Imagining future digital assistants at work: A study of task management needs. Issue 168 (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Khaokaew, Yonchanok; Holcombe-James, Indigo; Rahaman, Mohammad Saiedur; Liono, Jonathan; Trippas, Johanne R.; Spina, Damiano; Bailey, Peter; Belkin, Nicholas J.; Bennett, Paul N.; Ren, Yongli; Sanderson, Mark; Scholer, Falk; White, Ryen W.; Salim, Flora D.
• Is Part Of: International journal of human-computer studies. Issue 168(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: Digital assistants task support thematic analysis; Human-machine systems -- Periodicals; Systems engineering -- Periodicals; Human engineering -- Periodicals; Human engineering; Human-machine systems; Systems engineering; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 004.019
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102905
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1071-5819

Abstract

Abstract: Digital Assistants (DAs) can support workers in the workplace and beyond. However, target user needs are not fully understood, and the functions that workers would ideally want a DA to support require further study. A richer understanding of worker needs could help inform the design of future DAs. We investigate user needs of future workplace DAs using data from a user study of 40 workers over a four-week period. Our qualitative analysis confirms existing research and generates new insight on the role of DAs in managing people's time, tasks, and information. Placing these insights in relation to quantitative analysis of self-reported task data, we highlight how different occupation roles require DAs to take varied approaches to these domains and the effect of task characteristics on the imagined features. Our findings have implications for the design of future DAs in work settings and we offer some recommendations for reduction to practice. Highlights: This paper aims to better understand the need for Digital Assistants (DAs) to support daily task management in work-related settings. Demonstrating the perceived utility of Digital Assistants that support user time, tasks, and information by target users. Different occupation roles require varied support domains from Digital Assistant Task characteristics affect the Digital Assistant's features that users desire.