Walter A L Johnson

Bridging the paper and electronic worlds: the paper user interface

Since its invention millenia ago, paper has served as one of our primary communications media. Its inherent physical properties make it easy to use, transport, and store, and cheap to manufacture. Despite these advantages, paper remains a second class citizen in the electronic world. In this paper, we present a new technology for bridging the paper and the electronic worlds. In this new technology, the user interface moves beyond the workstation and onto paper itself. We describe paper user interface technology and its implementation in a particular system called XAX.

Protofoil: storing and finding the information worker's paper documents in an electronic file cabinet

Although the document imaging industry has taken off in the last few years, document image filing for the individual information worker is still not widespread or effective. In this paper, we focus on building an electronic tiling system for paper documents that supports the ad hoc, multifarious work of information workers. Motivated by interviews with researchers and a survey of descriptive studies of paper document filing, we have focussed on minimizing or delaying costs of document filing and supporting a rich variety of methods for accessing and using stored documents. We have implemented a prototype system called Protofoil for storing, retrieving, and manipulating paper documents as electronic images that integrates many user interface-paper and workstation—and information retrieval technologies. Protofoil has been tested through use in our laboratory. and has been deployed in a field study at a lawyer’s office.