Desktop Computing - Distributed Cognition in a Tax Office

Abstract

Based on a detailed study of the use of representations in a tax assessment process, this paper presents an analysis of the use of the physical desktop and of paper documents, files and electronic information. This analysis challenges the ways in which the computer desktop is designed and used normally, and we present a number of challenges to user interface design. Taking these seriously, means to revisit several taken-for-granted elements of the current WIMP regime: the randomly overlapping windows on a non-structured background; the lack of traces of time and past location; and the individualised and non-activity-oriented set-up of the desktop.