On 14/10/06 18:12, "Barry Wellman" <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> wrote:
As this is the Association of Internet RESEARCHERS, I wonder if anyone has done any Research on multitasking
At what level of granularity? Whilst using devices - i.e. multiple tasks/apps or doing multiple activities in parallel in 'everyday life'? If the former I'd suggest looking at some of the (military) HCI/CSCW research on this. If the latter then this is what people who use time-use diary data think about a lot. E.g. Making a phone call whilst on the bus, looking after the children whilst watching TV & doing household chores. Now I dunno if that is 'multi-tasking' as others have defined it here but it certainly defeats the 24-hours = a zero sum game. And yes, there is research on this using time-use diaries. E.g. Reconsidering the division of household labor: Incorporating volunteer work and informal support Jennifer Hoook Journal of marriage and the family 66(1) 101-117, 2004 Introducing multitasking to the study of travel and ICT: Examining its extent and assessing its potential importance Kenyon , S Lyons , G Transportation Research Part A, 2 (41) 2007 p 161-175 (Not out yet) We're doing some work on multi-tasking (at this level) using longitudinal and cross-sectional time-use diaries as part of an ongoing research project. More soon :-) http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/projects/esoctu/ Ben ---- Dr Ben Anderson Deputy Director, Chimera, University of Essex +44 (0) 7710 187 806 http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~benander