A.J. Bernheim Brush

Researcher
Everyday Technology Group
Microsoft Research
ajbrush@microsoft.com

My main research interest is Human-Computer Interaction with a focus on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Ubiquitous Computing. I primarily build technology to support asynchronous collaboration in small groups. Recently I have been focusing on technology to help families coordinate and stay connected. However, I am generally interested in how technology can help people with everyday problems and my past projects include trying to reduce email overload and exploring non-traditional ways to interact with technology.

I graduated summa cum laude from Williams College in 1996 with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics. I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington in Sept 2002. I have been a Researcher at Microsoft since 2004 and currently manage the Everyday Technology Group, which is part of the Visualizaton and Interaction Group (VIBE).

Selected Projects

Technology for Families

Think scheduling events for your family is a challenge? Do you find sharing computers at home to be a hassle? A major focus of my research is building technologies to support families. More information…

Email Triage

Overwhelmed by your email? With my colleagues I tried to better understand the task of email triage and how social information from your previous email interactions might assist you with email triage. More information…

Interacting with Technology beyond the Desktop

I’m fascinated by ink and ways of interacting with technology that move beyond the keyboard and mouse (yes, that is a dance pad). More information…

Annotations for Asynchronous Collaboration (Graduate School)

In my Ph.D. dissertation I studied the value of annotations for asynchronous collaboration and built WebAnn, a plug-in to Internet Explorer that supports fine-grained annotation of text on web pages. More information…

Interns Supervised

• Adrienne Andrew, Spring 2008, (with Amy Karlson)
• Serge Egelman, Winter 2008, (with Kori Inkpen)
• Kate Everitt, Summer 2007, (with Merrie Morris)
• Andrea Grimes, Summer 2006
• Kimberly Tee, Summer 2006, Spring 2007
• Carman Neustaedter, Summer 2004, Summer 2005

Recent Professional Activities

• Tutorial Instructor at Pervasive 2008, Field Studies for Pervasive Computing
• Panelist, Ubicomp 2006, Interaction and Infrastructure: Crossing the Divide in Ubicomp Research

Steering and Organizing Committees

• ACM SIGCHI VP for Membership & Communications
• Ubicomp 2008 Poster Co-Chair
• Organizer, Pervasive 2008 Workshop on Pervasive Computing @ Home
• Group 2007 Workshop Co-chair
• CSCW 2004 Notes Co-Chair

Program Committees

• Ubicomp 2008
• CSCW 2008
• Ubicomp 2007 Late Breaking Results
• Ubicomp 2007
• CHI 2007 Notes
• Pervasive 2007
• Ubicomp 2006
• CSCW 2006

Publications by Date

(Also available by Type)

• Life Scheduling to Support Multiple Social Roles
  Andrea Grimes and A.J. Bernheim Brush, CHI 2008 Short paper
• SuperBreak: Using Interactivity to Enhance Ergonomic Breaks
  Dan Morris, A.J. Bernheim Brush, Brian Meyers, CHI 2008
• Reading Revisited: Evaluating the Usability of Digital Display Surfaces for Active Reading Tasks.
  Merrie Morris, A.J. Bernheim Brush, Brian Meyers, IEEE Tabletop 2007.
• Yours, Mine, and Ours? Sharing and Use of Technology in Domestic Environments.
  A.J. Bernheim Brush and Kori M. Inkpen, Ubicomp 2007
• Did You Leave the Calendar On? Exploring trade-offs between availability and power consumption in the home.
  A.J. Bernheim Brush. Position Paper for Ubicomp 2007 workshop: Ubiquitous Sustainability: Technologies for Green Values
• A Digital Family Calendar in the Home: Lessons from Field Trials of LINC
  Carman Neustaedter, A.J. Bernheim Brush, and Saul Greenberg, Graphics Interface 2007. Related technical report: LINC in the Home: Field Trials of a Digital Family Calendar, MSR-TR-2006-66  
• Understanding Memory Triggers for Task Tracking
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Brian Meyers, Desney Tan and Mary Czerwinski,  CHI 2007 Short paper. 
• "The Calendar is Crucial":" Coordination and Awareness through the Family Calendar
  Carman Neustaedter, A.J. Bernheim Brush, and Saul Greenberg,
  Joint MSR Research Tech. Report and Dept. of Computer Science at University of Calgary Tech. Report. MSR-TR-2006-66, 2006
• Revisiting Whittaker & Sidner's "Email Overload"; Ten Years Later
  Danyel Fisher, A.J. Bernheim Brush, Eric Gleave and Marc A. Smith, CSCW 2006 Note.
• LINC, An Inkable Digital Family Calendar. The Video
  Carman Neustaedter, A.J. Bernheim Brush, and Saul Greenberg, CSCW 2006 Video program  
• "LINC-ing" the Family: The Participatory Design of an Inkable Family Calendar
  Carman Neustaedter and A.J. Bernheim Brush, CHI 2006. 
• Dance Your Work Away:Exploring Step User Interfaces
  Brian Meyers, A.J. Bernheim Brush, Steven Drucker, Marc Smith and Mary Czerwinski, alt.chi at CHI 2006. 
• IT@Home:Often Best Left to Professionals
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Position paper for CHI 2006 Workshop: IT@Home: Unraveling Complexities of Network Devices in the Home
• A Survey of Personal and Household Scheduling
  A.J. Bernheim Brush and Tammara Combs Turner,  Group 2005 posters. We also have a longer technical report A Survey of Personal and Household Scheduling Practices: Implications for Digital Family Calendars available.
• Scanning Objects in the Wild: Assessing an Object Triggered Information System
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Tammara Combs Turner; Marc A. Smith; Neeti Gupta,  UbiComp 2005.
• The Social Network and Relationship Finder: Social Sorting for Email Triage
  Carman Neustaedter, A.J. Bernheim Brush, Marc A. Smith, Danyel Fisher. CEAS 2005.
• Beyond "From" and "Received": Exploring the Dynamics of Email Triage
  Carman Neustaedter, A.J. Bernheim Brush, and Marc A. Smith, CHI 2005, 1977-1980.
• Designs for Home Life
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Leysia Palen, Laurel Swan and Alex S. Taylor, SIG at CHI 2005.
• Assessing Differential Usage of Usenet Social Accounting Meta-Data
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Xiaoqing Wang, Tammara Combs Turner, and Marc A. Smith, CHI 2005, 889-898.
• Terminology and Evaluation: Two Challenges for Awareness Systems Research
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Position paper for CHI 2005 Workshop on Awareness Systems: Known Results, Theory, Concepts and Future Challenges.
• 'Today' Messages: Lightweight Support for Small Group Awareness via Email
  A.J. Bernheim Brush and Alan Borning, HICSS 2005. (Nominated for a Best Paper Award)
• A Comparison of Synchronous Remote and Local Usability Studies for an Expert Interface
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Morgan Ames, and Janet Davis, CHI 2004, 1179-1183. 
• Exploring the Relationship Between Personal and Public Annotations
  Catherine C. Marshall and A.J. Bernheim Brush, JCDL 2004, 349-357.
• 'Today' Messages: Lightweight Group Awareness via Email
  A.J. Bernheim Brush and Alan Borning, CHI 2003 Extended Abstracts, 920-921.
• Annotating Digital Documents for Asynchronous Collaboration
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, Ph.D. dissertation, Available as UW Computer Science Technical Report 02-09-02.
• Notification for Shared Annotation of Digital Documents
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, David Bargeron, Jonathan Grudin, and Anoop Gupta, CHI 2002, 89-96.
• From Personal to Shared Annotations
  Catherine Marshall and A.J. Bernheim Brush, CHI 2002 Extended Abstracts, 812-813.
• Supporting Interaction Outside of Class: Anchored Discussion vs. Discussion Boards
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, David Bargeron, Jonathan Grudin, Alan Borning, and Anoop Gupta, CSCL 2002, 425-434.
• Robust Annotation Positioning in Digital Documents
  A.J. Bernheim Brush, David Bargeron, JJ Cadiz, and Anoop Gupta, CHI 2001, 285-292.

Last Updated: 08 May 2008