These processes are not always addressed separately. For instance, many Internet search services combine the Capture, Organize, and Access processes. Intermediaries may concentrate on the Organize and Access processes, leaving the Create and Capture processes to information providers and the Discover and Use processes to end-users. The Create process consists of activities that produce information, typically using tools such as word processors, spreadsheets, e-mail software, CAD systems, database management systems, etc. The Capture process is composed of activities that enable the capture and representation of information in a structured form, including associated metadata that may be embedded, linked by reference, or provided contextually by the retrieval protocol.
Methods range from manual collecting to Web crawling.
For example, the metadata for a document could be manually created by an organization's librarian, or partially generated by a program analyzing the content to discern characteristics such as Title and Subject. Within the Organize process, tools for managing content and metadata may be as basic as file system management, or more specialized to support collaboration, workflow control, rights management, authentication, knowledge management, version maintenance, archiving, etc. The Access process consists of the activities that enable organized information to be queried, requested, and disseminated to searchers. The Discover process consists of the activity of locating information without specific foreknowledge of its particular characteristics. It includes tools by which people or software agents search or browse across variously organized collections of resources, from Web pages to libraries, museums, and data centers.