Studies have shown that users of common desktop systems
have difficulty organizing and finding information
within hierarchical file systems,
managing schedules and reminders,
making use of archived information, which users
normally discard so they aren't overwhelmed by it,
getting a big picture, and integrating
with outside information sources.
Lifestreams is a system designed to address these problems.
Lifestreams uses a simple organizational metaphor,
a time ordered stream of documents,
to replace conventional files and directories.
Stream filters and software agents
are used to organize, locate, summarize, and monitor
incoming information.
Lifestreams is a system capable of subsuming
many separate desktop applications to accomplish
the most common tasks, such as communication, scheduling,
and search and retrieval.
Our current Lifestreams interface presents the user
with a receding stream of documents
starting with the present and receding into the past.
Document creation dates are displayed beside the document.
The user can browse a stream by moving the mouse button
over the stream, receiving a glance view of what
is in the document.
The user can open any document for editing or viewing
by clicking on the document.
We use mine tagged documents and helper applications
to allow users to edit and view documents with applications
they are already familiar with.
Visual cues are used to denote various attributes
of documents.
For instance, writable documents are
denoted by dark borders and unread documents
with red borders.
Lifestreams stores all the electronic documents
you create and collect.
For example, incoming email is automatically
appended to the stream.
Email arrives, moving the other documents back into the past
and eventually moving them out of view,
effectively archiving documents automatically.
The user may also create new documents
by either pressing New or cloning an existing document
by first selecting the document and then pressing the Clone
button.
The new cloned document is added to the stream,
ready for the user to edit.
The user can also transfer documents to other users
through the Transfer button.
In this case, Lifestreams assumes
the user is replying to the sender of the message.
Lifestreams organizes documents through queries on the fly.
These queries will result in substreams,
which contain all the documents that are relevant to the search
query.
Substreams continue to collect incoming documents that match
the query that created them.
A list of existing substreams is kept in the substreams menu.
Substreams may also be created incrementally
by substreaming from substreams.
In this example, we create a new substream
from the previous substream.
Doing so results in a set of nested menus.
Because documents can exist in overlapping substreams,
this is not the same as a hierarchical file system.
Substreams persist until the user explicitly removes them.
Substreaming acts as both an organizational framework
and as an inexpensive way of finding information.
By default, Lifestreams presents the user
with a view of the stream from the present receding
into the past.
A Lifestream also contains a future portion,
which is accessible but usually hidden from view.
The Lifestreams interface contains a clock
that displays the current time.
This time may be temporarily reset to the future
to observe the future part of the stream.
Here the user is dialing two months into the future.
Note that the clock has changed to red to indicate that we
are no longer in the present.
Notice the new set of documents now
on the stream with dates that are in the future.
When the user dials back to the present,
future documents are again hidden from view.
When the time of a future document
passes into the present, the document
arrives at the user stream just as if new mail had arrived.
Future documents can be used for reminding and scheduling.
We've added the functionality to deposit documents
in the future in one step.
For example, if we add a document one
minute in the future, then the document
should appear before this demo is over.
Lifestreams allows users to summarize information
by squishing a substream down into an overview.
An overview document could summarize any aspect
of a person's electronic life.
A log of phone calls, a summary of correspondence,
or a report of your financial status.
We've implemented a few initial summarize operations.
In this example, we demonstrate the portfolio summary.
The user selects a portfolio substream.
This stream contains daily closing prices
of the securities in our imaginary portfolio.
By summarizing the documents in the substream,
the user squishes the data into a historical chart showing
each security's performance.
Summarize operations allow users to distill the information
in a large number of similar documents
into a single overview.
Lifestreams can also be used to integrate information
from the outside world.
Here the user chooses a substream
that contains web bookmarks.
Clicking on a bookmark brings up a web browser
that will open the chosen URL.
The user may also add a bookmark within the browser, which
results in a new document being added to the bookmark
substream.
If another user mails a bookmark,
it will also be added to the stream.
Lifestreams is a new metaphor for managing
our electronic lives.
As we have seen, it allows users to organize and find
information, manage schedules and reminders,
make use of archived information, get a big picture,
and integrate with outside information sources.