Interaction Issues in Computer Aided Semantic\ud Annotation of Multimedia

The CASAM project aims to provide a tool for more efficient and effective annotation of multimedia documents through collaboration between a user and a system performing an automated analysis of the media content. A critical part of the project is to develop a user interface which best supports both the user and the system through optimal human-computer interaction. In this paper we discuss the work undertaken, the proposed user interface and underlying interaction issues which drove its development

The Effects of Sequence and Delay on Crowd Work

A common approach in crowdsourcing is to break large tasks into small microtasks so that they can be parallelized across many crowd workers and so that redundant work can be more easily compared for quality control. In practice, this can re-sult in the microtasks being presented out of their natural order and often introduces delays between individual micro-tasks. In this paper, we demonstrate in a study of 338 crowd workers that non-sequential microtasks and the introduction of delays significantly decreases worker performance. We show that interruptions where a large delay occurs between two related tasks can cause up to a 102 % slowdown in com-pletion time, and interruptions where workers are asked to perform different tasks in sequence can slow down comple-tion time by 57%. We conclude with a set of design guide-lines to improve both worker performance and realized pay, and instructions for implementing these changes in existing interfaces for crowd work. Author Keywords Crowdsourcing; human computation; workflows; continuity

A break from pain! Interruption management in the context of pain

Activity interruptions, namely temporary suspensions of an ongoing task with the intention to resume it later, are common in pain. First, pain is a threat signal that urges us to interrupt ongoing activities in order to manage the pain and its cause. Second, activity interruptions are used in chronic pain management. However, activity interruptions by pain may carry costs for activity performance. These costs have recently started to be systematically investigated. We review the evidence on the consequences of activity interruptions by pain for the performance of the interrupted activity. Further, inspired by literature on interruptions from other research fields, we suggest ways to improve interruption management in the field of pain, and provide a future research agenda

IT Interruptions in Project Environments: A Taxonomy and Preliminary Performance Investigation

Despite the growing emergence of information technology interruptions–those interruptions that are mediated or induced by information technology–little is known about their nature and their consequences on performance. This paper develops a taxonomy of information technology interruptions and presents propositions that relate distinct interruption types and subtypes to individual performance in project environments. A qualitative inquiry of product development teams is used to deductively validate the taxonomy and propositions, and to develop new insights based on an inductive analysis. The paper contributes to research by developing a conceptualization of information technology interruptions in the context of individuals working on interdependent tasks that are nested in related projects. Also, it shows how distinct types of information technology interruptions exhibit differential effects on performance that vary from positive to negative

Notification mechanisms in second-screen scenarios: towards a balanced user experience

As technological devices surrounding the television are changing, so are viewers’ habits. When the interactive Television industry turns its focus to the development of second-screen applications, this paper reports on a study aiming to analyse the impact, on users, of notifications in second-screen scenarios. As part of the study, the research team developed a prototype that simulated an application able to deliver synchronized information related with TV content, notifying the user – through visual, audio and haptic stimuli - whenever new content was displayed in the tablet. The study included observation sessions, conducted in laboratory settings, with participants (N=12) being invited to watch a 15-minute film while using the application. Tests were conducted under a cognitive walk-through methodology, and data collected through direct observation and questionnaires. Results show that to achieve a balanced user experience in second-screen scenarios notifications on tablet should be combined with visual notifications on TV

Technology Mediated Interruptions: Attention Analysis and Impact on Task Performance

Information systems that provide easier access to information and enhanced communication channels to help manage these tasks (e.g. through emails, instant messages, and calls via mobile devices) can cause workers to temporarily lose focus on his or her current activity (defined as interruptions) (O’Conaill and Frohlich, 1995). Even though some research has concentrated on explaining the effects of interruptions (Speier, Valacich, & Vessey, 1999; Gillie and Broadbent, 1989; Cellier & Eyrolle, 1992), they fall short of explaining the complex set of relationships that help us understand how and why an individual attends to new tasks, and how this task fragmentation and taskswitching process influences performance. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain the effect of TMI and taskswitching on performance using the Stimulus Value Role Model (Murstein, 1970) as a theoretical basis and to use working memory to investigate how task-switching and task-fragmentation influence task performance. Controlled laboratory experiments will be conducted to test the hypotheses

The Importance of who and what in Interruption Management: Empirical Evidence from a Cell Phone Use Study

Interruption management in technology mediated communication is a key concern in collaborative work and social environments. Previous empirical and theoretical work in predicting interruptibility predominantly focuses on interruptee’s local context namely identifying cognitively and socially intruding contexts such as mental work load levels, activity, place of activity. They largely ignore the relational context namely “who” the interruption is from or “what” it is about. This paper addresses this issue by systematically investigating the use of the various contextual factors in interruption management practices of everyday cell phone use. Analysis of 1201 incoming calls from our experience sampling method study of cell phone use, shows that “who” is calling is used most of the time (87.4%) by individuals to make deliberate call handling decisions (N=834), in contrast to the interruptee’s current local social (34.9%) or cognitive (43%) contexts. We present implications of these findings for the design of interruption management tools for communication media