- Developers found that participants, in general, preferred Play Write over Mobile Word for editing documents while also watching a video, and completed more edits and felt slightly more productive while using Play Write.
- Mobile editing while multitasking appears to be valuable for simple tasks that did not require a lot of context to complete.

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- Overall, Play Write was overwhelmingly preferred for the divided attention scenario that was created for this study, with 13/16 participants preferring the app compared to Mobile Word.

Additional Sections:
- Document Editing Performance
- Video Watching Performance
- Multitasking Performance
- When Play Write May be Useful
- Summary

Play Write: Results

Iqbal, S. T., Teevan, J., Liebling, D., & Thompson, A. L. (2018) Multitasking with Play Write, a Mobile Microproductivity Writing Tool. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, 411–422. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3242587.3242611

Multitasking with Play Write, a mobile microproductivity writing tool

- Participants generally found it hard to edit a document while watching a video, but participants preferred Play Write to Mobile Word in terms of all measured metrics.
- 15 participants found that Play Write tasks were useful given the time constraints they had for the video.
- Participants were neutral about how easy it was to edit the document from their phone, and were inclined to agree that it was stressful.
- Participants also slightly disagreed that they felt more productive by editing the document while watching the video.
- In all cases, participants reported a significantly worse experience with Mobile Word.
- Participants edited more of the document using Play Write, having completed an average of 55 tasks compared to an average of 28 tasks with Mobile Word.
- Participants reported finding the Play Write tasks better suited to a small screen and the divided attention environment in which it was studied.

Play Write: Document Editing Performance

- Participants reported that the editing task detracted from watching the video for both editing via Mobile Word and Play Write, but the difference between software was not significant.
- On average, 5.06 out of 8 questions were answered correctly for Mobile Word, and 5.63 questions were answered correctly for Play Write.

Play Write: Video Watching Performance

- Researchers also looked at their ability to switch between two tasks.
- Participants reported that they generally disagreed that they were able to switch easily between the video and the editing task, though they were significantly more favorable towards Play Write.
- 11 of 16 participants felt it was easier to resume editing with Play Write.

Play Write: Multitasking Performance

- Participants mostly agreed about not wanting to do complex editing tasks on a mobile device, saying they wanted to defer edits that required significant cognitive engagement to a large block of time with a larger screen and keyboard available.
- Participants did note a number of scenarios where they felt Play Write, and more generally micro-editing, would be suitable, including being on the go or having a few seconds free to do something without the need for deeper engagement.
- Participants felt that light-weight tasks such as correcting spelling and simple grammar errors were ideal for Play Write.

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