But you are describing the motiviations of an actor, who has a vested
interest in the "challenge value" of keeping 4 things going at once,
with equal attention to each task. In the real world of people trying
to get things done, they devote 95% of their energy to 1 task, and
allow 5% of their brainpower to be interrupted by other multi-tasks.
The definition of a good multi-task, is one that can be done in the
background without any attention paid to it.
For this reason there may be an aspect of training
involved when using multiple views - I still sometimes set tasks going
in windows on other desks and then completely forget about them unless
they indicate when they have finished.
Indeed. That's evidence that you're not capable/interested in paying
attention to more than 1 thing.
For example ncftp beeps at me
when it has finished and I hear it no matter which desk I am currently
viewing.
That's not a task that you have to pay attention to. Whereas in your
"actors" example, you're describing 4 tasks that demand equal attention.
Some of the interesting issues will be how you reconcile multiple
views into one coherent (immersive?) environment.
Or more importantly, why are you designing a system to do that?
Since these
environments are excluding, how do you indicate what is interesting in
another environment (do you get a virtual phone call? a door appears
and a ghost of you other self comes to get you? you find yourself
suddenly caught in a virtual spotlight when your presence is required
in an another story?).
As the Apple folks say, "the user is in charge." If you chose not to
subscribe to that philosophy, then I have difficulty imagining how a
user would get anything done, as you'd be constantly annoying them
with context switches.
Cheers,
--
Brandon J. Van Every | Check out Free3d, my 100% efficient, 100% portable
| 3d lib, at <http://www.blarg.net/~vanevery>.
3d Computer Graphics |
C++ UNIX X11 WinNT | E-mail: vanevery@blarg.net