A new interactive computer system that can tell when you’re not paying attention has been developed by scientists at St Andrews University.
In a boon to both time-and-motion managers and desktop obsessives, the new multi-display system is said to reduce workplace distractions, increase productivity, and could even be of use in high pressured environments such as flight control rooms.
The revolutionary new system, called “Diff Displays”, aims to prevent computer users from missing anything new on their screen again.
The system detects when its user is not looking at a display and replaces the regular screen image with a calm and non-distracting visualisation of the screen’s activity instead.
The system reduces distractions by fading out the parts of the screen that remain static and by subtly visualising changes in the display over time.
When the user looks back at a display, the system quickly changes back from the visualisation to the actual screen content via different forms of animation.
The system works via a camera mounted on top of each computer screen which uses computer vision algorithms to identify the user’s eyes. Once the eyes have been identified, the system can determine which screen they are looking at.
The researchers believe the system would be useful in everyday work situations to reduce distractions and improve the quality of life of office workers.
However, it may also be particularly useful for those in high-pressure roles where they monitor a large number of screens, such as flight controllers or workers in nuclear power stations.
A study of the system in action during a single work week indicated it reduced the number of times someone switched their attention between the displays. The researchers think this technology can eventually become a standard part of our operating systems.
PhD student Jakub Dostal, who works under the guidance of Dr Per Ola Kristensson and Professor Aaron Quigley in the School of Computer Science, said: “In a world where displays are starting to surround us and crave for our attention, technologies that focus on inattention become ever so important.
“Diff Displays is an example of intelligent display technologies that can be rapidly deployed and have a positive impact on potentially billions of users.”
This week the researchers will travel to Santa Monica in California to present the results of their research at the ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces. IUI serves as the principal international forum for reporting outstanding research and development on intelligent user interfaces.
The system Diff Displays is available as a free download for Microsoft Windows.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article