Context-Aware Instant Messenger for Lunch Invitation

When users log into their instant messenger (IM) accounts, normally their availability status get displayed to all their contacts. This can be indicated as available online or available but idle, while offline status indicates that the user has not logged in. Users can therefore initiate a chat with any of the available contacts or can send a message to the offline contacts. However, it is not always easy to establish that a contact is available for chat from his availability status as some contacts keep their IM accounts active all the time so long as one is logged in. In other words, contacts' account status showing availability may not necessarily imply that the contacts are available for chat or willing to be interrupted. In this paper, we argue that users' availability need to take into consideration their current context and activities they are engaged-in in addition to their online availability status. We then use this position to design a context aware IM for lunch invitation system prototype, called BuzzMe. BuzzMe is designed to enable contacts discover their friends and colleagues who are nearby, probably in the same office or institution, and are available for lunch invitation. Such contacts can then be invited for lunch. The invitees can, however, choose to accept or reject the invitation. Besides, the users can chose to hide their availability when they are not willing to receive any invitation or otherwise. The prototype evaluation results indicates that users like the set of functionalities offered by BuzzMe such as being able to visualize the available contacts and how close they are to the user. In addition, all the respondents agree that BuzzMe is easy to learn, use and to interact with.