MessyDesk and MessyBoard: two designs inspired by the goal of improving human memory

ABSTRACT

MessyDesk is a replacement desktop that invites free-form decoration. MessyBoard is a large, projected, shared bulletin board that is decorated collaboratively by a small group of users.We built these programs with the goal of helping people remember more of the content that they access through a computer. Our approach is to embed content within distinct contexts. For instance, a computer with multiple projection screens could surround the user with panoramic vistas that correspond to projects that the user is working on. Since few people are willing to create their own context, we created MessyDesk and MessyBoard in order to entice people to decorate.Though we have not yet evaluated the impact of either program on users' memories, we have observed people using these programs over a several week period. From anecdotal evidence, we believe that MessyDesk may be a good tool for decoration and information management. MessyBoard became popular when we projected the board on the wall in our lab. We have seen that different research groups use it differently. One group uses it mostly for jokes and games, and another group uses it for long design discussions. It is good for scheduling, and supports factual as well as emotional communication among group members.

References

1. America Online. AOL Instant Messenger. http://www.aol.com/aim/homenew.adp
2. Asch, S. E., Hay, J., and Diamond, R. M. Perceptual organization in serial rote-learning. American Journal of Psychology 73 (1960), 177--198.
3. Bobrow, S. A., and Bower, G. H. Comprehension and recall of sentences. Journal of Experimental Psychology 80, 3, Pt. 1 (1969), 455--461.
4. Brennan, S. E., and Ohaeri, J. O. Why do electronic conversations seem less polite? The costs and benefits of hedging. Proceedings, International Joint Conference on Work Activities, Coordination, and Collaboration (WACC'99), 227--235.
5. Conway, M., Audia, S., Burnette, 11, Cosgrove, D., Christiansen, K., Deline, R., Durbin, J., Gossweiler, R., Kogi, S., Long, C., Mallory, B., Miale, S., Monkaitis, K., Patten, J., Pierce, J., Schochet, J., Staak, D., Stearns, B., Stoakley, R., Sturgill, C., Viega, J., White, J., Williams, G., and Pausch R. Alice: lessons learned from building a 3D system for novices. Proceedings, CHI 2000, 486--493.
6. Dallett, K., and Wilcox, G. Contextual stimuli and proactive inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology 78, 3, Pt. 1 (1968), 475--480.
7. Gordon, K. Meaning in memory and in attention: Memory as dependent upon the complexity of its content. Attention as determined by the complexity of the presented content. Psychological Review 10, 3 (May 1903), 267--295.
8. Greenberg, S., and Rounding, M. The Notification Collage: Posting Information to Public and Personal Displays. Proceedings, CHI 2001, 514--521.
9. Grudin, J. Partitioning digital worlds: focal and peripheral awareness in multiple monitor use. Proceedings, CHI 2001, 458--465.
10. Kidd, A. The Marks are on the Knowledge Worker. Proceedings, CH11994, 186--191.
11. Kiesler, S., Zubrow, D., Moses, A. M., and Geller, V. Affect in Computer-Mediated Communication: An Experiment in Synchronous Terminal-to-Terminal Discussion. Human-Computer Interaction 1, 1, 1985, 77--104.
12. Lansdale, M. The psychology of personal information management. Applied Ergonomics 19, 1 (March 1988), 55--66.
13. LightTEK Software. Talisman. http://www.lighttek.com/
14. Malone, T. W. How do people organize their desks? Implications for the design of office information systems. ACM Transactions on Office Information Systems 1, 1 (Jan. 1983), 99--112.
15. Mander, R., Salomon, G., and Wong, Y. A 'pile' metaphor for supporting casual organization of information. Proceedings, Human Factors in Computing Systems 1992, 627--634.
16. Mäntylä, T. Optimizing cue effectiveness: Recall of 500 and 600 incidentally learned words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 12, 1 (Jan 1986), 66--71.
17. Moscovitch, M., and Craik, F. I. Depth of processing, retrieval cues, and uniqueness of encoding as factors in recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 15, 4 (Aug 1976), 447--458.
18. Murnane, K., Phelps, M., and Malmberg, K. (1999). Context-dependent recognition memory: The ICE theory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 128, 4 (Dec 1999), 403--415.
19. Nullsoft. Winamp. http://www.winamp.com/
20. Rekimoto, J. Time-machine computing: a time-centric approach for the information environment. Proceedings, UlST 1999, 45--54.
21. Robertson, G., Czerwinski, M., Larson, K., Robbins, D. C., Thiel, D., van Dantzich, M. Data mountain: using spatial memory for document management. Proceedings, UIST 1998, 153--162.
22. Smith, S. M., and Vela, E. Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 8, 2 (Jun 2001), 203--220.
23. Stardock. DesktopX. http://www.stardock.com/
24. Tan, D. S., Stefanucci, J. K., Proffitt, D. R., and Pausch, R. The Infocockpit: Providing Location and Place to Aid Human Memory. Workshop on Perceptive User Interfaces 2001, Orlando, Florida.
25. Whittaker, S., and Hirschberg, J. The character, value and management of paper archives. Transactions on Computer Human Interaction 8, 2 (June 2001), 150--170.

Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Collaborative and social computing

    • Collaborative and social computing theory, concepts and paradigms

      • Computer supported cooperative work

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

  • Interaction design

    • Interaction design process and methods

      • User centered design

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing and business

      • Computer supported cooperative work