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By Ellen Isaacs This page last updated: September 13, 2000
Hubbub's main screen for the desktop is shown in Figure D1. It shows a list of people (called bubs) whom the user has added to Hubbub. Bubs are listed with the user (in this case Walendo) at the top, followed by the bubs who are on-line in alphabetical order, followed by the bubs who are off line, also in alphabetical order. Each bub is listed either in bold and green to indicate that they are currently active, in regular font and black to indicate that they are idle, and in regular font and gray if they are offline, i.e. not logged on. The user's name always appears in italics to help differentiate them from the others in the list. A user is considered active if they have used the pen (Palm) or mouse or keyboard (desktop) within the last 5 minutes. They are considered idle if the device is reachable but they're not active. They are offline if the application is not reachable, which in the case of the Palm would happen if the modem was off or could not receive signal, and in the case of the PC may happen if the person is not running Hubbub, if they logged off, if the computer is turned off, their network connection is lost, etc. The numbers to the right of each bub indicate how long they have been active or idle. If the bub is active, the number indicates how long they've been active; if they're idle, it shows how long they've been idle (with a minus sign indicating idle time). Time is measured in hours:minutes (not seconds). The icons next to the numbers indicate which device the bub is active on if they're active, or was last active on if they're idle. The keyboard icon indicates the PC, the Palm icon indicates the Palm, and the phone handset indicates the phone. (Version 1 does not include a phone client, so this would not appear until that client is implemented.) If the person is offline, they are listed as "Offline" in the Hrs:Mins column (see Nicole and Ron in Figure D1). If someone is blocking the user's access to either their active/idle time or location or both, "N/A" appears in the appropriate column(s). (See Chris in Figure D1.) On the desktop client, users can hold their cursor over the location icons to see the definition (e.g. "Computer," "Handheld," or "Phone"). Users can run Hubbub on more than one device at a time. The display indicates the device they were last active on, and if they are active, the time indicates the amount of time they've been active, even if they have switched between devices within the active period. For example, if a user is active for 10 minutes on the desktop, then picks up the Palm and uses it for 1 minute, they would appear as active on the Palm for 1 minute. If they use the Palm for another 2 minutes and then switch back to the desktop, then they are active on the desktop for 13 minutes. For bubs who are active, a small indicator to the left of their name indicates how active they are. That is, it indicates the frequency of mouse or keyboard events (PC) or pen events (Palm). This enables users to get some sense of other person's activity. If they're very active, then maybe they're busy writing, if they're not very active, maybe they're surfing the web or reading. This information is another small cue to help people feel connected and to give them context should they try to contact each other. The meter has four states: very active, somewhat actively, midly active, and idle. [Need to define what that means in terms of number of events and per what unit of time.] In Figure D1, Dipti and Libby are very active, Walendo and Ellen are somewhat active, Bonnie is mildly active, and Jonathan, Julia and Steve are idle. If the user puts their cursor over this icon, they tool tip tells them the meaning, specifically it says "{High, Moderate, Low, No} activity." (See Figure D2.) [Version 2: The group label also has an activity meter, which gives the average activity level of everyone in the group, including those who are idle. This gives a quick measure of how many people are active (and therefore accessible). (The groups menu shows the average activity for each group, which is when this is most useful.)]
If a user has activity sounds turned on for a particular bub, then each time that bub changes from active to idle or the reverse, the user hears an audio indication. If their friend becomes acive, then they hear the active sound followed by that bub's Sound Identification (Sound ID or SID). If the bub goes idle, they hear the idle sound followed by their SID. In addition, the user gets a visual cue to indicate the change. The footer displays the message "{Name} became active (1:34pm)" or "{Name} went idle (11:02am)" (see Figure D2) (You can hear the working versions of these awareness sounds.) If a user is running Hubbub on more than one device, then activity sounds play on all those devices, regardless of whether they're active or idle (unless they've muted sounds on any given device).
The speaker icon to the left of each bub's name shows whether the user is accepting activity sounds about this bub. (If the speaker is solid with "sound waves" coming out, then sound is on, if it is hollow, then sound is off.) The user can right-click on the a person to bring up the bub menu, which has the item "Turn off activity sounds" or "Turn on activity sounds" (whichever is not the current state), as shown in Figure D3. In addition, the user can Mute the entire interface by clicking the Mute checkbox at the top of the window, or by choosing "Mute all sounds" from the Sounds menu, shown in Figure D4. The Mute button turns off all audio from all people, including incoming Sound Instant Messages, activity sounds, and alerts of incoming Text Messages. Also, the menu item changes to "Unmute all sounds." Figure D3 shows what the main screen looks like when the sound is Muted. The Mute checkbox is checked, the icon next to it is hollow, and all the sound icons next to each bub become hollow, indicating that no sound is arriving. When the user unmutes by unchecking the Mute box, all the sound icons return to the state they were in before the interface was muted. Mute all mutes only the PC client -- it does not mute the Palm or any other device. Also under the Sounds menu is a "Mute all activity sounds" item, shown in Figure D4. This enables users to continue to get sound messages but not to hear any activity sounds. Again, when someone chooses that option, all the sound icons become "off" and the menu becomes "Unmute activity sounds." When they unmute, all the sound icons return to their previous states. If a bub becomes active or idle when a user has activity sounds muted for that person, they still see the visual indication of their state and the footer still shows the change in state, but they don't hear the sounds. Mute activity sounds applies across devices. So if a user Mutes Bonnie's activity sounds from the PC, she will not hear them on the Palm, and vice versa.
Users also have the ability to block others' access to their activity (active/idle) information and/or their location information, in which case their listing would change. Figure D1 shows the case where Chris has blocked Walendo's (the current user) access to both his location and activity information. As a result, his name appears in regular font with "N/A" in place of his active/idle time, N/A in place of his location information, and no speaker (since it's not possible to enable awareness sounds). If Chris blocked Walendo's access to his activity information but not his location information, then his listing on Walendo's screen would have N/A in place of the activity time column and the speaker icon would be missing, and he would always be listed in regular font, never switching to bold. If Chris blocked Walendo's access to his location information but not his activity information, then the location column would show N/A, but the active/idle time and the speaker button would. See the Editing a Bub section for an explanation of how to allow or disallow access for another user.
Hubbub also indicates to the user whether it is logged into the server right now. It does so with a right-hand footer, as shown in Figure D5. If Hubbub is connected, the footer says "Connected" and has the icon showing in Figure D5a. If it is not connected, it says "Not connected" and has the icon in Figure D5b. If it is in the process of trying to connect, it says "Connected" and the "not connected" icon flashes on and off. In some cases, the server may go down and come back up all while the PC client continues to run. If the client loses contact with the server for more than 30 seconds, the "Connecting" message appears and all the bub names are removed from the main window. This keeps the user from trying to send a message when it won't be recieved. As soon as the client reconnects, the names reappear and the system goes back to normal.
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