Assignment: Midterm Project 2: Project Progress Sketches

Collaborators: alisonm

Graphical Overview:

Description:

The goal of the e-Pot is to allow users to access basic information about the state of their business email inboxes without going straight for a laptop or a phone. We reasoned that many users check email immediately in the morning in order to confirm that there are no urgent emails but then fall into the trap of responding to non-critical emails over breakfast. By slowly providing information about the quantity of emails and then information about the types of emails, the user is able to make informed decisions about how quickly to access his or her email account.

In cases when the contents of the user’s inbox are not particularly pressing, the user would be able to focus on breakfast with the family. On the other hand, when there is of a high level of pressing emails, the user would be able to appropriately divert attention to an email account. The goal is for the user to avoid going straight to the email account when it is not necessary.

The e-Pot serves as a hybrid between ambient devices and slow technology. Whereas ambient devices tend to rest in the user’s peripheral awareness and information is obtained at a glance, slow technology purposefully holds the user’s attention in order to promote meditation and reflection. The e-Pot straddles these two approaches because it is both ambient (in that it doesn’t demand attention) and slow (you gain information over time).

The ideal user for this device is someone who is required to stay on top of business emails but has a moderate level of restraint. For someone who is addicted to email, he or she might focus to desperately on whistle sound and changing colors and the device would cease to be peripheral. The e-Pot could perhaps provide such an avid user the opportunity to pause and reflect on the role of information and caffeine in their life.

As a society we tend to be overstimulated by both information and caffeine. The e-Pot aims to make information available at a slow pace that doesn’t interrupt breakfast. Once the users have connected with families, they can then approach their emails (with the help of a caffeine boost), having maintained an appropriate work-life balance during the morning routine.

Note: Additional details on the implementation of our project are available in our original project proposal.