Keeping and re-finding information on the web: What do people do and what do they need?
Abstract This study (Keeping Found Things Found ‐KFTF) investigated the methods that people use in their workplace to re‐access web information. People were observed using many different methods to keep web information for later use including the use of Bookmarks (or Favorites), self‐addressed email, hand‐written notes, and paper print‐outs. Each keeping method provided a range of functions but none of the observed methods allowed for all desired functions. Participants in the KFTF study were also tested for their ability to return to a web site and several re‐finding methods were observed and identified. When prompted with web site descriptions they had generated three to six months earlier, participants had a 95% or better success rate in returning to the cued‐for web sites. Moreover, two thirds of these re‐finding methods required no explicit keeping behavior. Common re‐finding methods included the use of: 1.) A search service. 2.) Partial completion of a site's web address and acceptance of a suggested completion to this address (the auto‐complete function). 3.) Hyperlinks from another web site. Results underline the importance of a reminding function. This paper also reports the data collected from a web survey conducted after the keeping and re‐finding observations. 214 participants completed the survey. The data from the survey validated and elaborated the various methods that people use to keep web information for later re‐use that were identified in earlier observational studies.