PIM and personality

Abstract

Individual differences are prevalent in personal information management (PIM). There is large variation between individuals in how they structure and retrieve information from personal archives. These differences make it hard to develop general PIM tools. However we know little about the origins of these differences. We present two studies evaluating whether differences arise from personality traits, by exploring whether different personalities structure personal archives differently. The first exploratory study asks participants to identify PIM cues that signal personality traits. While the aim was to identify cues, these cues also proved surprisingly accurate indicators of personality. In a second study, to evaluate these cues, we directly measure relations between structure and traits. We demonstrate that Conscientiousness predicts file organization, particularly PC users' desktops. Neurotic people may also keep more desktop files. One implication is that systems might be customized for different personalities. We also advance personality theory, showing that personal digital artifacts signal personality.

Towards a typology of personal information management behavior: exploring and defining people's interactions with personal information

“…Differences in organizing could also be related to personality traits. For example, conscientious people tend to use more filing practices than less conscientious ones, or people characterized as neurotic tend to pile information items on their desktops more than those who are less neurotic (Massey et al, 2014). Mood may affect piling and filing behavior as well; when unhappy, people tend to file information items in hierarchical folders more than when they are happy (Whittaker and Massey, 2020).…”

“…Previous studies on differences in PIM behavior suggest they are related to personal characteristics (Cushing, 2013;Massey et al, 2014) and to the context in which people manage their information items (Barreau, 2008;Hardof-Jaffe, 2013). These studies shed useful light on the origin of individual differences, but they do not address the variety of practices people use to manage personal information.…”

Cardinal: Novel software for studying file management behavior

“…Properties of particular files and folders can also be analyzed together to ascertain subtler facts about user behavior, such as the average depth at which a user stores document files or the number of files stored in folders that contain no sub‐folders. Studies using this approach have, for example, examined the number and kinds of files people store (Gonçalves & Jorge, ), how files are organized across folders (Khoo et al ., ), and the effect of personality style on desktop tidiness (Massey, TenBrook, Tatum, & Whittaker, ).…”

“…Finally, software that examines the file system has rarely supported multiple operating systems, causing researchers to instead rely on limited tools packaged with the OS (Evans & Kuenning, 2002) or to focus on a single OS (Khoo et al, 2007). As a result, suggestions that software factors such as the OS and file manager used have an effect on FM behavior (Barreau, 1995;Massey et al, 2014) have gone virtually unexplored. The overall consequence of the three approaches" limitations is that the results of FM behavior studies thus far have data that is too varied, samples that are too shallow or narrow, and have left important questions unanswered.…”