Brainatwork: Logging Cognitive Engagement and Tasks in the Workplace Using Electroencephalography

Today's workplaces are dynamic and complex. Digital data sources such as email and video conferencing aim to support workers but also add to their burden of multitasking. Psychophysiological sensors such as Electroencephalography (EEG) can provide users with cues about their cognitive state. We introduce BrainAtWork, a workplace engagement and task logger which shows users their cognitive state while working on different tasks. In a lab study with eleven participants working on their own real-world tasks, we gathered 16 hours of EEG and PC logs which were labeled into three classes: central, peripheral and meta work. We evaluated the usability of BrainAtWork via questionnaires and interviews. We investigated the correlations between measured cognitive engagement from EEG and subjective responses from experience sampling probes. Using random forests classification, we show the feasibility of automatically labeling work tasks into work classes. We discuss how BrainAtWork can support workers on the long term through encouraging reflection and helping in task scheduling

Enhancement of Concentration in studies through simple games - an innovative pedagogy methodology

It is often observed that the students of new generation have large number of distractions. This leads to lesser concentration on what they are studying and it effects into lesser assimilation of subject matter, lesser confidence and lesser overall performance. It is a well-known fact that assimilation increases with increase in concentration. In order to improve the performance of students in whatever they do, we planned to use some innovative methods for improving their concentration. We experimented this on the fresh batch of students that was admitted in 2018-19 to increase their concentration and built-up their confidence through a new method pedagogy involving Gaming, Micro-projects, Meditation (Omkar Recitation) and recitation of multiplication-tables etc. These activities were daily conducted in the specially allotted student’s hour.In order to measure the outcome of our experiment, we conducted an aptitude test at the beginning and once again after doing this experimentation over a period of full semester. The outcome of this experimentation is found to be very encouraging. This paper presents the innovative methodology adopted over a group of student’s improvement of for concentration and discusses the visible outcome in the better performance of the batch

Dispersion au travail, entre pathologie et compétence professionnelle

Ces dernières années, le travail a connu de profondes transformations, les compétences attendues par les entreprises ont donc évolué. Les environnements de travail sont devenus largement instables, et une part importante de la gestion de cette instabilité repose directement sur le salarié qui doit être à la fois mobilisé et autonome. Celui-ci se trouve ainsi confronté au quotidien à ce que l'on peut qualifier de « dispersion ». Gérer celle-ci s'apparente à une véritable compétence, qui n'est cependant pas reconnue en tant que telle. Pis, rabattue sur des catégories morales ou pathologiques, la capacité à gérer la dispersion est le plus souvent disqualifiée. Un article récent de la Harvard Business Review est consacré à l'ADT ou Attention Deficit Trait (Hallowell, 2005). Hallowell, psychiatre américain, y avance que l'ADT, causé par la surcharge cognitive, est de plus en plus répandu dans les entreprises, à tel point que c'est devenu la norme pour les managers en situation de surcharge. Il explique ce mal par les pressions qui pèsent sur notre temps et notre attention, pressions qui auraient explosé au cours des vingt dernières années. Remplis de « bruits », pour reprendre le vocable de l'auteur, nos cerveaux perdent progressivement la capacité à se concentrer pleinement sur quelque chose. Risquant une métaphore pour le moins audacieuse avec les embouteillages, Hallowell affirme que cette pathologie est entièrement causée par l'environnement de vie moderne. Finalement ce serait, pour beaucoup d'entre nous, une réponse nécessaire à notre environnement hyperkinésique où il s'agit de collecter et de transmettre des quantités d'informations, toujours plus vite

Managed Forgetting to Support Information Management and Knowledge Work

Trends like digital transformation even intensify the already overwhelming mass of information knowledge workers face in their daily life. To counter this, we have been investigating knowledge work and information management support measures inspired by human forgetting. In this paper, we give an overview of solutions we have found during the last five years as well as challenges that still need to be tackled. Additionally, we share experiences gained with the prototype of a first forgetful information system used 24/7 in our daily work for the last three years. We also address the untapped potential of more explicated user context as well as features inspired by Memory Inhibition, which is our current focus of research.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, preprint, final version to appear in KI - K\"unstliche Intelligenz, Special Issue: Intentional Forgettin

All in a Day's Work: User Interface Design for Multitasking, Resource Organization, and Collaboration in Knowledge Work

ABSTRACT Knowledge workers manage multiple tasks, collaborate effectively, and leverage the spatial organization of their work area; all of these practices have a relationship to the construct of activity. In this research, I have synthesized data about knowledge workers' practices, findings from the development and evaluation of early activity-based systems, and theoretical understandings of cognition and activity into a set of challenges for the research and development of activity-based systems. I am addressing these challenges and incorporating lessons learned from previous technological explorations in a research prototype, the Giornata system, a demonstration of how the traditional desktop metaphor can be re-envisioned to better match knowledge workers' practices by emphasizing activity as a primary organizing principle in GUI-based interaction