The process by which individuals (or organizations) create an understanding so that they can act in a principled and informed manner. Sensemaking tasks often involve searching for documents that are relevant for a purpose and then extracting and reformulating information so that it can be used. When a sensemaking task is difficult, sensemakers usually employ external representations to store the information for repeated manipulation and visualization. Sensemaking tasks inherently involve an embodiment as an actor (or actors), an environment, forms of knowing, and ways to work with what is known. Working can take different forms -- such as logical, metaphorical, physical, or image-based reasoning. See also external cognition.