Move-it: Interactive Paperclips Turning a Passive Piece of Paper Into an Active Medium

A lot of people still rely on pen and paper for taking short notes. Especially Post-it notes are one of the most popular paper media for informal note taking and serve as an excellent medium for passive reminding due to their physical presence. Unfortunately, they do not provide direct support if active reminding is required. Digital tools on the other hand, can proactively keep us aware of important information, but bring along the challenge of interruptions constantly competing for our attention. This work presents the design and implementation of Move-it, an active paper interface that combines the affordances of note taking on paper with the capabilities of computer-based systems. By combining common Post-it notes with a technologically enhanced paperclip, the system provides active feedback to the user through subtle motion cues and turns a passive piece of paper into an active medium. In two experiments, the applicability of Move-it sticky notes as peripheral displays for human interruption is investigated. Compared to well-established pop-up feedback used in existing commercially available tools, the experimental results show that the moving paper notes cause significantly less disturbance on an interrupted primary activity. Negative effects of interruptions on emotional state and human performance are reduced considerably and make the proposed system a promising solution for effective human interruption design.