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Science Forum Index » Philosophy Forum » Keeping Found Things Found
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| Frederick |
 Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 7:37 am |
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Source: National Science Foundation
Date:
2003-12-26
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031223071958.htm
Keeping Found Things Found: Web Tools Don't Always Mesh With How People Work
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Of all the personal computers to be unwrapped during the holiday season, more
than 80 percent will be used to go online and search the Web's more than 92 million gigabytes of
data (comparable to a 2 billion-volume encyclopedia). Getting online is the easy part, finding a
useful Web page is a bit harder—keeping track of a useful Web page is another issue altogether.
What's Related
Newly Available Tool Makes The Web Search A Graphic Experience
Study: Information On The Web Is Likely Correct, But Hard To Find
Internet Peaks As America's Most Important Source Of Information
Quote: more related stories
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Related section: Computers & Math
People have devised many tricks—such as sending e-mails to themselves or jotting on sticky
notes—for keeping track of Web pages, but William Jones and Harry Bruce at the University of
Washington's Information School and Susan Dumais of Microsoft Research have found that often people
don't use any of them when it comes time to revisit a Web page. Instead, they rely on their ability
to find the Web page all over again.
"People are terribly challenged by this, and the problem is becoming worse," Bruce said. "People
should have fast, easy access to the right information, at the right time, in the right place, in
the right quantity to complete the task at hand."
Maybe you've tried some or all of these ways to keep tabs on a found Web page: Send e-mail to
yourself with the link. Send e-mail to others and find the link later in your sent mail. Print out
the Web page and file it—or pile it—in your office. Save the Web page as a file with your other
documents. Bookmark the page as one of your favorites. Add the link to a personal Web site. Write
down the URL and comments on a sticky note or piece of paper. Paste the URL into another document.
Create a note in a task manager or calendar system.
"Our results so far tell us the tools for keeping track of Web pages don't mesh well with how
people work with the Web," Jones said. The researchers led a panel discussion and tutorial on the
topic at the recent American Society for Information Science and Technology 2003 meeting. "People
make up with their own creativity for what's lacking in their tools."
The researchers are studying how people "keep found things found" when looking for information on
the Web. Their goal is to understand why people do what they do and to develop more useful tools
for managing this information. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the
independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of
science and engineering.
The research suggests that "keeping" techniques arise from the different ways people intend to use
the information. Sometimes a person desires the portability of paper, the anywhere access of
e-mail, the permanence of a saved file or the speedy access from the browser's bookmarks. Aside
from speed, though, bookmarks—the primary "keeping" tool provided by most Web browsers—rank low on
many characteristics that users want, the researchers found.
In addition, regardless of your "keeping" technique, Jones, Bruce and Dumais have found that, when
you want to revisit a Web site, there's a good chance you first try three other options: directly
entering the URL in your Web browser (often with help from the browser's autocompletion feature);
searching with a search engine; or accessing it via another Web site or portal.
However, the researchers note the limits of relying on memory, a search engine or the browser's
help. A memory lapse, a change in the search engine site rankings or a move to another computer can
eliminate a person's path to the Web page.
As an experiment to address some of the issues, Jones and Bruce with their students created an
alternative "Add to Favorites" dialog for a Web browser. From a single dialog, the person can add
comments about a link, send it via e-mail or save the page to their hard drive. While the dialog
offers some incremental enhancements, they found that most testers had lost the habit of using
bookmarks and didn't adopt the new Add to Favorites option.
In a follow-on project, the researchers are developing a conceptual framework for how people decide
to keep information available for use later on. Bruce calls this the "personal anticipation of
information need," or PAIN. The acronym suggests two motivations for users struggling to keep track
of information, according to Bruce. "People are motivated by PAIN," he said.
The researchers are also looking at the broader problem of "information fragmentation." People
often have the information required to complete a task scattered across e-mail, files, contact
information, Web references and other types of information—each with its own distinct organization.
The team is pursuing a patent for techniques and tools to bring together the various types of
information into a "My Life" personal taxonomy that helps, rather than hinders, efforts to complete
the task at hand.
"We live in the Information Age, and the effective use of information is the key to prosperity,"
said Maria Zemankova, NSF program officer for the Information and Data Management program. "This
project provides the theoretical underpinnings for a human-centric information environment that
will enable individuals, families, organizations and societies to continually build upon their
experience and gain control over the seemingly endless volumes of information confronting them."
-NSF-
Keeping Found Things Found: http://kftf.ischool.washington.edu/
Sources (more sites to keep found):
For the amount of data online, see "How Much Information? 2003" at
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/
For Internet usage data, see the U.S. Census Bureau report at
http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p23-207.pdf or the NSF-supported UCLA Internet Report at
http://ccp.ucla.edu/pages/internet-report.asp.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental
research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of
nearly $5.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and
institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes
about 10,000 new funding awards. The NSF also awards over $200 million in professional and service
contracts yearly.
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.
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| Dare |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:47 am |
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"Frederick" <mmcneill@fuzzysys.com> wrote in message news:3FEC2B8E.2EF4B039@fuzzysys.com...
Quote: Source: National Science Foundation
Date:
2003-12-26
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031223071958.htm
Keeping Found Things Found: Web Tools Don't
Always Mesh With How People Work
................
Getting online is the easy part, finding a
useful Web page is a bit harder-keeping track of a
useful Web page is another issue altogether.
Interesting article...I was glad to know I'm not the
only one who sends myself links via email. It seems
an awfully convoluted way of doing things...couple
that with the disorganized heap of paper scraps awash with
illegible bits (or is that bytes <g>) of information scribbled
on them and it's a wonder I can ever find anything again!
Quote: In a follow-on project, the researchers are developing a
conceptual framework for how people decide to keep
information available for use later on. Bruce calls this the
"personal anticipation of information need," or PAIN.
The acronym suggests two motivations for users struggling
to keep track of information, according to Bruce.
"People are motivated by PAIN," he said.
<heh-heh> that's a very good acronym.
Another challenge is when you have failed to anticipate
the need for a paraticular piece of information.
I find that comes up frequently on this group...
Someone mentions something in a post and I vaguely
recall having read a relevant article or website, so I
have to struggle to find it again based on a nebulous
memory of a few key words.
Maybe that could be called:
Anticipation Correction Haphazardly Evoked - ACHE
(I'll admit that acronym is very contrived!)
Thanks for the article,
Dare |
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| Frederick |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 11:38 am |
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Dare wrote:
Quote:
"Frederick" <mmcneill@fuzzysys.com> wrote in message news:3FEC2B8E.2EF4B039@fuzzysys.com...
Source: National Science Foundation
Date:
2003-12-26
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031223071958.htm
Keeping Found Things Found: Web Tools Don't
Always Mesh With How People Work
................
Getting online is the easy part, finding a
useful Web page is a bit harder-keeping track of a
useful Web page is another issue altogether.
Interesting article...I was glad to know I'm not the
only one who sends myself links via email. It seems
an awfully convoluted way of doing things...couple
that with the disorganized heap of paper scraps awash with
illegible bits (or is that bytes <g>) of information scribbled
on them and it's a wonder I can ever find anything again!
In a follow-on project, the researchers are developing a
conceptual framework for how people decide to keep
information available for use later on. Bruce calls this the
"personal anticipation of information need," or PAIN.
The acronym suggests two motivations for users struggling
to keep track of information, according to Bruce.
"People are motivated by PAIN," he said.
heh-heh> that's a very good acronym.
Another challenge is when you have failed to anticipate
the need for a paraticular piece of information.
I find that comes up frequently on this group...
Someone mentions something in a post and I vaguely
recall having read a relevant article or website, so I
have to struggle to find it again based on a nebulous
memory of a few key words.
Maybe that could be called:
Anticipation Correction Haphazardly Evoked - ACHE
(I'll admit that acronym is very contrived!)
Thanks for the article,
Dare
Soon we will have "In Time, Complete Havoc" - ITCH
--
Best,
Frederick Martin McNeill
Poway, California, United States of America
mmcneill@fuzzysys.com
http://www.fuzzysys.com
http://members.cox.net/fmmcneill/
*************************
Phrase of the week :
"There is no doubt that great revolutions of human scientific
thought will occur in the next century, and in the century after
that, and in thousands of centuries afterward. So which of our
current pet scientific dogmas will be among the first washed away
by new facts and sudden clarities?" -- Anonymous
 )))Snort!)
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| Dare |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 4:49 pm |
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"Frederick" <mmcneill@fuzzysys.com> wrote:
Quote: Dare wrote:
Maybe that could be called:
Anticipation Correction Haphazardly Evoked - ACHE
(I'll admit that acronym is very contrived!)
Soon we will have "In Time, Complete Havoc" - ITCH
LOL...very good.
then we'll be left with Ol' Scratch. :-)
[from Bartleby.com:
Old Scratch, like Old Nick, is a nickname for the devil.
In the last century it was widely used in the eastern
United States, especially in New England, as is evident
from the Devil's name for himself in the Stephen Vincent Benét
short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster." ....
The source of the name is probably the Old Norse word
skratte, meaning "a wizard, goblin, monster, or devil." ]
Thanks,
Dare |
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| Frederick |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 5:22 pm |
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Dare wrote:
Quote:
"Frederick" <mmcneill@fuzzysys.com> wrote:
Dare wrote:
Maybe that could be called:
Anticipation Correction Haphazardly Evoked - ACHE
(I'll admit that acronym is very contrived!)
Soon we will have "In Time, Complete Havoc" - ITCH
LOL...very good.
then we'll be left with Ol' Scratch. :-)
[from Bartleby.com:
Old Scratch, like Old Nick, is a nickname for the devil.
In the last century it was widely used in the eastern
United States, especially in New England, as is evident
from the Devil's name for himself in the Stephen Vincent Benét
short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster." ....
The source of the name is probably the Old Norse word
skratte, meaning "a wizard, goblin, monster, or devil." ]
Thanks,
Dare
Is "scratch" also a name for money?
--
Best,
Frederick Martin McNeill
Poway, California, United States of America
mmcneill@fuzzysys.com
http://www.fuzzysys.com
http://members.cox.net/fmmcneill/
*************************
Phrase of the week :
"There is no doubt that great revolutions of human scientific
thought will occur in the next century, and in the century after
that, and in thousands of centuries afterward. So which of our
current pet scientific dogmas will be among the first washed away
by new facts and sudden clarities?" -- Anonymous
)))Snort!)
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| Dare |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 5:42 pm |
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Guest
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"Frederick" <mmcneill@fuzzysys.com> wrote
Quote:
Soon we will have "In Time, Complete Havoc" - ITCH
LOL...very good.
then we'll be left with Ol' Scratch. :-)
[from Bartleby.com:
Old Scratch, like Old Nick, is a nickname for the devil...
Is "scratch" also a name for money?
Yes, I believe you're right...a double meaning
since it seems money also helps the ITCH.
Thanks...this is fun.
Dare |
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