The break-time barometer - an exploratory system for workplace break-time social awareness

Reuben Kirkham, Sebastian Mellor, David Green, Jiun Shian Lin, Karim Ladha, Cassim Ladha, Daniel Jackson, Patrick Olivier, Peter Wright, Thomas Plötz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperResearchpeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Break-Time Barometer is a social awareness system, which was developed as part of an exploratory study of the use of situated sensing and displays to promote cohesion in a newly-dispersed workplace. The Break-Time Barometer specifically aims to use an ambient persuasion approach in order to encourage people to join existing breaks, which take place within this community. Drawing upon a privacy sensitive ubiquitous sensing infrastructure, the system offers information about potentially break-related activity in social spaces within this workplace, including alerts when specific events are detected. The system was developed using a user-centered iterative design approach. A qualitative mixed methods evaluation of a full deployment identified a diverse set of reactions to both the system and the design goal, and further elaborated the challenges of designing for social connectedness in this complex workplace context.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUbiComp 2013 - Proceedings of the 2013 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing
Pages73-82
Number of pages10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Oct 2013
Externally publishedYes
EventACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing 2013 - Zurich, Switzerland
Duration: 8 Sept 201312 Sept 2013

Conference

ConferenceACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing 2013
Abbreviated titleUbiComp 2013
Country/TerritorySwitzerland
CityZurich
Period8/09/1312/09/13

Keywords

  • Ambient persuasion
  • Public-displays
  • Social awareness

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