The rapid progress of information and communication technology has enabled many people to work from their home.  Along with this great power of communication comes an equally powerful source of distraction. Many homeworkers have started to feel a blur between their lives online and offline, work and personal.

We built upon the familiar household metaphor of flowing water to give tangible control over this digital communication.

This simple, high-level and physical representation provides much greater awareness and control over the competing aspects of your life. You can quickly see how much e-mail arrives, which groups it is from,
and control whether now is the appropriate time to read it. It offers more meaningful transitions throughout your day, turning work off and letting friends in over your lunch, or deciding to let a little bit of work into your Saturday.

We initially started the project by pulling inspiration from the objects around us, household items, lamps, furniture, and appliances. Our user research findings then defined the area we worked within. One of the most interesting aspects was seeing how people managed their separate email accounts and the self discipline imposed to try to force away distractions. One homeworker we talked with specifically set aside a single time of day to check his personal email account.

After much work around the theory, metaphor, and aesthetics, we had to face the hard reality of working with available resources. Driven by materials, costs, time and electronic component availability, we were forced to continually reshape our final prototype.

When a new email message arrives, water is released into one of three tubes representing your work, family and friends. By controlling the valve on each tube, you can control how much communication you receive from each group. For example, you could completely shut off work after 5pm. The tube will still fill from any new messages but none of these messages will be passed on to your email in-box. You could later, perhaps the next morning, open the valve completely and the held messages will be passed through to your in-box.