Supporting collaborative task management in email
Abstract
-mail is one of the most successful computer applications ever developed. Despite its success, it is now dogged by numerous problems. Users complain about feeling overwhelmed by the volume of messages they receive, they have difficulties too in organizing and managing their e-mail data but, most importantly, they have problems in using e-mail to manage collaborative tasks (Bellotti, Ducheneaut, Howard, & Smith, 2003; Balter, 1998, 2000; Mackay, 1988; Whittaker, Jones, & Terveen, 2002a; Whittaker & Sidner, 1996). These require extended interaction with others for their definition and execution (Bellotti et al., 2003; Venolia, Gupta, Cadiz, & Dabbish, 2001; Whittaker & Sidner, 1996). As a result, users are often concurrently working on multiple outstanding tasks as they await responses from others concerning these tasks. This requires users to (a) create reminders, (b) identify messages that relate to the same task, and (c) combine information from these related messages. Currently, people try to use the email inbox to do this but our data indicate it is ineffective for these purposes. Other recent approaches attempt to tackle Collaborative Task Management but we show that these offer at best only partial solutions. In contrast, we present two systems, TeleNotes and ContactMap, that directly address Collaborative Task Management. These are motivated by empirical research into paper-based and people-based task management strategies. We describe how our systems implement these different strategies and present evaluation data for each system in use. We contrast the success of these two approaches with earlier work and discuss outstanding design and theory problems arising from our research.
Supporting collaborative task management in email
Management in E-mail
Steve Whittaker
Sheffield University
ABSTRACT
E-mail is one of the most successful computer applications ever developed. De-
spite its success, it is now dogged by numerous problems. Users complain about
feeling overwhelmed by the volume of messages they receive, they have difficul-
ties too in organizing and managing their e-mail data but, most importantly, they
have problems in using e-mail to manage collaborative tasks (Bellotti,
Ducheneaut, Howard, & Smith, 2003; Balter, 1998, 2000; Mackay, 1988;
Whittaker, Jones, & Terveen, 2002a; Whittaker & Sidner, 1996). These require ex-
tended interaction with others for their definition and execution (Bellotti et al.,
2003; Venolia, Gupta, Cadiz, & Dabbish, 2001; Whittaker & Sidner, 1996). As a
result, users are often concurrently working on multiple outstanding tasks as they
await responses from others concerning these tasks. This requires users to (a) cre-
ate reminders, (b) identify messages that relate to the same task, and (c) combine
information from these related messages. Currently, people try to use the e-mail
inbox to do this but our data indicate it is ineffective for these purposes. Other re-
cent approaches attempt to tackle Collaborative Task Management but we show
that these offer at best only partial solutions. In contrast, we present two systems,
TeleNotes and ContactMap, that directly address Collaborative Task Manage-
HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, 2005, Volume 20, pp. 49–88
Copyright © 2005, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Steve Whittaker is a cognitive psychologist with interests in the application of
cognitive science principles and methods to the design of systems for computer
mediated communication, collaborative systems, information retrieval, and per-
sonal information management; he is Chair of Information Retrieval at the Uni-
versity of Sheffield.
ple-based task management strategies. We describe how our systems implement
these different strategies and present evaluation data for each system in use. We
contrast the success of these two approaches with earlier work and discuss out-
standing design and theory problems arising from our research.
50 WHITTAKER
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE PROBLEM OF COLLABORATIVE TASK MANAGEMENT
2.1. Collaborative Task Management: User Strategies and Problems
Reminders About Collaborative Tasks
Identifying and Accessing Prior Task Context
2.2. Problems in Using the Inbox for Collaborative Task Management
3. PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM OF COLLABORATIVE
TASK MANAGEMENT
3.1. Message Removal
Spam Removal
Personal Filtering
Assisted Filing
3.2. Information Structuring
3.3. Message Highlighting and Labeling
3.4. Workflow Systems
3.5. Novel Designs to Support Collaborative Task Management
4. TELENOTES: PAPER-BASED TASK MANAGEMENT
4.1. Studies of Paper-Based Task Management Practices
4.2. The TeleNotes System
4.3. How TeleNotes Supports Collaborative Task Management
4.4. Observations and User Feedback
4.5. Future Redesigns Based on User Feedback
5. CONTACTMAP: PEOPLE-BASED TASK MANAGEMENT
5.1. The Social Basis of Task Management
5.2. The ContactMap System
5.3. How ContactMap Supports Collaborative Task Management
5.4. Evaluating ContactMap
Method
Results
5.5. Future Redesigns Based on User Feedback
6. DESIGN AND THEORY IMPLICATIONS
6.1. Centralized Versus Distributed Task Management
6.2. Radical Discontinuity Versus Evolution
6.3. Alternative Methods for Detecting Task Relations
6.4. Prioritization, Scheduling, Urgency, and Importance of Tasks
6.5. Individual Differences
6.6 Theory
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