Folder Window as Canvas

Abstract

In this paper we argue that already minimal additions to the operating system’s folder window, are able to significantly enhance the quality of the users’ Personal Knowledge Management, if they are leaning towards a certain style of cognitive and working preferences that embraces associations or connections among the concepts, documents, or “topics”. Drawing upon empirical experiences with a prototypical lightweight user interface, we propose a filebrowser implementation as well as a subsequent user study involving people who expose preferences of spatial visualizers.