Project Part 1

<body stylesrc="part1.html"> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"><img src="gromit.gif" width="231" height="107"><p><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>CS 6751B</b></font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial"><b>Winter Term 1999</b></font></p> <p><font size="1">Wallace and Gromit are the property of </font><a href="http://www.aardman.com/"><font color="#FFCCCC" size="1"><b>Aardman Animations</b></font></a><font color="#FFCCCC" size="1">..</font> </p> </td> <td align="center" valign="top"><font size="5" face="Arial"><b>Beagle:</b></font><p align="center"><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>a hunter of documents for the legal profession.</b></font></p> <table border="0"> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:tdh@cc.gatech.edu,dkrum@cc.gatech.edu,orlean@geocities.com,wasinee@cc.gatech.edu"><font size="3" face="Arial"><b><u>Team Members</u></b></font></a><a href="mailto:tdh@cc.gatech.edu,dkrum@cc.gatech.edu,orlean@geocities.com,wasinee@cc.gatech.edu"><font size="3" face="Arial">:</font></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:tdh@cc.gatech.edu"><font face="Arial">Terry Hughey</font></a><font face="Arial"> </font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:dkrum@cc.gatech.edu"><font face="Arial">David Krum</font></a><font face="Arial"> </font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:orlean@geocities.com"><font face="Arial">Crane Laws</font></a><font face="Arial"> </font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:wasinee@cc.gatech.edu"><font face="Arial">Wasinee Rungsarityotin</font></a></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <p><a name="Problem"><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial"><strong>Problem Statement</strong></font></a></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Law firms, by the nature of legal work and court requirements, are required to keep hard copy and associated paper documents of much of their work. Unfortunately, the paper filing systems, used to keep these documents, have numerous shortcomings, resulting in excessive time to retrieve items, real and intangible costs, frustration, and in some cases lost documents and information. An inability to reliably retrieve information and documents, previously stored, can mean the difference between winning and losing a case. The loss of an original contract document can result in the unenforceability of an agreement with the associated loss of large sums of money. The nature of a law firm's work demands extremely reliable retrieval accuracy of previously stored documents.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The shortcomings are the result of human mistakes and slips, which are provoked by the current design of the system. Personnel file documents incorrectly. They lose documents. They forget where they have filed documents or forget to return them to the file. They many times do not relate to the filed documents the way their boss does.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The retrieval accuracy of paper file systems can be improved by changing the faulty retrieval model currently in use. A major problem in life is retrieving information, or an item, you have placed somewhere. To retrieve either, you must first retrieve, in human memory, the physical location of, or a map to, the information or item. You also can <u>recognize</u> much more information than you can <u>recall</u>.</font> </p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">When these concepts are extended to storage and retrieval systems, we believe many mistakes and slips, related to paper filing systems in law firms, can be reduced. To reduce mistakes and slips, we intend to model a new retrieval system after our understanding of the retrieval system of human memory. How does the human memory best find papers and documents in a paper filing system?</font></p> <p align="left"><a name="Environment"><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial"><b>Environment</b></font></a></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The insights into the working environment of a law firm and its paper filing system was obtained through over 3 1/2 hours of interviews of the partner-in-charge, a lawyer and a paralegal in the environmental law department of a large, Atlanta based, general practice law firm. This firm has more than 150 lawyers and a total employment of approximately 300. Annual billings for 1998 are kept confidential but are more than ten million dollars. The firm has numerous specialties. The practice involves doing legal work for clients which includes wills, divorces, trust and estate planning, tax law, securities law, intellectual property (patent) law, contract law, business law, real estate law, and complex environmental and business litigation. Typical employees are Partners, lawyers, paralegal, administrative assistants, secretaries, clerks and other miscellaneous support personnel. Revenue is generating by hourly billings of the partner, lawyer and paralegal time spent working on legal work called "matters". Other knowledge of the law practice environment existed within the project team through a member's extensive environmental litigation experience as a client.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The firm's systems are representative of a large modern day law firm with extensive computer aided facilities such as word processors, billing computers, networking, e-mail, OCR scanners, databases, database services, reproduction and FAX and communication facilities.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The law firm must maintain an extensive manual file system for much of its document retrieval, since the law profession and most courts require and maintain "hard copy" for legal documents. There is some tendency to move toward electronic filing and maintenance of some documents (e-mail, internal correspondence, outgoing correspondence, internally generated and OCR scanned documents). However many electronically stored documents are maintained as hardcopy in manual filing systems. Retrieval accuracy of documents is highly sought after.</font> </p> <p><font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Filing Systems</b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica">The law firm interviewed has two major filing concepts in place. The first is a system that serves the everyday needs. The second is a portable file system that serves the lawyer in a deposition or, when they go to trial in a courtroom.</font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Main Filing System-Everyday Needs</b></font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">This system serves the practice's everyday storage and retrieval needs for the paper products that must be filed accurately for later retrieval. The major category in the file structure is keyed according to a "matter" number. This number represents the client or customer, and the "matter", or legal issue, they are working on for the client. The client is issued this number, primarily for billing purposes and, each job or "matter" is added to the last digits. As an example a number of 48316.04 would be representative of client # 48316 and the "matter" or issue is # 04. When the matter is opened, items start making their way to the sections of the file cabinets associated with that "matter" number. When a "matter" is closed, the entire "matter" file is placed in cardboard file boxes and removed to a long-term storage area.  The hierarchical structure used under the "matter" category and methods of organization are as follows:</font> </p> <p>  </p> <table border="1" cellpadding="7" width="90%" cols="2"> <tr> <td width="40%"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Category</b></font> </td> <td width="50%"><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Methods of organization</b></font> </td> </tr> </table> </li> </ul> <p align="center">  </p> <div align="center"><center><table border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" width="90%" height="100%"> <tr> <td valign="top" width="40%"><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Matter</i></b></font></li> </dir> </td> <td width="60%"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Labeled by Subject, client and matter #.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Correspondence</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Incoming and outgoing. Filed by date as you would in a pile. Find it by thumbing through the file.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="45%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Internal Correspondence</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Filed by date as you would in a pile. Find it by thumbing through the file.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Memoranda</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Phone logs, memos to others in law firm.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Legal Research Memos</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Research on a point of law or reports about a subject.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Investigations</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Filed by date as you would in a pile. Find it by thumbing through the file.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Attorney's Handwritten Notes</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Filed by date as you would in a pile. Find it by thumbing through the file. </font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Client Documents</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Documents given to attorneys for safekeeping. Filed by date as you would in a pile. Find it by thumbing through the file.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Pleadings</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Examples are filings with the court and orders from the court. These documents comprise anything to do with a court case that is handled by the court's clerk or by other attorneys associated with the case. Filed by date as you would in a pile. However, the legal document description and the date of the document are entered into a log, or index, that is placed in the front of this file category. This index is generated in a word processor and also electronically stored. The document is found by first going to the log and visually viewing it to locate the document. Find the associated date and browse the chronologically ordered file to retrieve it.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Production or Source Documents</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">These are documents that are supplied by the client or witnesses relating to the litigation "matter." They also may be supplied by opposing parties' witnesses. It is material relevant to a case. The document is assigned a "Bates" number and a barcode and stored in "Bates" numerical order in the file.  A paralegal is responsible for maintaining and controlling access to this file, unlike the rest of the "Main Filing System." These documents will later be used to make up a deposition file or courtroom portable file described in the "Trial/Courtroom File System" later in this document. Filed in "Bates" order. Find it by visually looking at the "Bates" number ordered list from the computer generated by searching on words, categories or keys originally entered into the database.</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="37%"><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Other</i></b></font></li> </ul> </td> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Filed by date as you would in a pile. Find it by thumbing through the file.</font></td> </tr> </table> </center></div><p>  </p> <ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">One of the firm's lawyers, who the project team interviewed, made an interesting comment. He stated that he sometimes files important documents in multiple places, for backup purposes, in case one gets lost in the file system or someone takes it out and doesn't return it to the file. There is apparently no way for someone to know who has a document out of the file. There is no document tracking system.</font> <p> <font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Trial/Courtroom File System-Portable</b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">A database, such as Microsoft Access, is used to index documents for a trial or deposition, since the documents must be readily accessible in real time fashion. The lawyer(s) participating in the courtroom proceeding or deposition give(s) a paralegal the items or his/her recollection of subject matter needed for the trial. It is the paralegal's responsibility to retrieve all documents requested and all documents associated with the subjects requested. The paralegal must further organize the documents into a portable file system for rapid retrieval in the courtroom or deposition environment. Retrieval must be in a matter of seconds.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Documents are assigned a sequential "Bates" number by the paralegal and labeled with a barcode. The document is barcode and OCR scanned into the computer and Information about the document is entered into database fields for later retrieval.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Documents are placed in a file box with file folders that are numbered sequentially by "Bates" number and indexed to the subject matter in the computer. The portable file is physically organized, according to witness, in separate boxes. The paralegal is the primary organizer of the file. It is painstaking and laborious work, especially since, files must be sought, retrieved and OCR scanned, to make up the portable file.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The "by witness" organization provides for faster accessing since, when a witness is on the stand, all the files for that witness are physically located in a limited number of boxes. A large trial may have 20 to 30 file boxes or more.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The primary user of the file in the courtroom or deposition is the same paralegal that made up the file. Their function is to support the courtroom or deposition attorney(s) with file documents. While a witness is being questioned, the paralegal is concurrently searching the database for documents based on the subjects of the questions. The paralegal retrieves (either electronically on the display screen or the physical paper) the appropriate document from the file.</font></p> </li> </ul> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">A newer file system uses outside firms to scan the source documents, which make up the portable files, with an OCR scanner. The image of the document will be stored electronically and printed, if needed, in the deposition or courtroom proceeding. The number of boxes of physical files is reduced. The software associated with these new vendors was described as an "enhanced word search." The software searches on key words from the OCR scan.</font> </li> </dir> <h1 align="left"><a name="User"><font color="#000000" face="Arial"><b>User Analysis</b></font></a></h1> <h1><font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Description of Users</b></font></h1> <ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The users are those personnel found in a legal office who perform the duties of maintaining the file system. These personnel are those with titles of Clerk, Secretary, Administrative Assistant and Paralegal. Others who may not maintain the system but may retrieve items from the system are titled Lawyers and Partners. Authority increases from left to right.</font></li> </ul> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b> </b></font><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Maintainers of the File System</b></font></li> </dir> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">These categories of users generally have at least a high school education, can use a word processor and are familiar with paper filing systems. Talent and experience will vary. This user maintains the file system, creating categories, making up file labels, filing documents, retrieving documents and cross referencing and entering documents into a database when necessary.</font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The Paralegal has a college education and is computer literate He/she is the most proficient user of the file system, especially in categorizing, indexing, entering documents into the database and retrieving them. The typing skill increases with higher level titles and thus, the data entry abilities at a keyboard. There is a variation of ability to categorize items for filing for later retrieval. There are differences in ability to remember categories of filed documents and where items were filed. The closer the person is to the entity requesting the filing, the more likely they are to relate to the category used in filing a document. The further away the person is from the entity requesting the filing, the less likely they are to remember the category and where filed. The person requesting the filing or, the maintainer closest to that person must determine the category to retrieve the document filed. This only works efficiently if the requestor and the filing person are informational closely coupled.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> </font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">Time plays an important factor in the accuracy of retrieval. The further away from the filing incident, that retrieval is requested, the harder it is to retrieve. In 1 year files could be in cardboard boxes in another building. Efficient file retrieval depends heavily on the talents of the filing or retrieving person.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> <b>Lawyers and Partners</b></font></p> </li> </dir> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">This category is pretty much dependent on the "maintainers" of the file system, since they don't relate to the locations of the documents in the filing system. When they do access the file system directly, it is a more laborious process. Even though these users are highly educated (law school being a post-graduate degree) and, in possession of a very good human memory retrieval system for the law and its associated facts and data, they lack the mappings to the proper locations of documents in the file system for retrieval purposes.</font></li> </dir> <p><font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Human Memory</b></font> </p> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">A major problem in life is retrieving information, or an item, you have placed somewhere. To retrieve either, you must first retrieve, in human memory, the physical location of, or a map to, the information or item. So, the problem of retrieving any piece of information or any item is one of first retrieving the information or storage location from the human memory. Therefore, any retrieval system, to be effective must be modeled after the retrieval system of the human memory. How does the human memory find information or storage locations of items? Our best attempt to explain this phenomenal human ability is to look at the way we remember. Our understanding today of this ability may be completely different tomorrow. So, with humbleness, we should allow for the ultimate flexibility to change our model on a moment's notice.</font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Work by E. Tulving in the early 60's concluded:</font> <br>   </p> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>"not only was the subject able to recognize more than he was able to recall, suggesting that he knew more than his recall indicates, but much more powerfully that the experimenter was able to use retrieval cues to manipulative the probability that an item would or would not be accessible to the subject" </i><sup><b><i>1</i></b></sup></font> <br>  </li> </dir> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">We polled a law firm, our project group and others to determine how they remembered pieces of information. What were their retrieval "cues." We comprised the following list:</font></p> </li> </dir> <ol> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Keys</i></b><b> -</b>a name or a number or description.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Context</i></b><b>-</b>the set of circumstances or facts that surround a piece of information or item, scenarios.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Time</i></b><b>-</b>when did it happen?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Location</i></b><b>-</b>where were you when it occurred?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Subject</i></b><b>-</b>what subjects were involved?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>People</i></b><b>-</b>what people were involved?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Event</i></b><b>-</b>what event were you at or the happening that the information occurred at?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Type</i></b><b>-</b>the set of categories or characteristics: report, letter, picture, memo, book, newspaper, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Visual</i></b><b>-Color-</b>shape, textures, patterns, movement, scenes, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Auditory</i></b><b>-</b>sounds, music, speech, noise, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Feel</i></b><b>-</b>shape, texture, pressure including sound, irritations, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Pain</i></b><b>-</b>physical, emotional.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Pleasure</i></b><b>-</b>physical, emotional.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Smell</i></b><b>-</b>fragrance, good, bad, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Taste</i></b><b>-</b>sweet, sour, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Intuition</i></b><b>-</b>undefined, sixth sense.</font></li> <li><br>  </li> </ul> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">In most cases we remember information utilizing these mappings. In other words, we do not go directly to the information in our memories, but indirectly through some stimulus or helper path.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">More infrequently, we possibly access the information directly in our memories, but most of the time we need helpers or "cues." We may not be conscious of them. This probably works similarly in short term and long term memory but because it is assumed that most information is stored in long term memory, mapping occurs most frequently in accessing information there.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">We believe a limited subset of these "cues" or human memory recall techniques apply to an office filing system of paper documents.  From the list above they are:</font> </p> <ul> <li>  </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Keys</i></b><b> -</b>A name or a number or description.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Context</i></b><b>-</b>The set of circumstances or facts that surround a piece of information or item, scenarios.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Time</i></b><b>-</b>When did it happen?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Location</i></b><b>-</b>Where were you when it occurred?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Subject</i></b><b>-</b>What subjects were involved?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>People</i></b><b>-</b>What people were involved?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Event</i></b><b>-</b>What event were you at or the happening that the information occurred at?</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Type</i></b><b>-</b>The set of categories or characteristics: report, letter, picture, memo, book, newspaper, etc.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Visual</i></b><b>-</b>Color, shape, textures, patterns, movement, scenes, etc.</font></li> </ul> </li> </ol> <p align="left"><a name="Task"><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial"><b>Task Analysis</b></font></a></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The task analysis technique chosen is <i>Task Decomposition</i> and in particular is a <i>Hierarchical Task Analysis</i>. The 2 major tasks chosen to analyze are the retrieval and storage of documents in the law firm's filing systems.Note that the entire file system is composed of 4 major subsystems: <i>Main Filing System-Everyday Needs, Main filing System-Everyday Needs-Pleadings, Main Filing System-Everyday Needs-Production and Source Documents, and Portable File.</i></font> </p> <p><font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Retrieval</b></font></p> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> request documents (Partner, Lawyer, Paralegal</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">clarify document request (description key words, categories, etc.)</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">determine major filing system location</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">associate request with possible location in Main Filing System-Everyday Needs, Main Filing System Everyday Needs -Pleadings, Main Filing System-Everyday Needs--Production and Source Documents, or Portable File.</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve documents from files (Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve documents from Main Filing System-Everyday</font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">Filing Needs (Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">associate request with possible categories ( i.e. attorney's notes, correspondence, etc. ) of document locations</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">determine most likely date of documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">associate categories and date with possible physical location</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate document</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">inquire in most likely category and date file</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not found, inquire in next most likely categories and so on until found</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve document</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not found, search next most probable major file system</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if all other major file systems searched, punt and prepare to report lost file to requesting party</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve document from Main Filing System-Everyday Filing Needs--Pleadings (Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate documents in list of documents at front of file or in word processor</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">determine dates of documents from list</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not found, search next most probable major file system</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if all other major file systems searched, punt and prepare to report lost file to requesting party</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve document from Main Filing System-Everyday Filing Needs--Production and Source Documents file (Paralegal)</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">associate request with possible categories of document locations</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter most likely categories (or AND combinations of categories) into search computer, as a word or field search, to generate a list of possible documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">find location of document from list produced</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">view produced list of suggested documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not in list, enter next most likely categories or key words (or AND combinations of categories or key words) as a word or field search, and so on, until found</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve documents</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">pull documents from files</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">scan barcode</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve electronically</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve electronically and print</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not found, search next most probable major file system</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if all other major file systems searched, punt and prepare to report lost file to requesting party</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve documents from Portable File (Paralegal)</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">associate request with possible categories of document locations</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter most likely categories (or AND combinations of categories) into search computer, as a word or field search, to generate a list of possible documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">find location of document from list produced</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">view produced list of suggested documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not in list, enter next most likely categories or key words (or AND combinations of categories or key words) as a word or field search, and so on, until found</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve documents</font></li> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">pull documents from files</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">scan barcode</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve electronically</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">retrieve electronically and print</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if not found, search next most probable major file system</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if all other major file systems searched, really punt and prepare to report lost file to requesting party</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">supply documents, electronic screen or printed documents to requestor</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">if unable to retrieve, report lost document to requestor and run</font></li> </dir> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">receive documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">fuss if documents not found</font></li> </dir> <p align="left"> <font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Storage</b></font> </p> <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">request documents' storage (Partner, Lawyer, Paralegal)</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">receive documents (Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">store documents ( Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">store documents in Main Filing System-Everyday Needs--Production and Source Documents in electronic and physical files and enter into location and descriptions into database (Paralegal)</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">encode documents</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">assign each document a "Bates" number (unique sequential number)</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">assign each document a barcode</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">scan each document barcode into computer</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">scan and OCR each document into computer</font></li> </ul> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter info about each document into database</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter "Bates" numbers into computer database for each document</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter keywords or multiword strings into database for each document</font></li> </ul> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">file documents by "Bates" number in sequential order in file</font></li> </ul> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">file documents in Main Filing System-Everyday Needs-- Pleadings physical storage and enter into manual and word processor list (Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">determine category or description of documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter category or description and date of documents into word processor list in chronological order</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">print new list</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">file documents in chronological date order in file</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">place list in front of file or replace old list with new list</font></li> </ul> </li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">file all other documents in Main Filing System-Everyday Needs that do not go in above files (Paralegal, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Clerk)</font></li> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">determine date of documents</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate storage area for documents based on major category (i. e. correspondence, attorney's handwritten notes, etc.)</font></li> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">file documents in sequential date order</font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </dir> <p><a name="User's Cognitive"><font size="5" face="Arial"><b>User's Cognitive Model of Existing System</b></font><font face="Arial"> </font></a></p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The model described here will be based on how a paralegal performs the duties of maintaining the completely manual filing date ordered system with no index (low-end system) and the portable one (high end system).</font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>The Main Filing System (manual version)</b></font></li> </ul> <p> </p> <div align="right"><table border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" width="92%"> <tr> <td valign="top"><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>store document</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>locate storage cabinet for the document</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify the "matter" number</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>find a correct section in file cabinet</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate a section for the matter</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">open the section</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>find file</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate files based on a classification of document</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>put the document in a file holder</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify date of the document insert into holder in chronological order</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>retrieve documents</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>locate storage for the document</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify the "matter" number</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify the classification of document</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify the date and/or subject</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>:</b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b> find the correct section in file cabinets</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate a section for the matter</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">open the section</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>find correct file holder</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate file holder based on classification of document</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>GOAL: fetch document</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">thumb through those files until date and/or subject identifies document</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> </table> </div><p>   </p> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Portable System</b></font></li> </ul> <p align="right">   </p> <div align="right"><table border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" width="92%"> <tr> <td valign="top"><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>create a file by witness</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify the matter number</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify the witness</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>find relevant documents</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">think of key words, subjects, document classifications and locations to search for documents</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">make a list of documents and classifications</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>retrieve documents</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Note: same as above</i></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>prepare documents for filing</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">stamp "Bates" number on document</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">put barcode on document</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>enter document into database</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">scan barcode into computer</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">OCR scan document into computer</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">enter all relevant info about document into computer </font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>place document in portable filing boxes</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate folders</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">put "Bates" number on folder</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">put "Bates" numbered document into same numbered folder</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>retrieve document</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify witness</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify subject by key word, subject or document classification</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>find document location</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">input key word, subject or document classification</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">visually scan list on screen</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify "Bates" number</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b>: <b>retrieve document</b></font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">determine if electronic or hard copy</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>: </b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>retrieve electronic view</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">fetch document to screen </font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>GOAL</b></font><b>:</b><font face="Arial,Helvetica"><b> retrieve hard copy</b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">locate box with correct range of "Bates" numbers</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">identify folder with "Bates" number</font>  <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">remove document from folder</font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </li> </dir> </td> </tr> </table> </div><p align="left"><a name="Usability"><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial"><b>Usability Criterion</b></font></a></p> <p align="left"><font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>HCI Issues</b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">In our examination of the problems associated with the law firm's filing systems we determined that the following HCI principles should be designed in any new system.</font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Learnability</b></font></li> </ul> <ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Learnability</i> is a measure of how hard it is for a new user to become proficient with the system. The old system does have the advantage of being easy to learn because it has been in existence for some time and users have experience with it from other companies and law firms. Our system must not reduce <i>learnability</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">We will attempt to maximize the principles of <i>Familiarity</i> and <i>Consistency</i>. The users presently use database systems. The <i>Familiarity</i> with those systems will provide for simple migration. <i>Predictability</i> will be required, since menu actions should be the same for all like searches, regardless of category or subject searched on.</font> </p> <p><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Flexibility</b></font></p> </li> </ul> <ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Flexibility</i> is a measure of how many different ways a user can accomplish a task. This will be one of the major areas of improvement in the new system. The old system was not flexible since, it made you follow one path (matter number, subject, date) to find a particular document. Our new system will offer many different paths, any of which can be used when trying to find a given document. In particular, <i>Dialog Initiative </i>should provide the user with a prompted search or allow the user the ability to initiate their method of search.</font></li> </ul> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Robustness</b></font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Robustness</i> is a measure of how much support we give the user to help him achieve his goals. There should be a rich environment of "cues" and methods for finding documents. <i>Observability</i> will be enhanced through extensive <i>browsability</i> through a menu of "cues." There were few "cues" in the old system. <i>Recoverability</i> will be a principal feature in the new system. The system will provide the ability to browse backwards and forwards, and directly jump to, any of the "cues" for further choices. The old system had some forward and backward browsing but the "cue" browsing was what you could </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>remember</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> rather than what you could </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial, Helvetica">recognize</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica">. The new system will aid you in </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>recognizing</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> "cues."</font> <br>   <br>  </p> </li> </ul> <h1 align="left"><a name="Proposal"><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial"><b>Proposed Criteria for a New Document</b></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial"><b> </b></font><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial"><b>Retrieval System</b></font></a></h1> <p align="left"><font color="#CC33CC" size="5" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>: a hunter of documents for the legal profession</b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica">We believe that the retrieval of filed documents can best be enhanced by aiding the user to </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial,Helvetica">recognize</font><font color="#FF6600" face="Arial,Helvetica"> </font><font face="Arial,Helvetica">categories, words, subjects and other mappings, uniquely associated with a document and the file system, rather than depending on a user to </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial,Helvetica">recall</font><font face="Arial,Helvetica"> them (see User Analysis, Human Memory). You can </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial,Helvetica">recognize</font><font face="Arial,Helvetica"> much more than you can </font><font color="#CC0000" face="Arial,Helvetica">recall</font><font face="Arial,Helvetica">, according to Tulving's work.<sup>1</sup></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica">The current file systems, in the law firm examined, have a number of advantages. A major advantage is its existence for over 10 years. Personnel are familiar with it. Other advantages are its similarity with other file systems in other law firms and corporations. New personnel can learn it quickly. Retrieval is quick for small systems, even in the "date organized" filing "piles." The newer Portable File uses a current database software package to quickly find documents.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica">The advantages of the system are still at the mercy of its main disadvantages. You must correctly file documents in a recallable location, relate the location of the document to the data entered, and be able to remember the recall keys (primarily numbers, dates and words) which you previously entered or were scanned from the document. Most documents have no tracking when removed from the file, which leads to lost items.</font> </p> <p><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica"> will addresses a major drawback of the file system: remembering the keys, categories or words that allow you to locate a document. </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica"> will operate on the principal or recognizing rather than recalling keys and categories. It will not preclude early recall, but will aid you in recognizing how you might recall. It will provide you with "cues." If the first attempt doesn't find the document, prompts and support structures will help you recall.</font> </p> <p><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica"> will have a hierarchical prompting menu what will continue to prompt you in the next most probable ways you might recall a document. You will recognize from the prompting that you can remember a name, or a meeting place or a subject that relates to the document. You might not have tried, without the prompt. In addition, you can view the hierarchy of the most probable recall techniques and go straight to one. For example, you may be able to recall a date quickly, and not need to go through 2 levels of prompts to find the document. You recognized, from the recall hierarchical structure, that the date could retrieve the document and you recalled it.</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica">When filing a document, the hierarchical prompting tree will aid in the correct choice of keys and field information for the database. This will help prevent slips in recalling keys or categories for later retrieval, since the same hierarchical model is used for storing and retrieving. </font> </p> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica">The learnability of </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica"> is expected to be high since, much of the organization of the existing file system will remain. Expert users, such as the Paralegal, are familiar with computers and database software. Physical organization of file folders and cabinets will be the same. Input devices for documents, such as scanners and OCR software, will remain the same.</font> <br> <font face="Arial,Helvetica"> </font> </p> <p><font size="5" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Usability Criteria Measurements</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> </font></p> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Learnability</b></font> <br>   <ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Consistency</i></b></font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">We will improve <i>Learnability</i> with </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial,Helvetica"> by <i>Consistency</i>.  As an example we will search for <u>all</u> documents the same way.  The documents will be searched for with the menu prompts in </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial,Helvetica"><b>.</b>  You will no longer be physically thumbing through a large file folder for one type of file, guessing words for a search in a different file, or looking at an index in the front of another file.</font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Measurement of Consistency</i></b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica">We will measure <i>Consistency </i>by having someone file 10 documents in each of the 4 different files, <i>Main Filing System-Everyday Needs, Main Filing System Everyday Needs -Pleadings, Main Filing System-Everyday Needs-Production </i>and Source Documents, or Portable File. We will then enter these same documents into the new system and time the difference in retrieval for 20 documents.</font></p> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <dir> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Flexibility</b></font> <br>   <dir> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Dialog Initiative</i></b></font></li> </dir> </li> </dir> <ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica">We will improve<i><u> </u></i><i>Flexibility</i> with </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> by <i>Dialog Initiative</i>. The depth of the prompting menu allows a user to go to a very deep level in trying to find documents as opposed to the previous electronic systems, which have you guess at information to search for it. </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face"><b>Beagle</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> will continue to suggest search criteria.</font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Measurement of Dialog Initiative</i></b></font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Dialog Initiative</i> will be measured by disabling the menu selections after the first two prompts or "cues" in searching for documents. This removes user flexibility of requesting more "cues." The user must now find by keyword. We will fix the amount of time the user has to find documents and count the documents foundbefore and after disabling.</font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>Robustness</b></font></li> </ul> <ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Observability</i></b></font></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li><ul> <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Observability</i> will improve the <i>Robustness</i> with </font><font color="#CC33CC" size="4" face="Baskerville Old Face">Beagle</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica">. For example, the menu has browsability. You can explore the depth of the menu selection from the beginning interface selections. You can bypass menu selected prompts or select any depth of the hierarchical menu tree.</font> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><b><i>Measurement of Observability</i></b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>Observability</i> will be measured by determining how many "cues" you must use to find 10 documents. We will compare the number of "cues" (words) to find the documents in the old system (electronic word search) versus the number of "cues" (menu choices) in the new system.</font></p> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p align="left"><a name="Reference"><font color="#000000" size="6" face="Arial, Helvetica"><b>References</b></font></a></p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">1.    Alan Baddeley. <i>Human Memory</i> (pp 194), Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1990</font>. <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">2.    Michael W. Eysenck, <i>Principals of Cognitive Psychology</i>, Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates</font> <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">        Ltd., 1993</font>. <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">3.    Donald A. Norman, <i>The Design of Everyday Things, New York, NY</i>: Doubleday, 1988.</font> <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">4.    Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd, Russell Beale, <i>Human-Computer Interaction</i>,</font> <br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica"><i>        Second Edition,</i> Hemel Hempstead, UK: Prentice Hall Europe, 1998</font>. <br> </p> <hr> <table border="0"> <tr> <td><font size="3" face="Arial"><b>Link to </b></font></td> <td><a href="index.html" target="home"><font size="3" face="Arial"><img src="gromit.gif" width="86" height="40"></font></a></td> <td><a href="index.html" target="home"><font color="#3333FF" size="3" face="Arial"><b>Project Notebook</b></font></a><font size="3" face="Arial"> </font></td> </tr> </table> <hr>  </body>