  Researchers need to keep up with immense literatures, though it is
time-consuming and difficult to do so. In this paper, we investigate the role
that intelligent interfaces can play in helping researchers skim papers, that
is, rapidly reviewing a paper to attain a cursory understanding of its
contents. After conducting formative interviews and a design probe, we suggest
that skimming aids should aim to thread the needle of highlighting content that
is simultaneously diverse, evenly-distributed, and important. We introduce
Scim, a novel intelligent skimming interface that reifies this aim, designed to
support the skimming process by highlighting salient paper contents to direct a
skimmer's focus. Key to the design is that the highlights are faceted by
content type, evenly-distributed across a paper, with a density configurable by
readers at both the global and local level. We evaluate Scim with an in-lab
usability study and deployment study, revealing how skimming aids can support
readers throughout the skimming experience and yielding design considerations
and tensions for the design of future intelligent skimming tools.
