Communications of the ACM
Red Light, Green Light Invention Prevents Work Interruptions
The FlowLight desk light automatically switches from green to red to alert colleagues that a user is "in the zone" and should not be disturbed.
Credit: UBC News
Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada have developed FlowLight, a desk light that automatically switches from green to red when a user is "in the zone" and should not be disturbed by co-workers.
FlowLight switches between green and red based on the user's keyboard and mouse activity.
UBC professor Thomas Fritz notes the key is the light changes automatically, because once a worker is focused on a task, stopping to manually turn on a light, close the office door, or put a cone on the desk is disruptive to the work and cumbersome.
During testing, volunteer employees reported fewer interruptions, and enjoyed an improved office culture in which people were more respectful of each other's time and space.
The researchers will present FlowLight on Wednesday at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2017) in Denver, CO.
From UBC News
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