Social aspects of personal information organization

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how individuals' personal information organization reflects their social environments in order to understand social aspects of personal information organization.Design/methodology/approachBy using a cognitive sociological approach and based on the personal information organization process (PIOP) model (Oh, 2019), this study investigates the social aspects of personal information organization by analyzing the pre-diary interview, a diary, and two post-diary interviews conducted with each of the 18 information users in social science academic environments.FindingsSocial dimensions of personal information organization were found in differences between organizing academic and non-academic files, the way participants identified and made distinctions among files, common folders they created, and with the impact of participants' professional age on personal information organization. This study shows that information organization is a process of construction and that the participants' social foundations are reflected in the way they view and organize their files.Originality/valueThis study makes a unique contribution to the field by explaining the social aspects of personal information organization. The findings of this study deepen our knowledge of personal information organization by providing different ways to understand how and why people organize their files in certain ways, and by showing that this is not just individual behavior. In practice, this study provides insight into the design of applications and tools that support personal information management of people in specific social environments.

Knowledge mapping and visualization of personal information management literature, 1988–2020

“…Bergman et al (2019) tested and quantified the effect of factors related to collection size, file properties and workload on file retrieval. Oh’s (2020) study examined how individuals’ personal information organization reflected their social environments in order to understand social aspects of personal information organization. Further evidence of PIM research during this period is that researchers were beginning to search for a suitable theoretical basis for PIM research.…”

The use of notebooks by Bangladeshi rural women to preserve information

“…, 2004; Kaye et al. , 2006; Oh, 2021). These contexts are very different from those of marginalised communities in developing countries, for whom the lack of information, rather than the abundance of information, is a problem, and access to technology is limited.…”

“…As Oh (2021, p. 558) has argued, “the way individuals organize their personal information often reflects their social environment”; yet, the social aspects that impact on how they organise their personal information organisation have rarely been studied. Little is known about the ways rural communities in developing countries preserve information.…”

The things we carry: migrants' personal collection management and use

“…The existing studies on personal information management have identified strategies for and patterns of organising and maintaining personal information (Jones et al, 2017), with particular attention given to specific context, content or activity (for example, academic (Oh, 2021), file management (Dinneen and Julien, 2019), web bookmarks (Bergman et al, 2021)). However, little is known about these strategies and patterns in the migration context.…”