MeWS-IT: A mental workload based system for interruption timing

Proactive systems executing in multitasking environments are increasingly interrupting user tasks. To mitigate the negative impact of ill-timed interruptions on task perform-ance and users ’ affective state, researchers are exploring systems that reason about when to interrupt. In this paper I present my research on MeWS-IT- a system that leverages mental workload to identify opportune moments for inter-ruptions. MeWS-IT offers the opportunity to evaluate how well the process of using mental workload can be auto-mated and how this provides improved reasoning about when to interrupt, contributing to better interruption man-agement in multitasking domains. ACM Classification: H.5.2 [Information Interfaces an