Impact of smartphone notification display choice in a typing task

Norrie, L. and Murray-Smith, R. (2015) Impact of smartphone notification display choice in a typing task. In: MobileHCI 2015: 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, Copenhagen, Denmark, 24-27 Aug 2015, (doi: 10.1145/2786567.2794335)

Abstract

External displays have the potential to make smartphone notifications less obtrusive when a user has committed their attention to a primary task. We compare six notification displays, and evaluate the impact that negotiating smartphone interruptions has on a typing task when the number of notifications to ignore and act on are equal. A lab experiment with 30 participants is conducted, and initial results show that desktop pop-ups are preferred significantly more, where they require the fewest actions to read. Managing notifications via the notification bar is least preferred, despite requiring fewer actions to respond. This work is a well-controlled pre-cursor to the application of notification displays in social scenarios. The results motivate the use of external displays to manage attention around smartphone interruptions.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: ACM 978-1-4503-3653-6/15/08.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Murray-Smith, Professor Roderick
• Authors: Norrie, L., and Murray-Smith, R.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 ACM
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher