"Are you watching this film or what?": interruption and the juggling of cohorts

ABSTRACT

A proliferation of mobile devices in everyday life has increased the likelihood of technologically mediated interruptions. We examine ethnographic data from an SMS-based pervasive game in order to explicate the situated character of interruption. Ethnomethodological analysis of gameplay in the context of participants' everyday lives shows that interruption handling is shaped by its accountability to the various people or 'cohorts' whose concerns participants need to juggle simultaneously. Findings inform existing approaches to design where certain presuppositions regarding the nature of interruption prevail. Accordingly, we propose an approach to interruption handling that respects the ways in which people orient to and reason about interruptions locally in the conduct of situated action.

REFERENCES

• 1: Piotr D. Adamczyk , Brian P. Bailey, If not now, when?: the effects of interruption at different moments within task execution, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.271-278, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria [doi>10.1145/985692.985727]
• 2: Paul M. Aoki , Allison Woodruff, Making space for stories: ambiguity in the design of personal communication systems, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA [doi>10.1145/1054972.1054998]
• 3: Daniel Avrahami , Scott E. Hudson, QnA: augmenting an instant messaging client to balance user responsiveness and performance, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031692]
• 4: Brian P. Bailey , Shamsi T. Iqbal, Understanding changes in mental workload during execution of goal-directed tasks and its application for interruption management, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), v.14 n.4, p.1-28, January 2008 [doi>10.1145/1314683.1314689]
• 5: Marek Bell , Matthew Chalmers , Louise Barkhuus , Malcolm Hall , Scott Sherwood , Paul Tennent , Barry Brown , Duncan Rowland , Steve Benford, Interweaving mobile games with everyday life, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, April 22-27, 2006, Montréal, Québec, Canada [doi>10.1145/1124772.1124835]
• 6: James Bo Begole , Nicholas E. Matsakis , John C. Tang, Lilsys: Sensing Unavailability, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031691]
• 7: Beyer, H. and Holtzblatt, K. (1998) Contextual Design, Morgan Kaufmann.
• 8: Saurabh Bhatia , Scott McCrickard, Listening to your inner voices: investigating means for voice notifications, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, April 22-27, 2006, Montréal, Québec, Canada [doi>10.1145/1124772.1124947]
• 9: Chalmers, M et al. (2004) "Social navigation and seamful design", Cognitive Studies, vol.11 (3), pp. 1--11.
• 10: Jan Chong , Rosanne Siino, Interruptions on software teams: a comparison of paired and solo programmers, Proceedings of the 2006 20th anniversary conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 04-08, 2006, Banff, Alberta, Canada [doi>10.1145/1180875.1180882]
• 11: Andy Crabtree , Steve Benford , Chris Greenhalgh , Paul Tennent , Matthew Chalmers , Barry Brown, Supporting ethnographic studies of ubiquitous computing in the wild, Proceedings of the 6th conference on Designing Interactive systems, June 26-28, 2006, University Park, PA, USA [doi>10.1145/1142405.1142417]
• 12: Edward B. Cutrell , Mary Czerwinski , Eric Horvitz, Effects of instant messaging interruptions on computing tasks, CHI '00 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 01-06, 2000, The Hague, The Netherlands [doi>10.1145/633292.633351]
• 13: Mary Czerwinski , Eric Horvitz , Susan Wilhite, A diary study of task switching and interruptions, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.175-182, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria [doi>10.1145/985692.985715]
• 14: Laura Dabbish , Robert E. Kraut, Controlling interruptions: awareness displays and social motivation for coordination, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031638]
• 15: Garfinkel, H (1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology, Prentice Hall.
• 16: Jennifer Gluck , Andrea Bunt , Joanna McGrenere, Matching attentional draw with utility in interruption, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 28-May 03, 2007, San Jose, California, USA [doi>10.1145/1240624.1240631]
• 17: Victor M. González , Gloria Mark, "Constant, constant, multi-tasking craziness": managing multiple working spheres, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.113-120, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria [doi>10.1145/985692.985707]
• 18: Sukeshini A. Grandhi, Human interruptibility: a relational perspective, Group '07 Doctoral Consortium papers, p.1-2, November 04-07, 2007, Sanibel Island, Florida [doi>10.1145/1329112.1329114]
• 19: Rebecca E. Grinter , Leysia Palen , Margery Eldridge, Chatting with teenagers: Considering the place of chat technologies in teen life, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), v.13 n.4, p.423-447, December 2006 [doi>10.1145/1188816.1188817]
• 20: Rikard Harr , Victor Kaptelinin, Unpacking the social dimension of external interruptions, Proceedings of the 2007 international ACM conference on Supporting group work, November 04-07, 2007, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA [doi>10.1145/1316624.1316686]
• 21: Eric Horvitz , Paul Koch , Johnson Apacible, BusyBody: creating and fielding personalized models of the cost of interruption, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031690]
• 22: James M. Hudson , Jim Christensen , Wendy A. Kellogg , Thomas Erickson, "I'd be overwhelmed, but it's just one more thing to do": availability and interruption in research management, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Changing our world, changing ourselves, April 20-25, 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA [doi>10.1145/503376.503394]
• 23: Shamsi T. Iqbal , Brian P. Bailey, Investigating the effectiveness of mental workload as a predictor of opportune moments for interruption, CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, OR, USA [doi>10.1145/1056808.1056948]
• 24: Lynch, M (1993) Scientific Practice and Ordinary Action, Cambridge University Press.
• 25: Gloria Mark , Victor M. Gonzalez , Justin Harris, No task left behind?: examining the nature of fragmented work, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA [doi>10.1145/1054972.1055017]
• 26: Stefan Marti , Chris Schmandt, Giving the caller the finger: collaborative responsibility for cellphone interruptions, CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, OR, USA [doi>10.1145/1056808.1056984]
• 27: Mazmanian, M et al. (2006) 'CrackBerrys', EGOS '06.
• 28: McFarlane, D. (1997) Interruption of People in HCI, Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology Division, Washington
• 29: Sheryl L. Miller, How do people manage interruptions in complex decision making tasks?, CHI '01 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, March 31-April 05, 2001, Seattle, Washington [doi>10.1145/634067.634117]
• 30: Kristine S. Nagel , James M. Hudson , Gregory D. Abowd, Predictors of availability in home life context-mediated communication, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 06-10, 2004, Chicago, Illinois, USA [doi>10.1145/1031607.1031689]
• 31: Bonnie Nardi , Justin Harris, Strangers and friends: collaborative play in world of warcraft, Proceedings of the 2006 20th anniversary conference on Computer supported cooperative work, November 04-08, 2006, Banff, Alberta, Canada [doi>10.1145/1180875.1180898]
• 32: Jeffrey Nichols , Jacob O. Wobbrock , Darren Gergle , Jodi Forlizzi, Mediator and medium: doors as interruption gateways and aesthetic displays, Proceedings of the 4th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques, June 25-28, 2002, London, England [doi>10.1145/778712.778767]
• 33: Brid O'Conaill , David Frohlich, Timespace in the workplace: dealing with interruptions, Conference companion on Human factors in computing systems, p.262-263, May 07-11, 1995, Denver, Colorado, United States [doi>10.1145/223355.223665]
• 34: Gary M. Olson , Judith S. Olson, Distance matters, Human-Computer Interaction, v.15 n.2, p.139-178, September 2000 [doi>10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_4]
• 35: Antti Oulasvirta , Sakari Tamminen , Virpi Roto , Jaana Kuorelahti, Interaction in 4-second bursts: the fragmented nature of attentional resources in mobile HCI, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA [doi>10.1145/1054972.1055101]
• 36: Mark Rouncefield , John A. Hughes , Tom Rodden , Stephen Viller, Working with “constant interruption”: CSCW and the small office, Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, p.275-286, October 22-26, 1994, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States [doi>10.1145/192844.193028]
• 37: Sacks, H. (1992) Lectures on Conversation (ed. Jefferson, G.), Blackwell.
• 38: Mike Schneider , Sara Kiesler, Calling while driving: effects of providing remote traffic context, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA [doi>10.1145/1054972.1055050]
• 39: Cheri Speier , Joseph S. Valacich , Iris Vessey, The effects of task interruption and information presentation on individual decision making, Proceedings of the eighteenth international conference on Information systems, p.21-36, December 14-17, 1997, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• 40: Suchman, L.(1987) Plans and Situated Actions, Cambridge University Press

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Computer-supported cooperative work

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
accountability, disruption, ethnomethodology, interruption