Bundles in the Wild: Managing Information to Solve Problems and Maintain Situation Awareness

THISAKTICLE DESCRIBES HOW EXPERTS CREATE and use bundbs-organized, highly selective collections of information-to help solve problems and maintain situation awareness. In field observations of expert clinicians caring for patients in critical care units, bundles appear to be a widely used means of managing information to support diverse, complex, and often simultaneous tasks. They may be especially useful in settings that are characterized by high uncertainty, low predictability, frequent interruptions, and potentially grave outcomes; where time and attention are highly constrained; and where interdisciplinary teamwork is essential. Reports of analogous observations from other domains such as aviation and air traffic control suggest that bundles may be a common information management tool for solving problems and maintaining situation awareness. In an age of digital libraries, computer-based tools for creating and managing bundles may be useful as the information in these settings is increasingly represented in digital collections that are larger, more complex, more diverse, and potentially more difficult to explore and manipulate. Paul Gorman, Joan Ash, Mary Lavelle, Jason Lyman, Oregon Health Sciences University, 3181 Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97201-3098 Lois Delcambre, David Maier, Mathew Weaver, Shawn Bowers, Oregon GI-aduate Institute of Science and Technology, 20000 N.W. Walker Road, Beaverton, OR 97006 LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 49, No. 2, Fall 2000, pp. 266-289 02001 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois GORMAN ET AL./BUNDLES I N THE WILD 26’1