User-centered design; Input devices and strategies (e.g., mouse, touchscreen); Interaction styles (e.g., commands, menus, forms, direct manipulation)

Keywords:
peripheral displays, toolkits, user attention