Managed Forgetting to Support Information Management and Knowledge Work

Trends like digital transformation even intensify the already overwhelming mass of information knowledge workers face in their daily life. To counter this, we have been investigating knowledge work and information management support measures inspired by human forgetting. In this paper, we give an overview of solutions we have found during the last five years as well as challenges that still need to be tackled. Additionally, we share experiences gained with the prototype of a first forgetful information system used 24/7 in our daily work for the last three years. We also address the untapped potential of more explicated user context as well as features inspired by Memory Inhibition, which is our current focus of research.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, preprint, final version to appear in KI - K\"unstliche Intelligenz, Special Issue: Intentional Forgettin

Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo Basin peatland complex

Peatlands are carbon-rich ecosystems that cover just three per cent of Earth's land surface, but store one-third of soil carbon. Peat soils are formed by the build-up of partially decomposed organic matter under waterlogged anoxic conditions. Most peat is found in cool climatic regions where unimpeded decomposition is slower, but deposits are also found under some tropical swamp forests. Here we present field measurements from one of the world's most extensive regions of swamp forest, the Cuvette Centrale depression in the central Congo Basin. We find extensive peat deposits beneath the swamp forest vegetation (peat defined as material with an organic matter content of at least 65 per cent to a depth of at least 0.3 metres). Radiocarbon dates indicate that peat began accumulating from about 10,600 years ago, coincident with the onset of more humid conditions in central Africa at the beginning of the Holocene. The peatlands occupy large interfluvial basins, and seem to be largely rain-fed and ombrotrophic-like (of low nutrient status) systems. Although the peat layer is relatively shallow (with a maximum depth of 5.9 metres and a median depth of 2.0 metres), by combining in situ and remotely sensed data, we estimate the area of peat to be approximately 145,500 square kilometres (95 per cent confidence interval of 131,900-156,400 square kilometres), making the Cuvette Centrale the most extensive peatland complex in the tropics. This area is more than five times the maximum possible area reported for the Congo Basin in a recent synthesis of pantropical peat extent. We estimate that the peatlands store approximately 30.6 petagrams (30.6 × 10(15) grams) of carbon belowground (95 per cent confidence interval of 6.3-46.8 petagrams of carbon)-a quantity that is similar to the above-ground carbon stocks of the tropical forests of the entire Congo Basin. Our result for the Cuvette Centrale increases the best estimate of global tropical peatland carbon stocks by 36 per cent, to 104.7 petagrams of carbon (minimum estimate of 69.6 petagrams of carbon; maximum estimate of 129.8 petagrams of carbon). This stored carbon is vulnerable to land-use change and any future reduction in precipitation

Elektrophysiologische Korrelate des speicherverbesserten Gedächtnisses: Erforschung von Ähnlichkeiten zum Listenmethode-gesteuerten Vergessen

Menschen lagern regelmäßig Teile ihres Speichers auf externe Speicher wie Computer oder Smartphones aus. Ein solches kognitives Offloading kann die spätere Gedächtnisleistung verbessern, was auf den Saving-Enhanced Memory-Effekt [Storm & Stone, 2015] bezogen wird. Saving-enhanced memory: Die Vorteile des Sparens beim Lernen und Erinnern neuer Informationen. Psychologische Wissenschaft, 26 (2), 182-188]. Die kognitiven Mechanismen dieses Effekts sind bis heute nicht geklärt, es wurden jedoch Ähnlichkeiten mit dem List-Method Directed Forgetting (LMDF) festgestellt. Hier untersuchten wir bei 52 Teilnehmern die elektrophysiologischen (EEG) Korrelate des speicherverstärkten Gedächtniseffekts und verglichen unsere Ergebnisse mit früheren LMDF-Befunden [Hanslmayr et al., 2012. Präfrontal getriebene Downregulation der neuralen Synchronie vermittelt zielgerichtetes Vergessen.Journal of Neuroscience , 32 (42), 14742-14751]. Zu diesem Zweck wurden EEG-Alphaleistung und Alpha-Phasensynchronität bei der Kodierung zweier Wortlisten in Abhängigkeit von Speichern oder Nicht-Speichern verglichen. Wir stellten die Hypothese auf, dass, wenn das Speichern von erweitertem Speicher mit LMDF zusammenhängt, das Speichern im Vergleich zum Nicht-Speichern zwischen Listen die Alpha-Leistung und die Alpha-Phasensynchronität während der Kodierung von Liste 2 reduzieren sollte, zwei Effekte, die mit den Vorteilen der Kodierung von Liste 2 und der Hemmung von Liste 1 in Zusammenhang stehen in der früheren LMDF-Arbeit. Die Ergebnisse zeigten keinen statistisch signifikanten speicherverstärkten Gedächtniseffekt und keine signifikanten Auswirkungen auf die EEG-Alpha-Leistung oder die Alpha-Phasensynchronität. Mögliche Erklärungen und Implikationen dieser nicht signifikanten Befunde werden diskutiert

Intentional Forgetting in Socio-Digital Work Systems:System Characteristics and User-related Psychological Consequences on Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior

Future work environments offer numerous technical applications to manage increasing amounts of information for organizations, teams, and individuals. Psychological concepts of intentional forgetting (IF) can be applied to improve the performance of work systems or to extend cognitive capacities of humans in technical systems. Different IF mechanisms have been suggested for assisting technology-aided IF, such as: (1) filtering of irrelevant or distressful information (e.g., by suppressing, deleting, or selecting), (2) delegating tasks from human to digital agents, changing roles, and reorganizing socio-digital work systems, or (3) systematic (re-)placement of retrieval cues or triggers to generate or suppress behavior. Due to these different underlying IF mechanisms, the implementation of IF at individual, team, and organizational level will differ substantially between work areas or systems. In order to gain a better understanding of how socio-digital applications of IF impact human behavior and reactions, it is necessary to (a) differentiate between relevant characteristics of socio-digital IF systems and (b) gain an understanding of how these characteristics impact users’ attitudes and performance. Thus, the present paper aims to classify and compare these characteristics of different applications of IF and introduces variables and methods to study psychological effects on users’ behavior, experience, and affective reactions

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Associated with COVID-19: An Emulated Target Trial Analysis

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