Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
a separate paper card for defining, applying and sharing freely-chosen tags. By intro-
ducing with the paper card the concept of a separate paper “tool”, we provide physi-
cal instantiations of the tag sets, which remain inaccessible in previous paper-based
systems. These instantiations allow for performing operations on the entire tag set,
for sharing tag sets, and they stimulate the convergence of tags. The third technique
aims at being particularly fast to be easily integrated into notetaking tasks. This is
based on predefined categories that can be applied by tapping on specific buttons
which are printed on paper documents. Finally, we have discussed the novel class of
process tagging with tangible tools. We opened this research direction and proposed
two first examples of interaction techniques. The variety of interaction metaphors
for tagging stands in contrast to previous work on paper-based tagging which relies
only on pen gestures.
Relations between the user and work practices.
The theory of Information Ecolo-
gies postulates that technology should be designed in a way that leaves freedom of
design to end-users. This allows them to adapt technology in order to symbiotically
integrate it into the given practices of a local information ecology. In response to
this postulation, CoScribe supports the generic activities of annotating, linking and
tagging. As we have discussed, these can be used in very flexible ways for various
purposes in different settings of knowledge work. As a consequence, CoScribe is
not tailored to a specific purpose but offers a set of generic tools that end-users can
flexibly combine and use according to his or her needs. This aspect has moreover
directed our attention to the paper user interface, which in previous work is static
and cannot be adapted by end-users. In contrast, CoScribe offers a user-adaptable
paper interface.
Core Interactions
Using the set of generic core interactions as a basis for the de-
sign of CoScribe's interaction techniques has proved beneficial. It leads to interac-
tions that are easy to learn, easy to use and reliable, it leads to a varied and rich user
experience, and it leads to a high degree of direct manipulation.
The interaction techniques allow the user to maintain the existing practices of
working with a pen and printed documents. For instance, users can make handwrit-
ten annotations at any position within documents and create handwritten references
and tags. This accounts for the highly individual practices observed in contextual
inquiries. A small set of more formal interactions can be used to inform the system
about the semantics of these informal artifacts. These interactions are based on a
set of recurrent core interactions. Each core interaction is easy to learn and to use
and can be performed reliably even with the restricted feedback capabilities of most
current digital pens.
We have shown that the novel interaction techniques draw upon the richness of
traditional paper-based practices. This includes writing with a pen on paper, ma-
nipulating the orientation of physical objects and creating physical arrangements of
multiple documents, e.g. in paper folders. Further techniques leverage tangible in-
teraction by attaching physical stickers on a paper document and making pen-based
associations between different documents. These varied interactions stand in con-
trast to paper interfaces that mimic the interaction of Graphical User Interfaces and
