Re-finding physical documents: Extending a digital library into a human-centred workplace

Abstract

It is often difficult for busy people to keep track of or re-find documents in their own workplace. Very few methods have been developed for finding a physical object's location in an office. Most of the existing methods require that some kind of structured approach be followed by the user. We created a "Human-Centred Workplace" system that does not require orderly users. The system embeds passive tags in documents and uses cameras in the office to track changes in the documents' locations. This paper introduces the design and implementation of the system, explores its use in an office environment and gives a initial evaluation of our prototypical implementation. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.