View
0
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
Intel ConfidentialInternal Use Only – Do Not Distribute
Cutting and Pasting Up: Understanding Users with
Task Trail
Eleanor WynnPrincipal Engineer
Intel Information TechnologyCarlos Jensen
Heather LonsdaleOregon State University EECS
December 16, 2009
IT.intel.com 12/15/20092
Complexity on the Desktop•Information workers are
– doing kindergarten tasks (cut & paste) – to create post-graduate content (strategy)
•Users focus on information, projects, presentations
•Focus on applications creates user overhead •How much overhead? A lot!
– Machine learning tracks behavior– Provides empirical view of desktop activity
Volume/diversity of content demands innovation
IT.intel.com 12/15/20093
Users: overwhelmed by desktop
windows were an innovation 29 years ago; they complicate multi-tasking work
IT.intel.com 12/15/20094
Research Q: How Bad is It?To find out we used two machine learning tools
(plus interviews):
• Task Tracer links activity to a project • Task Trail tracks data reuse
• Tools built and research conducted by Oregon State University CSEE Machine Learning Group– Tom Dietterich– Jon Herlocker– Carlos Jensen – Simone Stumpf
Problem too fine-grained to observe with other methods
IT.intel.com 12/15/20095
Findings Task Tracer StudyTask Switching
• Application switches: 1/minute• Window switches: 1/40 secs• Resources used per day: 40+• % of time navigating: 90• IE search repeat rate: 33%• Folder revisit rate: 41%• Recovery time from
interruptions:10minutes
% Intel multi-teaming
LessonLesson: need more context retention : need more context retention in desktop designin desktop design
IT.intel.com 12/15/20096
Multi-Tasking:Projects Per Day
12/06/22 Oregon State University 6
8
7
3
2
7
10
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s7
Med
ian
Proj
ects
Per
Day
IT.intel.com 12/15/20097
Re-Finding Information
12/06/22 Oregon State University 7
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7
Perc
ent t
hat o
f ope
ns th
at a
re re
-find
s
Web
Docs
All
3854 cases551/person-month
Email and web are the biggest opportunities.
It’s not about the time savings, it is the It’s not about the time savings, it is the flow stateflow state
IT.intel.com 12/15/20098
What Task Trail Tracks• .Net application runs under Windows:
– Word, Excel, PowerPoint, IE and Outlook • Using Microsoft APIs tracks provenance related events
– File opens & closes– Rename– File moves– Save as– Copy-paste– Attachment– Uploads– all stored in a database.
• Networks visualized with yEd software package
IT.intel.com 12/15/20099
Participant Summary• 24 subjects, different roles & groups
– 37.5% Female study population (9 subjects)• 18 completed study (5+ weeks of active participation)
– 25% study mortality rate, no gender bias• Reasons for dropping out:
– Problems with Internet Explorer and some Web 2.0 websites (1)– Incompatible with some older hardware/software configurations
(3)– Start of sabbatical (1) – 1 subject excluded due to database problems
IT.intel.com 12/15/200910
Study Overview
Average Median St.Dev Max Min Total
Participation (Active work days) 42.94 43 12.92 63.0 21.0 730
# of unique MS Office documents 165.8 161 87.68 335 26 2,807
Document reuse (sessions) 1.78 1.61 0.41 71 1
Activ
e w
ork
days
Subjects Longitudinal data collected on use and reuse of documents and information on the desktop from subjects in a variety of IT roles.
18 subjects observed over total of 730 workdays, interacting with 2,819 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents (primary focus of study)
Tracked information access, reuse and cross-application flow
IT.intel.com 12/15/200911
Findings Task Trail: Inter-Application Information Transfer
1%
1
%
10%
3%
8%
4%
11%
12%
8% 3%
17%6%
Information flows between apps, docs have permeable boundaries
IT.intel.com 12/15/200912
•Provenance networks are: common, complex, span applications. •Average of 15.7 provenance networks used in normal work; •Average size: 7.6 documents, 11 edges•Largest network had >100 nodes, 300 edges
Provenance NetworksProvenance Networks
Information DNA
IT.intel.com 12/15/200913
Large Graph Examined
Master Spreadsheet
79 individual test scripts
NODE COLOR KEYExcelPowerPointWordOutlook/Web (White))
IT.intel.com 12/15/200914
Provenance Network Facts & Concerns
• Centered on small set of high value repositories
• Importance of tracking information source for:– Data currency– Data quality based on source– Attribution to original sources
Permeable boundaries mean mixing different data age & quality, lose sources, meanwhile users hyperactive
IT.intel.com 12/15/200915
Interim Outcomes•New opportunity to revive a ’00 solution
Problem is deeper information design
IT.intel.com 12/15/200916
Possible Solutions 1: After-the-fact solutions
•Intelligent software to clean up the mess– File search with context of use data– Interruption recovery via context retention– Associative suggestion from pattern-matching
This is doable, product exists but takes too much user overhead to assist learning
IT.intel.com 12/15/200917
Outlook UI Associated Project(s)Smart Desktop
Toolbar
One Search Folder for Each Project
Project(s) associated with selected items
Recommended