Hello There! Is Now a Good Time to Talk?

Abstract

Increasing number of researchers and designers are envisioning a wide range of novel proactive conversational services for smart speakers such as context-aware reminders and restocking household items. When initiating conversational interactions proactively, smart speakers need to consider users' contexts to minimize disruption. In this work, we aim to broaden our understanding of opportune moments for proactive conversational interactions in domestic contexts. Toward this goal, we built a voice-based experience sampling device and conducted a one-week field study with 40 participants living in university dormitories. From 3,572 in-situ user experience reports, we proposed 19 activity categories to investigate contextual factors related to interruptibility. Our data analysis results show that the key determinants for opportune moments are closely related to both personal contextual factors such as busyness, mood, and resource conflicts for dual-tasking, and the other contextual factors associated with the everyday routines at home, including user mobility and social presence. Based on these findings, we discuss the need for designing context-aware proactive conversation management features that dynamically control conversational interactions based on users' contexts and routines.