User Study
Once, nearly all office information existed on paper. Today, it comes in many incompatible forms such as computer databases, e-mail, faxes, and images. Electronic information is easier to store and retrieve, but it typically means learning many different computer applications. What was supposed to make workers more productive has instead made simple office tasks more complicated. Our designers shadowed office workers, sketched their spaces, and asked lots of questions — turning users into designers. We used our sketches as tools to elicit real-time feedback: “Why do you pile papers over there?” and “How do you find things that are important?” At one point, we coded and scanned every document that came into MAYA before it hit our desks so that we could gauge the effort and procedures required for a paperless office.
Information Architecture
MAYA sees information systems evolving from being application-centric to document-centric, and soon, to information-centric. We designed Workscape to support all types of electronic information in a consistent way. Users had to be able to work with hundreds of documents at once. It had to be simple and intuitive — part of the fabric of everyday work.
System Architecture
MAYA developed Workscape by using sophisticated data structuring and software engineering — rather than simple interface tricks and tweaks — to free users from the trappings and limitations of typical computer interfaces.
“… the first example of a 3D spacial layout of documents under a user’s control.” – George Robertson, Microsoft
Interface
Based on an intuitive, three-dimensional interface, Workscape lets people organize their electronic workspaces in the same simple ways they organize their physical workspaces, even allowing them to use “sticky notes” and to create “piles.” Our prototypes acknowledged our natural instincts about spatial organization, reflected in a comment made by one of the people we studied that “where it is, is what it is.” People can easily view, organize, move, annotate, and search for hundreds of documents, moving them forwards or backwards in space.
Results
Our work for Digital resulted in more than 10 patents and inspired Xerox PARC, Intel Architecture Labs, Microsoft, and others who are researching new possibilities for collaborative virtual workspaces. We conducting further advanced research into this area for the government, and it led us to create a profitable spin-off company called MAYA Viz (now part of General Dynamics).