The Digital Breakroom - Designing for Spontaneous DigitalInteractions

Sammanfattning: Spontaneous interactions and chance encounters are important for establishing a sense of connection and shared identity for colleagues since they are a natural possibility for informal conversations, but when work is moved from the physical shared offices to digital workplaces it is no longer as easy to run into a colleague by the coffee machine and just chat for a couple of minutes. This thesis examines what factors are needed in order to create a structure where digital spontaneous interactions could happen. To do this, ten interviews were conducted with people who had been working from home during the pandemic of Covid19, examining what structures for communication and socialisation already existed and that were used. The study showed that the social aspects of work had been missing when the work was done from home and not from the office. It also showed that organized social activities was common among the interviewees, but not always successful nor popular. The study found few workplaces that had created structures that could be the start of establishing possibilities for spontaneous interactions and chance encounters. By taking inspiration from those cases, and looking at previous research, the study found three main factors for creating spontaneous interactions. Creating passive awareness of colleagues; finding ways to present availability; and establishing digital communal areas were all important factors for creating spontaneous interactions.