# Design and Applications of GLANCE: GLanceable Alarm Notification for a User Centered Experience
## 5 Discussion  
The work presented in this paper can be discussed according to different perspectives: The taxonomic characterization with respect to existing frameworks, the methodological approach, and the industrial acceptance. As to the _taxonomic point of view,_ GLANCE and its variants can be characterized according to two frameworks consolidated in literature. The study in [71] proposes a taxonomy of ambient and alerting systems based on four design dimensions denoted _information capacity, notification level, representation fidelity_, and _aesthetic emphasis_; according to such taxonomy, GLANCE can be defined as an \"Information Monitor Display\" and is located in a peripheral area of the desktop, can visualize information from a high number of discrete information sources, allows several notification levels, and is not characterized by high aesthetic emphasis. As to the IRC framework [36], the assessment of GLANCE, based on the results of the user-based evaluation, emphasizes its ability to adapt its behavior to the alarm severity:  
* For low severity alarms (_low interruption_) display updates grant longer term awareness (_high comprehension_) of notification items without provoking immediate reaction (_low reaction_). In this case the system is mapped to the 001 IRC triple behaving like an ambient display (located in the lower part of the awareness-attention graph of Figure 5) functioning at \"operational level\" according to the activity theory discussed in [34]: Experiments showed that non critical information was remembered with acceptable precision and user observation showed that its arrival did not promote the notifier to the primary task of the users, as expected (as shown by results in Table 7);
* For higher severity alarms, display updates require higher amount of attention, up to requiring urgency awareness (_high comprehension_), interruption of all ongoing tasks (_high interruption_), and quick intervention (_high reaction_). The system is therefore mapped to the 111 IRC triple behaving like an alerting display (located in the higher part of the awareness-attention graph of Figure 5) functioning at \"action level\" according to the activity theory discussed in [34]: Experiments showed that critical information was always identified, recognized, and remembered, and users observation showed that the arrival of major and critical notifications made the notifier promote itself to the primary task of the users, as expected (as shown by results in Table 7). The efficacy of high severity notifications was proved also by the GLANCE workshop at Technolabs, as discussed later on. With respect to _methodological aspects_, we want to underline the positive experience of the contamination of HCI methods and techniques with the tandem model idea borrowed from the Action Research realm and utilized as a general organization guidance of the work in the first macro-phase. In particular, the clear identification of research objectives on one side and problem objectives on the other side, as well as the explicit acknowledgment of research interests on one side and problem interests on the other side, proved to be greatly beneficial for the cooperation between the project partners and for a rigorous and structured project management taking care of all involved stakeholders. The positive effects are also testified by industrial satisfaction. As to the _industrial acceptance_ point of view, related to the initial objective of overcoming limitations of notifier components of commercial network monitoring tools, the main challenge of the project was the shift of paradigm to peripheral displays in applications addressed to traditional and possibly conservative working contexts. Actually, both in the project in cooperation with Technolabs and in the application project in cooperation with Broadcast Solutions, the proposed conceptual solutions and the achieved results received great appreciation, well beyond expectations.