Cognitive processes in information storage and retrieval

The typical office of today is deluged with papers of all sorts. There are reports, memos, forms, letters, and countless other types of documents. Even the most organized individuals have certainly faced the frustration of trying to locate a particular document among the hundreds of papers which reside in their office. When asked to estimate the percentage of the typical work day which is occupied by the filing and/or retrieval of information, responses by managers and executives tend to be in the 10 to 12 percent range. The following observed trends suggest that as we progress towards the “office-of-the-future” a similar type of problem will arise. A rapidly increasing number of our daily activities are going to be accomplished through the assistance of a computer. Whereas not too many years ago computers were employed primarily for numerical data processing, today they are involved in tasks ranging from word processing and communication to manufacturing and accounting. The other important trend is the integration of various functions into single systems or workstations. Rather than having separate systems for electronic mail, word processing, accounting, etc., integrated systems combine many such features. The outcome of these two trends is that in a short amount of time an individual will accumulate a substantial number of computer files (e.g., memos, reports, budgets, mail, personnel files, etc.) to which periodic access may be required. As the number of such items increases, remembering what sequence of key presses will provide access to a particular piece of information can become a fairly difficult chore. As we know that human memory is fallible, it is essential that systems be designed which make the task of storing and retrieving information as simple and efficient as possible. The approach which we advocate is to examine the type of strategies which people naturally find useful for retrieving documents and to allow these strategies to be employed in computerized systems. What we will present here is a framework which outlines the types of processes which people engage in while filing and retrieving documents in a “paper office”. We feel that many of the same processes could be made useful in the “electronic office”.