March 29, 2005: Peter nicely uses the idea of document genres (from library science) to explain why certain information tasks work better in certain UI contexts. I think, as one of the comments suggests, that it's important to analyze tasks at the right level of granularity when evaluating the importance of things like portability or trust, but it's really a useful model for considering the relationship between task and presentation. It's also a helpful way to explain to information architects and librarians why graphic design is important to usability.