Multiple hierarchies in user workspace

Abstract

Desktop workspaces contain many user-defined hierarchies such as the file system, email folders and web bookmark folders. Previous studies have shown that users encounter many overheads in the management and navigation of individual hierarchies. In contrast, this paper presents an exploratory study of how users work with the multiple hierarchies of their workspace.The organisations of three hierarchies (file system, email folders and web bookmark folders) were compared for ten users. The study found that overheads are compounded when working with multiple hierarchies. Improved support is required for managing multiple hierarchies in user workspace. The sharing of organisational information between hierarchies is proposed as one possible approach.