article

Improving the match between callers and receivers: A study on the effect of contextual information on cell phone interruptions

Authors:

S. KieslerAuthors Info & Claims

Behaviour & Information Technology, Volume 26, Issue 3

Pages 247 - 259

https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500402338

Published: 01 May 2007 Publication History

Abstract

A problem with the location-free nature of cell phones is that callers have difficulty predicting receivers' states, leading to inappropriate calls. One promising solution involves helping callers decide when to interrupt by providing them contextual information about receivers. We tested the effectiveness of different kinds of contextual information by measuring the degree of agreement between receivers' desires and callers' decisions. In a simulation, five groups of participants played the role of 'Callers', choosing between making calls or leaving messages, and a sixth group played the role of 'Receivers', choosing between receiving calls or receiving messages. Callers were provided different contextual information about Receivers' locations, their cell phones' ringer state, the presence of others, or no information at all. Callers provided with contextual information made significantly more accurate decisions than those without it. Our results suggest that different contextual information generates different kinds of improvements: more appropriate interruptions or better avoidance of inappropriate interruptions. We discuss the results and implications for practice in the light of other important considerations, such as privacy and technological simplicity.

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Improving the match between callers and receivers: A study on the effect of contextual information on cell phone interruptions

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cover image Behaviour & Information Technology

Behaviour & Information Technology Volume 26, Issue 3

May 2007

83 pages

ISSN:0144-929X

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Taylor & Francis, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 May 2007

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3676534
Moon JKim NGoh GLee KKim HPark Y(2023)Stubbi: an Interactive Device for Enhancing Remote Text and Voice Communication in Small Intimate Groups through Simple Physical MovementsProceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3563657.3596016(1773-1788)Online publication date: 10-Jul-2023
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Grandhi SJones Q(2015)Knock, knock! who's there? Putting the user in control of managing interruptionsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.02.00879:C(35-50)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2015
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