Cutting and Pasting Up: "Documents" and Provenance in a Complex Work Environment

This paper explores how historical models of documents as stable information artifacts should be replaced with a new model of information objects that exist around and between document boundaries. The new model is information-centered; files and documents are seen as snapshots in time, part of individual and group information flows. The flows are versioned across multiple documents and applications. This model is based on new fine-grained tracking and analysis capabilities derived from machine learning research. Using these capabilities, we outline a view of documents based on results from an experiment that tracked the activities of 17 information workers doing their regular work over 8 weeks. The research supports certain postmodern theories of work, specifically the notion of "pasting up." The construct of provenance describes information flows and networks and is the core theoretical base of the paper. The research had two goals: to understand what users do moment to moment and to provide insight for information management. There are further implications for information design in managing multi-tasking workloads, for methods of studying computer-based work, and for an updated desktop user interface.