Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Searching for Your Information? Go PHLAT Out (25 Mar 2006) Large strides have been made in recent years toward helping people gain control of the wealth of information lodged within their computers. Windows Desktop Search represents one such advance. But that process is far from complete, and PHLAT aims to improve upon current technology via two methods: 1) blurring the distinction between searching and browsing, and 2) making it expedient to summon disparate types of relevant information by means of a simple, intuitive tagging system. “What I try to do,” Cutrell says, “is to better understand how people understand the world and how our brains let us function, so we can design the software to better match that, rather than trying to shape the people to match the software.” Another guiding observation behind the development of PHLAT is a thoughtful analysis of how to make the most of the mushrooming storage capabilities of PCs and mobile devices. “We use these adjunct memories,” Cutrell says, “and yet they don’t really work the way that our memories work. A lot of my work has been in trying to make getting back at your stuff more intuitive.” Add this article to Del.icio.us Article URL: http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=1415 Read 148 more articles from Microsoft sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: The Role of Sound in Electronic Literature          Books about Usability | Information Architecture | Information Visualisation | Technology History This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy

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