RESEARCHER: Gloria Mark


This is an ongoing multi-year project funded by the National Science Foundation, Google, and Fuji Xerox. In an age of global work and information overload, the role of IT in enabling people to access information and to work with one another (especially when people are at a distance) is increasing. The purpose of this research is to understand the extent to which information workers multi-task, whereby they switch tasks, contexts, interactions, and technology in their work. This study employs methodologies of detailed shadowing of informants’ activities over multiple days, and a series of semi-structured interviews to understand people’s multi-tasking behavior. Results show that people switch activities and projects to a great extent throughout the workday and measure significantly higher levels of stress, frustration, mental workload and time pressure when interrupted. This study will utilize the results of the informants’ behavior to develop recommendations for new technologies that can best support local and distributed teamwork. A prototype has been developed and is currently being tested. The results have been published in the top-tier ACM CHI (Computer-Human Interaction ’04, ’05, ‘08), ACM DIS (Design of Interactive Systems), and Community and Technology Conferences. The results have appeared in the media such as the New York Times, the BBC, and Time magazine.