Pati & Bellio: Coordinating Face-to-Face Interruptions via Availability Expressions and Proximal Notifications in Open-Plan Offices

In open-plan offices, face-to-face (F2F) interruptions frequently occur to facilitate collaboration and cooperation with colleagues. We designed Pati & Bellio to support the coordination of F2F interruptions in open-plan offices. Pati is a partition-style personal device that visualizes availability for F2F interruptions and Bellio is a shared interface that allows users to send notifications to their colleagues from a distance. Our three-week in field study with four groups of participants reveals that examining the process of F2F interruptions helps determine the importance of the interruption, and the physical distance provided by Pati and Bellio naturally allowed time to prepare for conversations. We also identified how the visualized availability is considered after an interruption begins. Our findings imply considerations in designing systems to support coordinating social interaction in work environments.