1. A Taxonomy of Ambient Information Systems: Four Patterns of Design Zachary Pousman, John Stasko College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology AVI 2006 (Advanced Visual Interface)

2. Outline Introduction Ambient Information Systems Pervious Taxonomies Design Dimensions of Ambient Systems Four Design Patterns Extending the Patterns Conclusions 2

3. Introduction Calm computing – information can be conveyed via calm changes in the environment – users are more able to focus on their primary work tasks Ambient display – a long-term research thread in Computer Supported Cooperative Work – Ambient Intelligence has brought techniques from Artificial Intelligence to ambient systems Multitude of everyday objects to display information – lights, sounds, shadows, artificial flowers, … – art-like manner and traditional desktop 3

4. Introduction accumulating theoretical and craft knowledge has been stymied by the lack of a unified vocabulary to define and describe ambient information system disentangle the terminology used to describe and categorize the wide array of systems in order to provide a common language for discussing research therein 4

5. Ambient Information Systems Ambient Display – information is moved off the screen into the physical environment, manifesting itself as subtle changes in form, movement, sound, color, smell, temperature, or light. Ambient displays are well suited as a means to keep users aware of people or general states of large systems, like network traffic and weather - Ishii et al 5

6. Ambient Information Systems Ambient Display – might be defined as those that are "minimally attended" (e.g. just salient enough for conscious perception) while alerting displays are "maximally divided" (e.g. slightly less salient than focal tasks) - Matthews et al 6

7. Ambient Information Systems Ambient Display – typically communicate just one, or perhaps a few at the most, pieces of information and the aesthetics and visual appeal of the display is often paramount - Stasko et al 7

8. Ambient Information Systems Ambient Display – abstract and aesthetic peripheral displays portraying non-critical information on the periphery of a user’s attention... They generally support monitoring of non-critical information. Ambient displays have the ambitious goal of presenting information without distracting or burdening the user - Mankoff et al 8

9. Ambient Information Systems Peripheral Display – displays that show information that a person is aware of, but not focused on - Matthews et al 9

10. Ambient Information Systems Peripheral Display – refer to systems that are out of a person’s primary focus of attention and may communicate one or more pieces of information - Stasko et al 10

11. Ambient Information Systems Peripheral Display – is designed to present information as lightweight and peripheral objects. It does not demand the full attention of its users: rather it can be attended to in passing, where people collaborate should the need or desire arise - Rounding and Greenberg 11

12. Ambient Information Systems Notification System – defined as interfaces that are typically used in a divided-attention, multitasking situation, attempting to deliver current, valued information through a variety of platforms and modes in an efficient and effective manner - McCrickard et al 12

13. 13 Ambient Display Peripheral Display Notification System

14. Ambient Information Systems 14 Display information that is important but not critical Can move from the periphery to the focus of attention and back again Focus on the tangible; representations in the environment Provide subtle changes to reflect updates in information (should not be distracting) Are aesthetically pleasing and environmentally appropriate

15. Precious Taxonomies 15 Transition Notification Abstraction Interrupt Make aware Change blind Ignore Change blind Make Aware Interrupt Demand attention Feature abstraction Degradation Matthews et al

16. Precious Taxonomies 16 Interruption Reaction Comprehension McCrickard et al Reallocation of attention focus from a [primary] task to the notification the rapid response to a given stimulus the long-term notion of remembering and sense-making IRC code: 001 – Ambient Media, 010 – Indicator, 111 Critical Activity Monitor

17. Design Dimensions of Ambient Systems 17 10~20+ 2~10 only 1 Information Capacity - number of discrete information sources that a system can represent

18. Design Dimensions of Ambient Systems 18 Make aware Change blind Ignore Notification - the degree to which system alerts are meant to interrupt a user Interrupt Demand attention

19. Design Dimensions of Ambient Systems 19 Representational Fidelity- describes a system’s display components and how the data from the world is encoded into patterns, pictures, words, or sounds Iconic: drawings, doodles Indexical: maps, photos Iconic: Metaphors Symbolic: language symbols Symbolic: abstract symbols

20. Design Dimensions of Ambient Systems 20 Aesthetic Emphasis - the relative importance of the aesthetics of the display mirror existing artworks by a particular artist representative of a particular style or art movement are not intended by their designers to be art worthy of contemplation as art objects

21. Design Dimensions of Ambient Systems 21

22. Four Design Patterns 22

23. Four Design Patterns 23

24. Four Design Patterns 24

25. Four Design Patterns 25

26. Extending the Patterns Though scrolling or time- divided ambient systems can already display data elements numbering in the hundreds, simultaneous visual displays are usually limited to 25 or 30 elements by readability and user learnability. New systems focusing on personally relevant symbolic representations, and utilizing metaphors from the natural and built worlds The designers creating systems where multiple information sources and aspects interact to affect a single part of the representation Further exploration of the space of truly artistically motivated ambient information systems 26

27. Conclusions Synthesize a definition that distinguishes research in ambient information systems from that of notification systems and peripheral displays Propose four design dimensions, rank systems to show clusters, and uncover four design patterns on which system developers may model their system designs Future work will expand the four dimensions to include aspects of the social interaction and impact that system have on the behavior of individuals and groups 27