DocPlayer: Design Insights from Applying the Non-HierarchicalMedia-Player model to Document Management

Abstract: Managing documents is an integral part of computer use, and with the growing document collections of today, the importance of tools that are both flexible and efficient is becoming more evident. In many cases, the hierarchical file system used by many operating systems is also used for document management purposes. However, by using the file system for document management, restrictions and limitations such as strict hierarchical document classification and the use of non-content-related document properties are inherited. This thesis explores some of the consequences of extending the non- hierarchical media-player model to handle certain document-management tasks. In order to investigate some of these design issues, DocPlayer, a system with non-hierarchical (set-based) filing mechanisms was created that supports multi- category document categorization. This system was then analyzed in the context of document-management tasks associated with writing a thesis. The main insights for designers of document-management systems include advantages and disadvantages of multi-category document categorization.