Welcome to the virtual MyLifeBits demo.
Please read along and click on the thumbnails to watch the video clips.
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Many types of data in one unified store The goal of my MyLifeBits is to be a lifetime store of everything - at least everything we can possibly digitize. Here we see some of the different types in MyLifeBits. Note that each type has different attributes. |
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| Item history Any additional information we can add to media is helpful. For example, knowing the history of how an item is used can be useful |  |
| "It's just bits until its annotated" The very best, however, is getting the user to say something about it. Here an obscure photo becomes much more valuable by having 6 words typed about it |  |
| Annotations as family heirlooms Those 6 words give us 6 search terms, which is great. However, annotations are intrinsically valuable. Here, we hear the voice annotation Gordon Bell's sister discussing an old family photo. Even if we never got any search terms from this, the comments are very valuable - they are family heirlooms! We want to create software that will lead to more annotations being created. We know that creating annotations can be seen as a chore and do not want to be realistic. We know that if you only annotate 1% of your media now that we would be lucky to make it 2% - and feel very proud to have caused this increase in such valuable information. We also do not think it is hopeless to aim to cause more annotations. One thing that encouraged this optimism was observing that our photo files used to have names like DFCA0087.jpg - that's the name the camera gave them and we couldn't be bothered to change them. Then we upgraded to Windows XP, and its photo wizard started asking "what do you want to call all these files?" Since it asked at the moment when we felt inclined to give information, and made it easy to say something about a large number of photos at once, our photos now get names. We also observed that when our photo screensavers run, family members talk about them; there is not lack of annotation, just a lack of capture of that annotation! So, our approach to making more annotation happen is to allow annotation at the moment the user feels like it, in the mode they feel like using. |  |
| Archiving web pages we visit For example, in the browser, the time to annotate is usually when you are viewing the web page. Every web page we visit we keep a copy of (not just the URL; the entire page). While visiting the page, we can mark it is as noteworthy, or create annotations. Audio annotations have silence automatically removed so as to be zeor-edit. This also means you can surf the web and just speak whenever you want to annotate. Text annotations can be "applied until turned off", if you like, so that all the pages in an entire browsing session are annotated. |  |
| Collections In most file systems, the following concepts are all jammed into a file name: display string, identifier, physical storage location, hierarchical organization by the user. We split these apart, letting you give an item any display string you like, generating a GUID (never seen), and letting you organize in a hierarchy - with filing in more than one place. To distinguish from folders, we call our organization collections. This clip shows us adding an item to several collections. |  |
| Saved queries While collections are useful, it turns out that many things you used to use folders for are better done in new ways in MyLifeBits. For example, rather than having a folder for pictures taken in August 2003, we just save a search that finds photos with this attribute. No more misfiling - no need to file at all! |  |
| Photo of event Here is another example: a folder meant to be of photos of a wedding reception (you will see a few shots of the dog were filed there too, as the user was too lazy at the time to distinguish). Instead, photos with matching timestamps can be linked to the calendar event. This turns your old calendar into a photo diary. |  |
| Reports Sometimes you just want to understand what you have better. Because everything is in a database, it is easy to generate reports about your material. Here we start with a report of which TV channels we are actually watching. Then we bring up a report of how many files of different types there are. Finally, we ask for a plot of emails containing the text "mylifebits" versus time. |  |
| Search & refine Naturally, MyLifeBits supports full-text search. But full text search is often not enough. For example, Jim remembered that in an email thread about storage "that guy said that really cool thing." Searching for "storage" produces a lot of hits. But by refining to email, and then looking at a list of people sorted in descending order of frequency, he was able to spot the name and remember who it was. |
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Following links and pivoting on time Another example going beyond full-text search is this: suppose Gordon has a telephone conversation with his real estate agent, and she tells him to look at the web page of a comperable property. He views it while they discuss it. A few months later, he wants to look at this page again. But a search for "home" or "real estate" gets way too many hits. So, he looks up his real estate agents contact entry, and finds the recorded telephone call that has been linked to this contact based on the number in caller-ID. Gordon has recorded this call, so he could listen to it again, but he doesn't need to: he can just ask MyLifeBits what overlaps with this call in time and find the web page (which he has a copy of, even though it is no longer on the web, the house being sold). |
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| Refine by classification We are also experimenting with classifications as a way to narrow in on what you want. Classifications are like collections, but the idea is that you download them (or get them from a friend) rather than create them yourself. Classification entries have synonyms and definitions to help you find what you want. Here, after a search on my Dentist's name (removed from the demo for privacy reason) yields a number of hits, we can narrow in on bills, statements or invoices. |  |
| Location-based UI Another way to find things is by location. This map (courtesy of the WWMX team) shows pink dots for GPS location points, and red dots for the location of photos. Hovering over a photo location shows a thumbnail of the photo. We segment the trips by time, and added animation so that you can replay a trip. |  |
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SenseCam “When I had my first child, I bought a camera and took many pictures” said a friend, “but eventually I realized I was living behind the camera and no longer taking part in special events. I gave that up – now I don’t have nearly as many pictures of my second child.” Nearly every one can identify with this story. There is a strong demand for capture of life experiences, whether in photos, videos, or written accounts. However, few people want to miss the experience in order to be the camera operator. Furthermore, many people who have stuck with photography, and especially digital photography, have ended up feeling overwhelmed by their large collection of photos, and only get enjoyment from a chosen few that are selected for albums. The SenseCam allows photos to be captured automatically using sensors to trigger picture-taking. Here we show SenseCam data that has been imported into MyLifeBits. The sensor readings are plotted and corresponding photos can be displayed. |
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Timeline Timeline of web pages from 2003. The chart at the bottom indicates the distribution in time. Note the gap in the middle which corresponds to the time since last backup when a hard drive failed. |
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| Web archive search Here we show searching the web archive for "cyberall". Note that we know the date the page was visited, and the amount of time spent on the page. We can view large thumbnails in which text is usually readable. Once we open the archived version of the page, there are toolbar buttons that let us open the archived copies of pages visited just before and just after this page, along with thumbnails of those pages - this allows us to relive a trail covered through the World Wide Web - just like Vannevar Bush imagined. |  |
