Hubbub is a wireless and desktop application that supports awareness and very lightweight communication among people who are distributed and/or on the go. It runs on a Palm V connected to the network via modem and on a PC desktop. Hubbub makes extensive use of sounds to enable people to hear (as well as see) when other people become active or idle on their computers or Palms. This gives them a background level of awareness of who’s doing what and when someone might be available for an interaction. Hubbub also lets people send text instant messages to each other between Palms and/or desktops. And it supports a novel concept of “Sound Instant Messages,” short “earcons,” or strings of notes, with simple meanings that help people coordinate or simply keep them in touch. Examples of such messages are “hi,” “Want to go to lunch?” or “Ready to a video?” Sounds are also used to identify people; everyone chooses a “Sound ID,” which accompanies both awareness information and sound messages. This lets people simply hear that “Bonnie says hello” or “Bonnie just became active on her work computer,” without having to look at the device.
This specification is a detailed description of the user interface design for version 1. Ideas for version 2 are noted, but are meant to indicate a direction and not a full design. This document will continue to be updated as the design evolves; each page of the document indicates the date on which it was most recently updated.