Breakaway: An ambient display designed to change human behavior

Nassim Jafarinaimi, Jodi Forlizzi, Amy Hurst, John Zimmerman

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We present Breakaway, an ambient display that encourages people, whose job requires them to sit for long periods of time, to take breaks more frequently. Breakaway uses the information from sensors placed on an office chair to communicate in a non-obtrusive manner how long the user has been sitting. Breakaway is a small sculpture placed on the desk. Its design is inspired by animation arts and theater, which rely heavily on body language to express emotions. Its shape and movement reflect the form of the human body; an upright position reflecting the body's refreshed pose, and a slouching position reflecting the body's pose after sitting for a long time. An initial evaluation shows a correlation between the movement of the sculpture and when participants took breaks, suggesting that ambient displays that make use of aesthetic and lifelike form might be promising for making positive changes in human behavior.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI'05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA'05
Pages1945-1948
Number of pages4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005
EventConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2005 - Portland, OR, United States
Duration: Apr 2 2005Apr 7 2005

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Other

OtherConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2005
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPortland, OR
Period4/2/054/7/05

Keywords

  • Design Study
  • Interaction Design
  • Lifelike Motion
  • Product Design
  • Ubiquitous Displays

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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