Using Software Agents to Raise Awareness and Lower Information Overload in a Multi-user Collaborative Environment

Abstract

Ubiquitous devices provide users with notifications that continue to blur the distinction between work and personal activities and can lead to information overload. This research aims to support users of multiple collaborative and social systems who may experience this, by designing and evaluating a personal software agent to support the user and ameliorate the effects of overload. A technique uniting personas and Empathy Map has been applied to model typical user behaviours, goals and pain points, which will inform the design of a solution to manage interruptions and information overload.