I've known about this for a while, and it's certainly not a new publication, but it has some relevance to ongoing discussions.

"Abstract: Conventional software systems, such as those based on the "desktop metaphor," are ill-equipped to manage the electronic information and events of the typical computer user. We introduce a new metaphor, Lifestreams, for dynamically organizing a user's personal workspace. Lifestreams uses a simple organizational metaphor, a time-ordered stream of documents, as an underlying storage system. Stream filters are used to organize, monitor and summarize information for the user. Combined, they provide a system that subsumes many separate desktop applications. This paper describes the Lifestreams model and our prototype system."

Lifestreams: A Storage Model for Personal Data - Eric Freeman, David Gelernter