Annual review of information science and technology, vol. 22
CSCW: four characters in search of a context
Studies in computer supported cooperative work
Using memory for events in the design of personal filing systems
International Journal of Man-Machine Studies
Where did you put it? Issues in the design and use of a group memory
CHI '93 Proceedings of the INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
The marks are on the knowledge worker
CHI '94 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Fixed or fluid?: document stability and new media
ECHT '94 Proceedings of the 1994 ACM European conference on Hypermedia technology
Context as a factor in personal information management systems
Journal of the American Society for Information Science
Finding and reminding: file organization from the desktop
ACM SIGCHI Bulletin
Collaborative tools and the practicalities of professional work at the international monetary fund
CHI '95 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
STAIRS redux: thoughts on the STAIRS evaluation, ten years after
Journal of the American Society for Information Science - Special issue: evaluation of information retrieval systems
LifeLines: visualizing personal histories
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Coordination mechanisms: towards a conceptual foundation of CSCW systems design
Computer Supported Cooperative Work - Special issue on the design of cooperative systems
“Finding and reminding” revisited: appropriate metaphors for file organization at the desktop
ACM SIGCHI Bulletin - Special celebration issue: 50 years of ACM
“Finding and reminding” reconsidered
ACM SIGCHI Bulletin
Information Processing and Management: an International Journal
Paper as an analytic resource for the design of new technologies
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in computing systems
How do people organize their desks?: Implications for the design of office information systems
ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS)
Fragmented exchange: disarticulation and the need for regionalized communication spaces
ECSCW'95 Proceedings of the fourth conference on European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
Constructing common information spaces
ECSCW'97 Proceedings of the fifth conference on European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
Reflections on a work-oriented design project
Human-Computer Interaction
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Documents are used extensively by professionals in their execution of their own work and to share information with others. Professionals use and manage their documents in ways that are woven into their work activities and leave most of the context unsaid because the documents are understood as belonging to a certain ongoing activity. Contrary to this, organisations have a strong interest in storing information in less person-dependent ways than simply relying on their employees' memory and personal files. To support document management effectively we need to balance the individual professionals focus on their current activities against the long-term interests of the organisation, and we need a fuller understanding of the affordances and constraints of documents. This study identifies six roles documents play in professionals' work, namely that documents serve (1) as personal work files, (2) as reminders of things to do, (3) to share information with some yet withhold it from others, (4) to convey meaning, (5) to generate new meaning, and (6) to mediate contacts among people. Painstakingly standardised and very time-consuming methods are required for documents to convey meaning but such efforts are rarely considered worthwhile compared to relying on other document roles or rework.