The persistence of behavior and form in the organization of personal information

Abstract

This study revisits managers who were first interviewed more than 10 years ago to identify their personal information management (PIM) behaviors. The purpose of this study was to see how advances in technology and access to the Web may have affected their PIM behaviors. PIM behaviors seem to have changed little over time, suggesting that technological advances are less important in determining how individuals organize and use information than are the tasks that they perform. Managers identified increased volume of e-mail and the frustration with having to access multiple systems with different, unsynchronized passwords as their greatest PIM challenges. Organizational implications are discussed.

Information management

“…Cheap and fast search and storage technologies bring stability and order to people's often chaotic and messy personal information environments, and facilitate making the most of people's personal information collections (Teevan, Jones, & Bederson, 2006). Despite the benefits of these technological tools, there is some evidence to suggest that technological advances are less important in determining how individuals organize and use information than are the tasks that people perform (Barreau, 2008).…”

Yellow Pages: It is All About File Management

“…If the individual is more of a piler (a type of short-term memory) then a spatial organization on the desktop may be his or her choice. [9][10][11] Spring cleaners function under the rule of thumb that out of sight is out of mind. The spring cleaner may either delete old files or add to folders; however, the item(s) are no longer visible, which can reduce the stress of seeing large open files or piles of materials.…”

“…18 Barreau identified five filing systems used by her participants that are related to tasks, topic, time, provenance, and form. 10 She suggests there are "three types of information in the workplace: ephemeral, working, and archived." 10(p307) "Ephemeral information has a relatively short shelf life, but requires prominent placement in the work space so that it will not be overlooked."…”

“…10(p308) Working information is content used often over a period of time. 10 "Archived information has long-term value but isn't being used in the current work at hand." 10(p308)…”

How Do People Re-find Files, Emails and Web Pages?

“…After reporting an initial spike in the use of search, participants reported that their preferences settled back on folder-based navigation as the primary method of return. Barreau (2008) also reports a persistent preference for navigation (or browsing) as a means of return. In a related finding, Bergman, Gradovitch, Bar-Ilan & Beyth-Marom (2013) report a strong preference for the use of folders over tags as the primary means of organizing files and emails.…”