Knowledge Management Systems Knowledge Management Systems

• Email- Readings- Issues

• Blogging• More Commentary• Evaluations of the blog process

• Projects and Papers

Email Systems, Uses and HabitsEmail Systems, Uses and Habits• What email client(s) do you use?

- Why?- How Long?

• Multiple Mailboxes? - How many & for what?- How long do you keep them?

• Filters?- How many & for what?- Searching instead of filtering?

• Searching email- How often & why?

• Other Devices?• An Influence on Social Networks• Protocols

Email as HabitatEmail as Habitat• Traditionally

- Messaging - Communication- One to One, One to Many Communication

• Increasingly- Information Management

• Access to Documents• Address Books - Contacts• Portal for (Networked) Information

- Coordination and Collaboration• Tasks

- To Do’s- Reminders

• Workflow- Document Creation and Editing- Meeting Planning and Coordination

Email as Habitat 2Email as Habitat 2

• PC Users Spend Most of Their Day in their Email Application- Defining “Knowledge Workers”?- Support Staff

• Personal Information Management- To Do (Marking up or Sending to Oneself)- Contact Management

• Project Tracking• Email for EVERYTHING?

Email as Habitat 3Email as Habitat 3

• Too Much of a Good Thing- Filters- Folders

• Searching May Be Faster - Time to File- Time to Find

• Searching Not Helping to Build (Traditional) Conceptual Model of Tasks or Messages

Email as Habitat 4Email as Habitat 4

• Types of Folders- Who – Sender- Where – Organization of Sender(s)- What – Project- Personal Interests• Professional• Private

- What Else?• Archives• Templates

Email as Habitat 5Email as Habitat 5

• Problems with Email Applications- Folder Organization- Sorting- Finding- Filtering• Easier to Set up• Filter after Reading or Event

• One Application Not Suited for All Users- Outlook - Outlook Express- Status & Occupation- Roles and Responsibilities

Email as Habitat 6Email as Habitat 6

• More Exposure to Email Use = More Checking Email- Alternate Devices- Always-on Devices

• More Experience = More Feature Use• Different Features for Different Users• Different Features for Different Uses

• Projects• Types of Tasks

Improving EmailImproving Email

• Threads of Messages- “Conversation Tree”- Automatic vs. Manual Configuration- Types of Conversations (GIBIS)

• “Thrasks”- Individual (feedback)- Group (assignments)

• Views & Visualization- Oldest/First at Top (contrast with blogs)- Multiple Windows, Icons, Graphics

Email Overload: Exploring PIMEmail Overload: Exploring PIM

• New Uses Causes Overload- Task Management

- Personal Archiving

- Asynchronous Communication

• Study of Mailboxes and User Interviews• Does Speed/Reliability of Email Transmission and

Replying Change It’s Use? - Conversational

- Accountable

• Email not “One touch” (informational)• Changes Work Throughout the Day• Constantly Checking

Sequence & Reply RelationshipsSequence & Reply Relationships

• Messaging is a type of conversation- What are the characteristics of a conversation?- How are conversations conducted in other media?

• Envisioning email as conversations adds context and removes redundancy- Time- Complexity of topic- Number of participants

Models of ConversationsModels of Conversations

• Sequence Model- First message- Before (context)- After (how long to wait vs. too long?)

• Tree Model- Root message & Replies to root- Any replies, some replies or ranked replies?- Replies to replies (eliminating redundancy, but not

losing context)

• Visualization for each won’t be universal• Mailing lists could be improved for support

Taking Email to TaskTaking Email to Task

• Many of us work out of our InBox• Email becomes task-centric, not just info- Actionable- Trackable

• Study looked at “live” email use- Filters are a key- Examine Addressing and Threads- Watched email triage

Task ResultsTask Results

• Quick responses• Offline research or task required before reply- To Dos- Events later- Delayed, dependent to dos

• Overload measure- Number of threads/day + length of intervals

between messages in threads

• Message drift out of view in a mailbox• Context is lost

Task ProblemsTask Problems

• Keeping track of concurrent actions- Your to dos- Others, dependent todos

• Marking items as more important• Managing email over time• Managing deadlines and reminders• Collating collections of messages• Application switching & window mgmt• Task overview needed

Is email always the right tool?Is email always the right tool?

• What functions make the most sense for email?

• Is email better suited to some situations?• What working styles are more & less

conducive to being productive with email?• Are there personality types or work roles that

email is best for?

TaskMasterTaskMaster

1. Keeping Track of Concurrent Actions2. Marking Items3. Managing Activities Over Time4. Managing Deadlines and Reminders5. Collating Related Items and Associated Files

and Links6. Application Switching and Window

Management7. Getting a Task-Oriented Overview Easily

TaskMasterTaskMaster

• Helping with Overload- Number of Threads- Frequency of Related Messages

• Assigns Meta-Information- From the Thrask View- Within an Open Item (Contact Info)

• Warning Bars• Action Clusters• Task-Specific Contact Lists

TaskMasterTaskMaster

Reinventing EmailReinventing Email

• What Kinds of Messages are Suited for (Current) Email ?

• What Other Types of Messaging Tools?- Instant Messaging- Newsgroups- Document Management• Annotations• Approval• Distribution Lists

Reinventing EmailReinventing Email

• Separation or Integration?- Messages- Address Book – Contacts- Documents- Links- Web (other)

• Indexing and Classifying Email- Logging (transaction, permission, task)- Searching (internal, personal, external)- Ranking (most email currently equal)

Redesigning Email for 21Redesigning Email for 21stst Century Century

• Little Change – GUIs & Attachments• Overloaded & Overwhelmed

- Slow Response – No Response- Loss

• No One Solution- Multiple Features- Appropriate for each User, Organization or Task- Improved Interface & Interaction

• Timelines• Document Summarization• Annotations

2121stst Century Email Interfaces Century Email Interfaces

BitfrostBitfrost• Categorizing Messages from Inbox Automatically• “Programming” Filters Too Difficult• Categories of Interest• Improve on Known Email Use

- Four Types of Users- Filters vs. Losing Sight of Email

• Understanding Automatic Categorizing Difficult for Users• Too Much Categorization?• Categories vs. Folders• New Messages Difficult to Deal With• Notification vs. Filing or Hiding

MailCatMailCat

• Filing with an Intelligent Assistant- Adaptive Text Classifier for Guessing (3) Folders- Action Classifier? (Maxim’s Memory Based Retrieval

Matching)- 80-90% Accurate

• Filing Can Compliment Searching- How Many Actions to File?

• Multiple Locations (Aliases, Links)• Simple (Only) Interface (“Move To” buttons)

IshmailIshmail• Support 3 Basic Methods

- Don’t File & Search- File Frequently in Many Mailboxes- File Intermittently

• Server-Based with IMAP extension• Filtering

- Alarms- Mailboxes- Incoming & Outgoing

• Interface with Multiple Windows/Views• Deferral of Message (Sending) Delivery• Archiving – Periodic & Stack• Personas

Back to basics: Email ProtocolsBack to basics: Email Protocols• POP

- Decentralized Storage- Personal Archives

• IMAP- Centralized Storage- Server Archives

• How Will New Devices Extend These Protocols?- Filtering as Ringtone?- Caller ID

• How Will P2P or other Collaborative/Cooperative Technologies (or paradigms) Change Email Use?- Always On (for Categorizing, Filtering and Automatically

Respondng)

Email on the Desktop?Email on the Desktop?

• Computers have transitioned from calculating tools to communication tools.

• Studies show that email is the #1 internet use.• Integrate Mailboxes with OS File Structure• Group Files and Messages in Interface• Provide Direct and Indirect Manipulation of

Information- Centralized on Servers- Synchronized with All Devices (PIM Hub)

• Does embedding email into the operating system make email more efficient, pervasive, overly important or all three?

Email Use ImprovementEmail Use Improvement

• New System Evaluation (for Improvement)- Real Users- Actual Work

• Difficult to Get Individuals to Switch to New Applications or Technologies- Current Features Not Used- No Learning Curve for Critical Application- Lock-in vs. Import/Export

• More Difficult to Get Organization To Switch- Installed Base- Migration- Licensing- Training

Email IssuesEmail Issues

• Email should be used for email• Offload messages for other tasks to the

appropriate applications- To Dos- Contact Information- Documents- Projects• Tasks• Threads

• Update intervals- How often do you check?- How often do you act?

Email: Social Computing vs PIMEmail: Social Computing vs PIM

• MIME & Web server based application specific email (and attachment) handler and viewer - email like Web pages

• Designs for working with email threads• Trackback for email• RSS newsfeeds instead of email• How email fits into a framework for a KMS• “Smart” email with built in logic• Sending, reading & retrieving with different

interfaces• Messages integrated with todo lists

Email & (knowledge) work?Email & (knowledge) work?

• Does email create more work?• Does email cause more work?

- Increased volume of work- Increased pace of work

• How does email change knowledge work?• Is managing email a KM process?

- Efficiency vs. Costs- Lost time vs. gained time

• Including attachments• Inserting task & appointment information• Process & project tracking

- How can it be verifiable?- Legally binding?

• What’s the role of metadata in email use & archving (retrieval)