Family memories in the home: contrasting physical and digital mementos

We carried out fieldwork to characterise and compare physical and digital mementos in the home. Physical mementos are highly valued, heterogeneous and support different types of recollection. Contrary to expectations, we found physical mementos are not purely representational, and can involve appropriating common objects and more idiosyncratic forms. In contrast, digital mementos were initially perceived as less valuable, although participants later reconsidered this. Digital mementos were somewhat limited in function and expression, largely involving representational photos and videos, and infrequently accessed. We explain these digital limitations and conclude with design guidelines for digital mementos, including better techniques for accessing and integrating these into everyday life, allowing them to acquire the symbolic associations and lasting value that characterise their physical counterparts

Surviving the Information Explosion: How People Find Their Electronic Information

We report on a study of how people look for information within email, files, and the Web. When locating a document or searching for a specific answer, people relied on their contextual knowledge of their information target to help them find it, often associating the target with a specific document. They appeared to prefer to use this contextual information as a guide in navigating locally in small steps to the desired document rather than directly jumping to their target. We found this behavior was especially true for people with unstructured information organization. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of personal information management tools

Information scraps: how and why information eludes our personal information management tools

In this paper we describe information scraps -- a class of personal information whose content is scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on corners of random sheets of paper, buried inside the bodies of e-mail messages sent to ourselves, or typed haphazardly into text files. Information scraps hold our great ideas, sketches, notes, reminders, driving directions, and even our poetry. We define information scraps to be the body of personal information that is held outside of its natural or We have much still to learn about these loose forms of information capture. Why are they so often held outside of our traditional PIM locations and instead on Post-its or in text files? Why must we sometimes go around our traditional PIM applications to hold on to our scraps, such as by e-mailing ourselves? What are information scraps' role in the larger space of personal information management, and what do they uniquely offer that we find so appealing? If these unorganized bits truly indicate the failure of our PIM tools, how might we begin to build better tools? We have pursued these questions by undertaking a study of 27 knowledge workers. In our findings we describe information scraps from several angles: their content, their location, and the factors that lead to their use, which we identify as ease of capture, flexibility of content and organization, and avilability at the time of need. We also consider the personal emotive responses around scrap management. We present a set of design considerations that we have derived from the analysis of our study results. We present our work on an application platform, jourknow, to test some of these design and usability findings

How People Re-find Information When the Web Changes

This paper investigates how people return to information in a dynamic information environment. For example, a person might want to return to Web content via a link encountered earlier on a Web page, only to learn that the link has since been removed. Changes can benefit users by providing new information, but they hinder returning to previously viewed information. The observational study presented here analyzed instances, collected via a Web search, where people expressed difficulty re-finding information because of changes to the information or its environment. A number of interesting observations arose from this analysis, including that the path originally taken to get to the information target appeared important in its re-retrieval, whereas, surprisingly, the temporal aspects of when the information was seen before were not. While people expressed frustration when problems arose, an explanation of why the change had occurred was often sufficient to allay that frustration, even in the absence of a solution. The implications of these observations for systems that support re-finding in dynamic environments are discussed

Impact de l\u27organisation des documents électroniques sur l\u27interprétation de l\u27information organique et consignée dans un contexte décentralisée

Intervention au colloque "Le numérique : impact sur le cycle de vie du document", organisé à l\u27université de Montréal par l\u27EBSI et l\u27ENSSIB du 13 au 15 octobre 2004. Dans un contexte de gestion documentaire décentralisée, l\u27organisation des documents électroniques est sous le contrôle direct des employés. Il est reconnu que ces derniers organisent ces documents électroniques selon des critères très personnels qui sont le plus souvent incompréhensibles pour les autres employés, rendant difficile le repérage et l\u27interprétation des documents. Cette communication se donne pour objet d\u27étudier plus avant le lien entre le mode d\u27organisation des documents électroniques et leur interprétation avant de conclure sur les besoins au niveau de la recherche et l\u27implication des résultats en matière de gestion du cycle de vie des documents

Personal Document Management System

In definition, a document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents As people nowadays are constantly on the move and the wide spread availability of internet access, the usage of web based systems are increasing by leaps and bounds. And the amount of data and information that is being created and stored is getting bigger by the moment. Sometimes, people who are constantly on the move might forget to bring along their files and documents and there might be a situation when they will need those files and documents urgently. Most of the people might not even be aware of a system available online that would help them organize their files and documents. This might be caused by the fact that these systems are more oriented towards enterprises and businesses. Seeing this situation, the author has initiated a web based system project that is more oriented towards a more personal version of a document management system. This personal document management system will enable users to manage and organize their files easily .Files and documents will be stored centrally on a server and this centralization enables users to access them anytime anywhere through a web based portal. This personal management system is designed as an online system that is install on individual computers where it allows user to upload, retrieve, view, edit, delete, share and even send files to other users that uses the system. In the process of developing this system, the author has done online researches on similar systems and for information that are related to the development of the system. Along with a user intuitive interface with heavy emphasis on usage of icons and graphics, it makes it easier for users to understand the system and ultimately find it as a useful tool to make their everyday life easier

Scholars’ research-related personal information collections: A study of education and health researchers in a Kuwaiti University

Purpose The aim of the paper is to explore the character of scholars’ research-related personal information collections (PICs). Design/methodology/approach The study was based on in-depth interviews and office tours of 17 scholars in Education and Health Sciences in a Kuwaiti Higher Education Institution. Findings Scholars’ research-related PICs were added to throughout the research life-cycle. They were huge, diverse, hybrid and fragmented. Key factors shaping the collections were the pressure to do research, time pressure in general, quality of space available, technology opportunity, lack of support from central services, the need to collect Arabic material, self-presentation and selfmanagement. Older scholars and non-Kuwaiti nationals experienced the pressures slightly differently. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to scholars in two disciplines, in one institution in a developing world context. However the models produced are suggestive of factors involved in shaping of the research-related PICs of scholars in general. Practical implications Failures in Personal Information Management are a cause for concern in terms of data integrity and validity of research. Interventions could include training of early career researchers for a life time of collecting. Originality/value This is the first study to examine the contents of scholars’ research-related PICs and to provide a model of factors shaping them