Barbie
12-28-2003, 12:34 AM
bookmarking (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/24/bookmarks031224)
Web surfers lose their searching breadcrumbs
Last Updated Wed, 24 Dec 2003 17:01:57
SEATTLE, WASH. - Many people have mastered using search engines to find a web page, but finding a site for the second time is a growing problem, researchers say.
Information management experts estimate more than 80 per cent of new personal computers will be used to search the internet, which has more data than two billion sets of encyclopedias.
American computer scientists studied how people try to access information online.
They found people have devised tricks to track their web searches, such as sending e-mails to themselves or jotting down sticky notes.
But often people fail to use the tricks when they want to revisit a web page. Instead, they rely on their ability to find it all over again.
"People are terribly challenged by this, and the problem is becoming worse," said Harry Bruce at the University of Washington's Information School. "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."
The "find it again" tricks include:
Send the link in an e-mail to yourself, or send it to others and look for the URL in your sent mail.
Print out the web page and file it at the office.
Save the web page as a file with your other documents.
Bookmark the page.
Write down the URL with comments.
Paste the URL into another document.
Make a note in a digital calendar system.
Bruce and his colleagues found these tools don't tend to match how people work. For example, people like the portability of paper, or the anywhere access of e-mail, so one tool doesn't work for all needs.
Browser makers like Microsoft intended for bookmarks to be the primary "keeping" tool because they give quick access. Although bookmarks are fast, they rank poorly on the other characteristics surfers want.
The scientists paired up with Microsoft Research to test a new "Add to Favorites" tool for a web browser. The tool allowed people to add comments about a link, e-mail it or save the page to their hard drive in one step.
When the researchers asked college students to test the tool, they found most users were no longer in the habit of using bookmarks.
The problem is compounded because people save fragments of information in e-mails, hard-copy files and web references, which are organized separately.
The team is now patenting techniques to bring these tools together to overcome the problem.
I find myself adding to favorites or emailing the link to myself and saving on my hard drive...I don't think that I've EVER used the "Bookmark" option.
Web surfers lose their searching breadcrumbs
Last Updated Wed, 24 Dec 2003 17:01:57
SEATTLE, WASH. - Many people have mastered using search engines to find a web page, but finding a site for the second time is a growing problem, researchers say.
Information management experts estimate more than 80 per cent of new personal computers will be used to search the internet, which has more data than two billion sets of encyclopedias.
American computer scientists studied how people try to access information online.
They found people have devised tricks to track their web searches, such as sending e-mails to themselves or jotting down sticky notes.
But often people fail to use the tricks when they want to revisit a web page. Instead, they rely on their ability to find it all over again.
"People are terribly challenged by this, and the problem is becoming worse," said Harry Bruce at the University of Washington's Information School. "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."
The "find it again" tricks include:
Send the link in an e-mail to yourself, or send it to others and look for the URL in your sent mail.
Print out the web page and file it at the office.
Save the web page as a file with your other documents.
Bookmark the page.
Write down the URL with comments.
Paste the URL into another document.
Make a note in a digital calendar system.
Bruce and his colleagues found these tools don't tend to match how people work. For example, people like the portability of paper, or the anywhere access of e-mail, so one tool doesn't work for all needs.
Browser makers like Microsoft intended for bookmarks to be the primary "keeping" tool because they give quick access. Although bookmarks are fast, they rank poorly on the other characteristics surfers want.
The scientists paired up with Microsoft Research to test a new "Add to Favorites" tool for a web browser. The tool allowed people to add comments about a link, e-mail it or save the page to their hard drive in one step.
When the researchers asked college students to test the tool, they found most users were no longer in the habit of using bookmarks.
The problem is compounded because people save fragments of information in e-mails, hard-copy files and web references, which are organized separately.
The team is now patenting techniques to bring these tools together to overcome the problem.
I find myself adding to favorites or emailing the link to myself and saving on my hard drive...I don't think that I've EVER used the "Bookmark" option.