When privacy and utility are in harmony: towards better design of presence technologies

Presence systems are valuable in supporting workplace communication and collaboration. These systems are effective, however, only if they are widely adopted and candidly used. User perceptions of the utility of the information being shared and their comfort in sharing such information strongly impact both adoption and use. This paper describes the results of a survey of user preferences regarding comfort with and utility of sharing presence data in the workplace; the effects of sampling frequency, fidelity, and aggregation; and design implications of these results. We present new results that extend some past findings and challenge others. We contribute new insights that inform the design of workplace presence technologies to increase both the utility and adoption of these systems.