Thomas Er i ckson
Advanced Technology, Apple Computer, Inc.
1 Infinite Loop, 301-4UE
Cupertino CA 95014 USA
Tel: +1-408-974-3767
E-mail: thomas@apple.corn
ABSTRACT
This article describes the design and use of a personal
electronic notebook. The findings provide a useful data
point for those interested in the issue of how to design
highly customizable systems for managing personal
information. After a description of the notebook's interface
and the usag6 practices that have co-evolved with the
interface, I discuss ome of the features which have made
the notebook useful over the long term, and trends in the
evolution of its design.
Keywords
Electronic notebooks, personal information management,
customization, tailoring, longitudinal study, reflective
analysis, co-evolution of design and practice
INTRODUCTION
Notebooks are a well known tool for those involved in
practices which involve observation, reflection, analysis,
and synthesis. John-Steiner, in her wide-ranging study of
"experienced thinkers" \[6\], observes that one of the central
challenges of creative work is the capture of images and
other forms of "condensed thought," and the development of
this private language into public, expressive language. She
notes the frequent use of notebooks for this purpose, not
only by writers and scientists, but by painters, composers,
and choreographers.
Given the well recognized role of such personal notebooks
in intellectual nd artistic endeavors, it is rather surprising
that there are only a few examples of computer-based
applications that are designed specifically to act as personal
notebooks. These include Notes \[9\], a physician's notebook
\[1\], a prototype of a biologist's notebook \[10\] and
NoteCards \[5\]. If the constraints are relaxed to allow
collaborative systems, other examples appear, such as the
Virtual Notebook System TM \[4, 11\], and Lotus Notes® \[3\].
We will not consider systems tailored to support specific
tasks, such as capturing and elaborating on design rationale
(e.g., \[2, 13\]); their degree of structure and formality make
them quite different from systems directed towards the easy
capture, management, and transformation of personal
information which is our focus of interest.
The term notebook is also applied to some types of
hardware. Indeed, "notebook" serves as the new generic term
for laptop computer, with "'sub-notebook" being used to
describe the new, smaller generation of laptops. However,
in both cases the primary connotation ofthe name seems to
be that of size--such systems exhibit no particular
specialization for personal information management.
Perhaps abetter fit are personal digital assistants (PDA's)---
exemplified by the Apple Newton® and the Sharp
Wizard®--~and held devices that are explicitly aimed at
helping users manage their personal information.
Personal electronic notebooks pose an interesting challenge
for designers and developers. A general design problem is
discovering how to make something useful, as opposed to
just usable. This problem is particularly acute for systems
like electronic notebooks that support he capture, use, and
management of personal information. Unlike conventional
applications uch as word processors or spreadsheets, a
notebook is very personal: it only becomes useful over
time---months or years--as it becomes the repository of
more and more personally relevant information. While it is
straightforward to study usability--that is,how easy it is to
learn and use various features of the notebookmit is much
more of a challenge to understand which features, and which
modes of use, would make such a notebook useful.
Very little evaluation of the use of notebook-like
applications or devices has been done. Typically, if
evaluation has been done at all, it is at the level of usability
testing, and is rarely described in detail. The only example
of longitudinal evaluation that I can find is NoteCards \[12\].
NoteCards has undergone considerable evaluation, including
longitudinal studies of use over periods up to seven months
\[7, 8\]. However, at least in the longitudinal studies,
NoteCards was used to support the collection and
organization of research notes and the production of a
particular paper, rather than as a more general system for
managing personal information. Clearly, there is much
more to be learned.
Proteus
Several years ago I participated in a project hat involved
the design of a working prototype of a personal notebook.
As noted above, while it is easy to study the usability of
such a notebook, it is more difficult to understand which
features would contribute to its usefulness over the long
term. In this case, fragility of both the software and
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hardware prototypes frustrated any attempts at longitudinal
evaluation.
One approach is to study how people manage their personal
information today. In fact, we began our project by looking
at how people used artifacts uch as notebooks, calendars,
post-it notes, and computers. This proved to be a rich
source of ideas, and particularly drove home the point that
different people did very different things. But it doesn't fully
address the question. An electronic device for managing
personal information will have properties that are very
different from those of paper-based artifacts, and will
therefore be used in different ways. So, the question
remains: how .can we learn about the ways in which an
electronic personal information manager will really be used
over a long period of time?
My response was to build my own electronic notebook,
which I refer to as Proteus. My original intent was to force
myself to use it on a daily basis for two months, keep track
of how it evolved to support my work practices, and to
make note of its benefits and drawbacks. Proteus turned out
to be sufficiently useful that little discipline was required to
accomplish this. As of this writing I've been using Proteus
on a daily basis for three years. The occasional periods
when I am forced to do without it because of mechanical or
logistical problems reveal that it has become the primary
tool by which I manage my work and professional life.
In more objective terms, Proteus is a HyperCard®-based
application that is designed for use on a PowerBook®. In
terms of content, Proteus consists of approximately 1500
pages of personally meaningful information, collected over
the course of five years (some preexisting information was
imported into Proteus). In terms of technology, Proteus is a
collection of 9 HyperCard stacks taking up about 6
megabytes of disk space; it consists of about 80 handlers,
and a few commonly available X-commands.
A Note on Method
While I have drawn upon a number of sources of data for
this account--a change diary I kept about modifications to
Proteus and the rationale behind them, archives of notebook
versions and their contents, and an automatically-generated
log of notebook commands---the fact remains that this is
essentially a subjective account of my experience. Where
possible, I have used analysis of portions of the notebook
contents and the command log to confirm basic facts such
as the approximate frequency of usage. But this has not
revealed any surprises. The most interesting aspects of this
account--claims about why certain features ucceeded or
failed, what accounts for the notebook's usefulness, the co-
evolution of work practice and functionality--can not be
verified by analyzing command logs or content.
Objections to this approach to exploring design issues
include concerns about subjectivity, and the lack of
generality of any findings. While I do not contest hese
objections--indeed, they are quite reasonable--I would note
that no method is so sound as to allow designers to
confidently proceed from the findings of one or even a few
studies done within its scope. I believe that the sort of
reflective analysis exemplified by this paper is well-suited
to the inherently personal nature of this topic. Reflective
analysis can yield much of value if it is carried out
carefully, and if designers also draw upon other
methodologies to inIom~ their work.
What's Nex,?
I begin with an overview of the Proteus interface, and then
discuss the ways in which I actu~dly use Proteus. Finally I
describe some of the lessons I've learned from this
experience. Throughout this paper I maintain a deliberately
casual, first-person style, as a reminder that the findings
being described are based on a population of one.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE iNTERFACE
It is difficult to describe Proteus because it has changed over
time. What I'll do is describe the interface as it was in June
1994; at that time, most of the features discussed had been
stable for about a year.
Proteus can be thought of as a series of notebooks. There is
a primary notebook called the "working notebook" that is
almost always open. In addition, a "booksheW' menu gives
access to secondary notebooks (e.g., a notebook of reading
quotations, working notes for 1993, etc.) and reference
stacks (e.g., a company phone directory).
Notebooks contain two types of pages: content pages where
notes are made, and table of contents (TOC) pages which
provide structural overviews of the notebook.
Content Pages
A content page contains four areas (figure 1):
° Header area. The top portion of the page has several
fields for header information such as the name of the
notebook section and subsection, the date the page was
started, and so on.
• Content area. This is a single scrolling field where
almost all information is entered.
• Page-Specific Controls. Below the content field is a
Oel l m Uotaa
.,¢ I ~14~ Td~etll, idr 1~'1 IHiI~
Figure 1. A content page. The large scrolling field is
where the content is entered. The area at the top of the
page is for various types of header information. And at
the bottom of the page are page-specific and global
controls (on light and dark backgrounds, respectively).
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