This paper reports a study of Personal Information Management (PIM), which advances research in two ways: (1) rather than focusing on one tool, we collected cross-tool data relating to file, email and web bookmark usage for each participant, and (2) we collected longitudinal data for a subset of the participants. We found that individuals employ a rich variety of strategies both within and across PIM tools, and we present new strategy classifications that reflect this behaviour. We discuss synergies and differences between tools that may be useful in guiding the design of tool integration. Our longitudinal data provides insight into how PIM behaviour evolves over time, and suggests that the supporting nature of PIM discourages reflection by users on their strategies. We discuss how users may benefit if tools and organizations promote increased reflection on PIM.

This study deals with the problems users encounter in their daily work with computers and the typical practices that they employ. Sixteen daily computer users were interviewed about their habits and problems that they encountered during document classification and retrieval. For both these areas, we provide an overview of identified user practices and a citation-based analysis of the problems users encountered, including those related to the use of the screen real estate (the actual desktop). Two types of problems were identified: (1) Problems that concern the actual use of the system installed on the computer. (2) Problems that arise when people realise that they are using a system that does not allow for the desired work or organizational functions sought. We were able to show that skill continues to be an important factor with respect to the ease of using today’s systems. We suggest the following necessary improvements for the evolution of personal information systems: A storage facility that represents the user’s view of information; replacing pure technical file metadata with more user-friendly attributes; and introduction of annotations as a new information type.

1 Personal Information Management (PIM) is an activity in which an individual stores his\her personal information items in order to retrieve them later on. In a former article, we suggested the user-subjective approach, a theoretical approach proposing design principles with which PIM systems can systematically use subjective attributes of information items. In this consecutive paper, we report on a study that tested the approach by exploring the use of subjective attributes (project, importance and context) in current PIM systems, and its dependence on design characteristics. Participants were 84 personal computer users. Tools included a questionnaire (N=84), a semi-structured interview that was transcribed and analyzed (N=20), and screen captures taken from this sub-sample. Results indicate that participants tended to use subjective attributes when the design encouraged them to, however, when the design discouraged such use, they either found their own alternative ways to use them or refrained from using them altogether. This constitutes evidence in support of the user-subjective approach as it

In this paper we investigate information scraps – personal information where content has been scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on the corners of sheets of paper, stuck in our pockets, sent in e-mail messages to ourselves, and stashed in miscellaneous digital text files. Information scraps encode information ranging from ideas and sketches to notes, reminders, shipment tracking numbers, driving directions, and even poetry. Although information scraps are ubiquitous, we have much still to learn about these loose forms of information practice. Why do we keep information scraps outside of our traditional PIM applications? What role do information scraps play in our overall information practice? How might PIM applications be better designed to accommodate and support information scraps ’ creation, manipulation and retrieval? We pursued these questions by studying the information scrap practices of 27 knowledge workers at five organizations. Our observations shed light on information scraps ’ content, form, media and location. From this data, we elaborate on the typical information scrap lifecycle, and identify common roles that information scraps play: temporary storage, archiving, work-in-progress, reminding, and management of unusual data. These roles suggest a set of unmet design needs in current PIM tools: lightweight entry, unconstrained content, flexible use and adaptability, visibility, and mobility.

In the following we will describe experiences made when introducing a shared workspace in a German federal ministry to support the cooperative typing of documents. It will be shown how the shared workspace improved the typing process, how storing and retrieval conventions evolved during a two-year period, and which technical improvements of the system functionality have been required by the users to ease document retrieval. Finally, it will be discussed which organizational and technical factors support the establishment of common storing and retrieving conventions in shared workspaces. KEYWORDS Groupware, Shared Workspaces, Classification Scheme, Document Retrieval, Field Study 1. INTRODUCTION As the production of documents is increasingly based on the application of personal computers, storage and retrieval of electronic documents is an important research topic. Nevertheless, studies on storing and retrieval habits of office employees have focused up to now mainly on the handling ...

Users find it hard to delete unimportant personal information which often results in cluttered workspaces. We present a full design cycle for GrayArea, a novel interface that allows users to demote unimportant files by dragging them to a gray area at the bottom of their file folders. Demotion is an intermediate option between keeping and deleting. It combines the advantages of deletion (unimportant files don‟t compete for attention) and keeping (files are retrieved in their folder context). We developed the GrayArea working prototype using thorough iterative design. We evaluated it by asking 96 participants to „clean ‟ two folders with, and without, GrayArea. Using GrayArea reduced folder clutter by 13%. Further, 81 % of participants found it easier to demote than delete files, and most indicated they would use GrayArea if provided in their operating systems. The results provide strong evidence for the demotion principle suggested by the user-subjective approach. Author Keywords Personal information management, files, demotion,

überarbeitet werden. Die Autoren sind deshalb für kritische Hinweise dankbar. Alle Rechte vorbehalten, insbesondere die der Übersetzung, des Nachdruckes, des Vortrags, der Entnahme von Abbildungen und Tabellen – auch bei nur auszugsweiser Verwertung. The “Arbeitsberichte aus dem Fachbereich Informatik “ comprise preliminary results which will usually be revised for subsequent publication. Critical comments are appreciated by the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means or translated. Arbeitsberichte des Fachbereichs Informatik

this paper, I define a role as a life role: for example, doctor, student, scoutmaster, professor, member of a professional organization, etc. These roles may or may not map to specific email addresses. Within the context of email, role and identity are often conflated, particularly since people tie identities to roles that are in turn tied to an email address. No guarantees of transitivity exist for any combination of role, identity or email address, meaning that you cannot rely on an address to map to a particular role or identity or vice versa

In order to accommodate the increasing diversity of email users, applications have evolved in both functionality and user interface. In this study, we attempt to determine whether email user interfaces can be improved to serve a specific target population: college students. We present our results from college campus surveys that examine email usage patterns and subjective experiences among college students. From our survey feedback and related research, we conclude that email overload and feature intimidation are the greatest hindrances to email communication on campus. To address these problems, we propose employing role management to organize messages calendar and contacts in an email program for students, using school, work and family roles. We describe a prototype and user reactions. Our conclusion is that role management, integrated into email software, may help college students manage their email more effectively.

desktop tools for enhanced file and email management that are based on the X-COSIM semantic desktop framework. They are implemented as extensions for an email client and file manager, specifically designed to enhance support for the personal information managment tasks of information organization and re-finding. 1.