Fuse: In-Situ Sensemaking Support in the Browser

TL;DR

Fuse is a browser extension that supports in-situ sensemaking by externalizing users' working memory through a lightweight, card-based interface, facilitating content collection, organization, and review during web exploration.

Contribution

The paper introduces Fuse, a novel browser extension that enhances online sensemaking by integrating content collection and organization into a persistent, visual sidebar, with longitudinal deployment insights.

Findings

Users externalize more mental models into the system.

Fuse supports fast review and resumption of tasks.

Long-term deployment reveals evolving structuring behaviors.

Abstract

People spend a significant amount of time trying to make sense of the internet, collecting content from a variety of sources and organizing it to make decisions and achieve their goals. While humans are able to fluidly iterate on collecting and organizing information in their minds, existing tools and approaches introduce significant friction into the process. We introduce Fuse, a browser extension that externalizes users' working memory by combining low-cost collection with lightweight organization of content in a compact card-based sidebar that is always available. Fuse helps users simultaneously extract key web content and structure it in a lightweight and visual way. We discuss how these affordances help users externalize more of their mental model into the system (e.g., saving, annotating, and structuring items) and support fast reviewing and resumption of task contexts. Our 22-month public deployment and follow-up interviews provide longitudinal insights into the structuring behaviors of real-world users conducting information foraging tasks.