Partitioning digital worlds: focal and peripheral awareness in multiple monitor use

ABSTRACT

Software today does not help us partition our digital worlds effectively. We must organize them ourselves. This field study of users of multiple monitors examines how people with a lot of display space arrange information. Second monitors are generally used for secondary activities related to principal tasks, for peripheral awareness of information that is not the main focus, and for easy access to resources. A second monitor improves efficiency in ways that are difficult to measure yet can have substantial subjective benefit. The study concludes with illustrations of shortcomings of today's systems and applications: the way we work could be improved at relatively low cost.

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Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

• Information systems

  • Information systems applications

    • Multimedia information systems