What would you like to see?
I would like to introduce NOTAM (Notice Ambient) — a new, non-blocking calendar entry type.
A NOTAM is inspired by aviation NOTAMs (“Notice to Airmen”):
time-bound notices that provide important context but do not block operations.
In Analog, a NOTAM would be a calendar entry that may affect the user, but does not reserve or block time.
Key properties:
- Always visible
- Never blocks time slots
- Never creates overlap conflicts
- Can coexist with blocking events
- Can stack with other NOTAMs
- Represents context, not commitment
Visual behavior
All-day NOTAMs (header-level):
- Rendered as a 1px colored border around the day header cell
- No filled background
- No height consumption
- Multiple NOTAMs on the same day stack as outer border rings
- Hover or click on the border shows NOTAM details
Timed NOTAMs (grid-level):
- Rendered as a small marker in the time gutter
- Aligned to the start time
- Does not consume vertical space
- Does not overlap blocking events
Optional semantics:
- Color = source / calendar
- Shape = priority
Why is this feature useful?
Currently, Analog represents most time-related information as blocking elements in the calendar grid.
This causes several problems:
- Full-day informational items (birthdays, holidays, moon phases) visually occupy the entire day.
- Contextual or background items (habits, health routines, personal cycles) block the grid even when they should not.
- Multiple all-day contexts cannot coexist without stacking blocks.
- Parallel realities (e.g. joining a stand-up call while going to a medical check-up) are treated as conflicts.
- The calendar cannot express that something is happening without implying full involvement.
In real life, many things:
- happen in parallel,
- affect us differently,
- belong to different “areas” of life,
- and do not require exclusive attention.
Cognitive rationale
Research in cognitive psychology and HCI shows that:
- Humans distinguish between foreground tasks and background context
- Treating all time-based information as commitments increases cognitive load
- Visual overload in calendars leads to decision fatigue and avoidance
Relevant concepts:
- Cognitive Load Theory (John Sweller): unnecessary structure increases mental effort
- Prospective memory: future intentions vary by required involvement
- Contextual awareness vs task execution
NOTAMs reduce extraneous cognitive load by externalizing ambient context without forcing commitment.
They support time awareness, not time control.
Have you considered any alternatives?
Yes. Existing approaches include:
- Using all-day events marked as “Free”
- Using reminders or tasks
- Encoding context as notes or descriptions
- Accepting overlaps and visual clutter
However, these alternatives:
- Still visually block the grid
- Do not scale when multiple contexts exist
- Collapse context and commitment into the same visual language
- Create false conflicts and unnecessary cognitive load
Fragment time-related information across notifications, reminders, notes, and calendar events, increasing coordination overhead and making it harder to reason about everything that relates to the same time span.
NOTAM introduces a third calendar primitive, rather than overloading existing ones:
- Blocking Event
- Task / Reminder
- NOTAM (ambient, non-blocking notice)
While NOTAM introduces a new concept, it externalizes existing implicit context into a single representation, reducing overall extraneous cognitive load over time.
Additional context or visuals
Editor / creation feedback
When creating or editing a blocking event that overlaps a NOTAM:
- Show a soft informational notice, not a warning
- Example:
NOTAM “You have ‘Check-up’ at ‘Venue’ from 10:00–13:00”
- Event creation is never blocked
This supports real scenarios such as:
- attending a meeting while commuting
- joining a call during a routine appointment
Example use cases
- Birthdays and anniversaries
- Holidays, moon phases, cycles
- Habits and background routines
- Medical or administrative appointments
- Contextual personal or health signals
- Multiple all-day informational items on the same date
Summary
Events block time.
NOTAMs explain time.
What would you like to see?
I would like to introduce NOTAM (Notice Ambient) — a new, non-blocking calendar entry type.
A NOTAM is inspired by aviation NOTAMs (“Notice to Airmen”):
time-bound notices that provide important context but do not block operations.
In Analog, a NOTAM would be a calendar entry that may affect the user, but does not reserve or block time.
Key properties:
Visual behavior
All-day NOTAMs (header-level):
Timed NOTAMs (grid-level):
Optional semantics:
Why is this feature useful?
Currently, Analog represents most time-related information as blocking elements in the calendar grid.
This causes several problems:
In real life, many things:
Cognitive rationale
Research in cognitive psychology and HCI shows that:
Relevant concepts:
NOTAMs reduce extraneous cognitive load by externalizing ambient context without forcing commitment.
They support time awareness, not time control.
Have you considered any alternatives?
Yes. Existing approaches include:
However, these alternatives:
Fragment time-related information across notifications, reminders, notes, and calendar events, increasing coordination overhead and making it harder to reason about everything that relates to the same time span.
NOTAM introduces a third calendar primitive, rather than overloading existing ones:
While NOTAM introduces a new concept, it externalizes existing implicit context into a single representation, reducing overall extraneous cognitive load over time.
Additional context or visuals
Editor / creation feedback
When creating or editing a blocking event that overlaps a NOTAM:
This supports real scenarios such as:
Example use cases
Summary