Presentation by Heather C. Ware. What is Personal Information Management (PIM) Personal Information...
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Transcript of Presentation by Heather C. Ware. What is Personal Information Management (PIM) Personal Information...
Personal Information Management (PIM)Presentation by Heather C. Ware
What is Personal Information Management (PIM)Personal Information Management (PIM)
refers to both the practice and the study of the activities a person performs in order to acquire or create, store, organize, maintain, retrieve, use, and distribute the information needed to complete tasks (work-related or not) and fulfill various roles and responsibilities (for example, as parents, employee, friend, or community member). (Jones, 453)
Types of PIM MediaE-mail
Documents (paper and electronic)
Web Bookmarks
Hand written notes (notebooks, post-its, etc…)
Files and folders
Requirements of a PIM SystemThey need to be flexible and adaptable
Each system will be unique because the users are deciding what information will be included
What might work for one person might not work for another
People do not necessarily file information in the same way they retrieve information
PIM FilingPeople use attributes of the information to create
names or titles to categorize informationIt is cognitively difficult to categorize informationContext is remembered more often than keywords
or titlesComputers and internet are creating easy access
to more information that needs to be filedInformation that cannot be found has usually
been misfiledBrowsing is the most common form of document
retrieval
Original ResearchMalone discovered that people organize their
desks not just to re-find information but also for reminders
The cognitive difficulty of filing causes many users to create piles of information rather than filing
People with “messy” offices with a lot of piles find it more difficult to retrieve information than people with “neat” offices
New ResearchElectronic file systems should not be based
on physical file systems due to different individual needs
Electronic PIM systems present their own challenges
Email and accessing multiple systems with different unsynchronized passwords is a user’s greatest PIM challenge
Phenomenon of EmailEmail contains highly varied information that
can be difficult to categorize and file
Email files structures have little in common with folder file structures
There is an increased use and dependence on email and it is regarded as an essential communication tool
Phenomenon of EmailEmail was created as an asynchronous
means of communicationEmail has been adapted as a PIM tool but is
causing information fragmentation because there is not support for these functions
Due to the amount of email received and due to it’s ephemeral nature it is often not filed
Information OverloadInformation overload happens when more
information needs to be processed than possible
Email and internet are the number one contributors to information overload
Inboxes can contain hundreds of messagesDue to the sheer volume of inboxes crucial
information can be overlooked
Information OverloadItems left in the inbox are readily accessible
and available whereas filing can mean the message falls out of mind
There are three types of email filersNo-Filers: keep everything in their inbox and
do not fileSpring-Cleaners: file occasionally when neededFrequent Filers: File aggressively leaving little
in the inboxes
Organizing FilesUsers organize information so it can be
retrieved at a later dateInformation is filed according to the type of
work they are doing and the information they are dealing with
File folders provide a visual representation of stored information
File folders are used as a make shift project manager
Folder hierarchies can be used across projects to create uniformity
Finding FilesPeople re-find information to:
Resolve a problemAnswer a questionAchieve a specific goal
To use a search engine people have to remember details about the file but people are not proficient at remembering detail thus leading people to browse
Finding FilesFinding behaviors for email are different than
behaviors for finding filesPeople generally know what information they
need to help them solve a problemThe sort feature is used in email making it
easier to search on contextual cuesThe most frequently remembered email trait
was the topic
Information ScrapsInformation scraps are notes written on post-
its, on corners of documents, put in pockets, or sent in email messages to ourselves
They are temporary storage, cognitive support, reminders, or recording of unusual data types
It is easier to jot down a person’s name and phone number on a post-it note than into a contact management system
Information ScrapsThe note to one’s
self is the most common information scrap
Scraps are loosely filed if filed at all
They are difficult to handle in large quantities
They tend to be short in nature
Information ScrapsPeople usually retain a good memory of the
meaning of the scrap
Once the scrap task is completed the scrap is discarded
Scraps allow for the avoidance of up front decision making and allows for the postponing of categorization
ProductsLifestreams provides a time-ordered stream
of informationStuff I’ve Seen (SIS) facilitates reuse by
providing a unified index of informationData Mountain allows users to place files
where they want allowing for better recallGoogle Desktop provides internet type
searching across a users desktop
ConclusionWe have learned what personal information
management is and how it applies to each of us individually as well as the strategies used to create, store, organize, maintain, retrieve, use and distribute our information