1. UPA Boston Conference 2011
Brian Sullivan

4. Time Shift:
The flood of content disrupts our daily life! It is like
a maniacal paperboy throwing new editions at your
doorstep every 15 seconds.

5. What exactly is attention?
How is it defined?

6. Classic Definition of Awareness
Attention is the taking possession
by the mind, in clear and vivid form,
of one out of what seem several
simultaneously possible objects or
trains of thought. Focalization,
concentration, of consciousness are
of its essence.
-William James

7. Attention Distraction
Implies Implies
Focus Disorder

9. Attention Economy (1971)
The wealth of information means a
dearth of something else: a scarcity of
whatever it is that information
consumes, (which is) the attention of
its recipients.
A wealth of information creates a
poverty of attention and a need to
allocate that attention efficiently
among the overabundance of
information sources that might
consume it.
-Herbert Simon (1971)

10. Information Attention
Scarcity vs Scarcity

11. Attention Currency (2001)
Attention is focused mental
engagement on a particular item
of information. Items come into
our awareness, we attend to a
particular item, and then we
decide whether to act.
-Tom Davenport(2001)

12. Attention Can Equal Money
 Attention
 Interest
 Desire
 Action

13. Your Attention Modes

14. Passive Attention [pas-iv] [uh-ten-shuhn]
Passive attention is involuntary use of
attention. Some scholars have called it
“being in auto-pilot.” People usually snap
out of passive attention because of an
external factor (sudden loud noise).

15. Passive Mode:
You perform a mundane task (like
driving to work for 500th time), so it
does not require your full attention.
-The laundry is piled up.
- I need to go to the store.
- I need money from the ATM.
When you almost hit a car, your
attention moves to ACTIVE mode!!!

16. Active Attention [ak-tiv] [uh-ten-shuhn]
Active attention is the voluntary focusing of
attention under difficulties, attention by
disregarding distraction, attention to which
there are rival claimants, — in short,
choosing to mentally focus on something.

17. Active Mode:
You perform a task that requires
your full attention.
- A surgeon focuses on a patient
- An athlete focuses on a free-throw
- Ice climbing on a slippery slope
You attention is very focused in
active mode.

18. Types of Active Attention

19. Active Attention Types:
1. Normal
2. Concentration
3. Selective
4. Alternating
5. Divided

20. Active Attention Types:
1. Normal
2. Concentration
3. Selective
4. Alternating
5. Divided
Normal attention is when you focus on a single task.

22. Normal Attention:
You consciously focus on a single
task:
- Nurse listens to the heart monitor
- Player blocks a basketball shot
- Clown juggles 7 balls
People perform best when they focus
on a single task.

24. Active Attention Types:
1. Normal
2. Concentration
3. Selective
4. Alternating
5. Divided
Concentration is sustained focus on activity, where you
purposely avoid distractions, stretch your current skills, or
do something you consider to be very important.

25. Concentration:
Concentration is a sustained focus,
usually dealing with distractions, doing
something important, or doing
something beyond your normal limits.
- Listening to someone at a noisy party
- Reading a book
- Doing a skateboard stunt
Tuning out conversations at a party to
talk with someone important.

26. Concentration:
Concentration is a sustained focus,
usually dealing with distractions, doing
something important, or doing
something beyond your normal limits.
- Listening to someone at a noisy party
- Reading a book
- Doing a skateboard stunt
Reading a book for a school or work project,
so you focus on specific information.

27. A gymnast adding a new twist to the vault
during a competition (in the finals).

28. Active Attention Types:
1. Normal
2. Concentration
3. Selective
4. Alternating
5. Divided
Selective attention is unconsciously blocking out other
stimulus, while you are performing some task.

31. Selective Attention:
Selective attention is just how our
brain processes information in our
visual field. People miss large
chunks of data in their visual field.
- Banner Blindness
- Not understanding a page changed
- Not seeing the gorilla
You selectively “ignore” a lot of
things. In the Selective Attention
tests on You Tube, you might miss:
- A Gorilla
- A moon-walking bear
- A storm trooper
- Child-dressed up as a Ninja Turtle

32. Active Attention Types:
1. Normal
2. Concentration
3. Selective
4. Alternating
5. Divided
Alternating attention is focus in on one task and
you “tune in” to another one from time to time.

33. Concentration:
Concentration is a sustained focus,
usually dealing with distractions, doing
something important, or doing
something beyond your normal limits.
- Listening to someone at a noisy party
- Reading a book
- Doing a skateboard stunt
You are reading a book for pleasure, while
an episode of “Family Guy” plays on TV.

34. “That’s pretty freakin’ sweet. It’s one of the
Star Wars episodes. Have I seen it?”

35. Concentration:
Concentration is a sustained focus,
usually dealing with distractions, doing
something important, or doing
something beyond your normal limits.
- Listening to someone at a noisy party
- Reading a book
- Doing a skateboard stunt
“I’ve seen that episode back to the book.”
(for now)

36. “That’s pretty freakin’ sweet, Brian! I love
this part. Sure, my reading can wait.”

37. Active Attention Types:
1. Normal
2. Concentration
3. Selective
4. Alternating
5. Divided
Divided attention is when you divide your level attention
between many things. You do not really focus on any one, as
you split your attention. Some folks call it “multi-tasking.”

41. Myths About Multi-tasking
 You do not multi-task.
 You do rapid task switching.
 Better to complete one task.
 Task efficiency decreases with
each additional task.
 Digital natives think they are
great multi-taskers:
- Do homework
- Update Facebook
- Search Internet

43. Design Strategies for Awareness

44. Awareness Strategies:
1. User-Driven
2. System-Driven

45. User-Driven Approach

46. Awareness Strategies:
1. User Driven Approach
- Task-Driven Training
- Verbal Protocols
- Advanced Training
- User Checklists
2. System-Driven Approach

47. How Training = Awareness
 Rehearsal
 Memorization
 Recovery
 Focus on primary task(s)
 Ignore distractions

48. Verbal Protocols (NASA)
 “Wait”
 “Activate”
 “Deactivate”
 “Explain”

49. Verbal Protocols (6 Thinking Hats)
 White = Neutral
 Blue = Organize
 Green = Creative
 Yellow = Positive
 Black = Critical
 Red = Emotional

50. Advanced Training Saves Lives

51. Simple Checklists are Effective
 Checklist Manifesto (2007)
 WHO adopts it in 2008:
- 8 remote Tanzania hospitals
- Post surgery issues drop 36%
- Deaths reduced by 47%
 Only checklist was adopted:
- No new equipment bought
- No extra money spent
- Results were in 6 months

52. Awareness Strategies:
1. User-Driven Approach
2. System-Driven Approach
- Interruption Strategy
- Notification Strategy
- Make it Multi-modal
- Interaction Design

53. Interruption versus Notification
Interruption strategy Notification strategy
”How we actively “How we passively
interrupt people to show relevant
make them aware of information that
critical or sensitive people might want to
information?” know?”
Interruptions = Active Awareness
Notifications = Passive Awareness

54. Interruption Strategy = Obvious
 Put in center of screen
 Make it BIG (obvious)
 Design a binary choice
 Use multi-modal design
(recommend using sound)
Did you know……..
Multi-modal design is not equal.
NOTE According to Welch (1986), the
modality of sound was better for
active interruptions than heat,
smell, vibration, color, or light.

55. Interruption Design Protocols
 Life or death
 Significant impact
 Usually, in center of a design
 Requires immediate attention

58. Use Sound, Sometimes
With most interruption strategies, use sound to draw
attention (ie the phone), but not always (survey).

59. Notification Strategy = Subtle
 Put in edges of design
 Informational, interactive
 Can be a binary choice
(i.e. Take Our Poll)

60. Notification Design Protocols
 Show important information
 Make aware of a change
 Not a significant impact
 “Awareness” patterns on fringe of eye path (usually)

62. Notification of 1 new item.

63. Notification of 1 new item.
No pic (usually spammer).

64. Notification of 1 new item.
No pic (usually spammer).
This item is new.

65. Notification of 1 new item.
No pic (usually spammer).
Damn, an advertisement!
This item is new.

66. Notification of 1 new item.
No pic (usually spammer).
Short URL (by Owl.ly)
Damn, an advertisement!
This item is new.

67. Notification of 1 new item.
No pic (usually spammer).
Short URL (by Owl.ly)
Damn, an advertisement!
This item is new.
Hashtag for like posts

68. Notification of 1 new item.
No pic (usually spammer).
Short URL (by Owl.ly)
Damn, an advertisement!
This item is new.
See conversation thread
Hashtag for like posts

69. Call of Duty—Player Notification

70. Your Buddy PiX3L Monkey is Online

71. Assume, an Interruption Method

72. It Could Look Like This
- Level 53 - 17 Awards
- 10 Boosts - 22 Missions
- 88 Medals - 42 Weapons
- 12 Friends - 76 Enemies
Completed: Zombie Moscow Level

73. A notification strategy
does not have to exist on
the fringe of your design.
It can be meaningfully
placed into the main
viewing area.

74.  1 missed call
 voicemail
 2 text messages
 2 unread emails
 Partly cloudy46 degrees
 No meetings on Saturday,
29th

75. Make It Multi-Modal
 Different parts of the brain
process information.
 Multi-modal designs use
different sensory triggers in
the brain.
Did you know……..
Neuroscientists recommend
doctors play classical music in
surgery. It relaxes the stress
centers of the brain and
seems to aid to eye-hand
coordination.

76. MIT, 2009

77. MIT, 2009

78. MIT, 2009

79. 2,000 bits/second
(awareness)
60 bits/second
(process)

80. Recite Ingredients of a Big Mac

81. You Know Them By Heart
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese,
pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun.

82. Multi-modal Encoding in Memory
You know these ingredients because of multi-modal
encoding (see, smell, taste, feel, eat, sing the words).

83. Common Multi-Modal Patterns
 Vibration of a game controller
 Temperature activated labels
 Ring tones on a cell phone
 Change color on selection
 Phone lights up for a call

84. Lastly, Interaction Design

85. Interactions Are Personal
 Allows for exploration
 Entices Interest
 Leads to focus

86. Example: Pivot of Large Data Sets
 Hotels by price, nearness, star rating
 My tweets, tweets mentions, DMs, retweets
 Movies – at box office, on DVD, upcoming
Price Nearby Star Rating

87. Interactions with Context
 Recent
 Popular
 Frequent
 Events
 Location (or Nearby)
 Share
 What Others Like
 Recommendations

88. Last Example: Fandango
 Swipe, tap, or pinch
 You can see:
- In Theaters Now
- Within 15 miles
- Opening This Week
- Reviews
- Coming Soon
 Interactions
+ Context
-----------------
Awareness

89. My Contact Information
 Email = brian@bigdesignevents.com
 Twitter = @BrianKSullivan
 World Usability Day, 2011 (Education Theme)
 Big Design Conference on July 14-16, 2011 (Dallas)