Categorization is Difficult: Use of an Electronic Notebook for Organizing Design Meeting Notes

Abstract

The electronic engineering notebook is a pen-based computer tool designed to capture engineering notes and to assist in structuring them to facilitate subsequent information access. Experiments were conducted in which free-form and fixed-form note-taking interfaces were compared with respect to capturing and structuring notes from a design meeting. Suitability of domain-based and user-defined terminologies for semantic structuring was also tested. Results from the experiment confirmed that a free-form interface was easier to use for note-taking and structuring notes than were forms with fixed structure. However, difficulties with applying semantic categorizations were observed in both types of interface. The results indicated that terminology should be chosen appropriately to a task, and that experienced users have less problems with applying it. The experiment also demonstrated high diversity in note-taking styles, thus highlighting the need to accommodate individual preferences in electronic notebooks.

Effect of Rearrangement and Annotation in Digitized Note on Remembrance

“…They compared three devices-paper, a PDA, and a Tablet PC-to determine what differences arose from the device being used. Gwizdka compared the effect of note-taking and post-labeling interfaces for note capturing and structuring during engineering design meetings, and found that the separation of input areas by category led to problems and that attaching pre-defined labels to free-form notes after the note-taking could cover more key points [8]. Though the process of our experiment was similar to this study, we focused on the rearrangement of lecture notes rather than engineering notes.…”