Using a file history graph to keep track of personal resources across devices and services

Abstract

Personal digital resources now tend to be stored, managed and shared using a variety of devices and online services. As a result, different versions of resources are often stored in different places, and it has become increasingly difficult for users to keep track of them. We introduce the concept of a file history graph that can be used to provide users with a global view of resource provenance and enable them to track specific versions across devices and services. We describe how this has been used to realise a version-aware environment, called Memsy, and report on a lab study used to evaluate the proposed workflow. We also describe how reconciliation services can be used to fill in missing links in the file history graph and present a detailed study for the case of images as a proof of concept.

Anatomy of scholarly information behavior patterns in the wake of academic social media platforms

“…A related and well-studied research area is personal information management [95]- [98], which refers to organizing and retrieving various kinds of personal collections. For example, Dumais [99] developed a system that provides a desktop personal search of information that a user has seen.…”

Factors hindering shared files retrieval

“…This can both negatively affect retrieval, as well as potentially lead to wasted effort in editing and reconciling prior versions (Bergman et al , 2015; Henderson, 2011). The version retrieval problem is often mentioned in the PIM literature (Bergman et al , 2014, 2015; Karlson et al , 2011; Jensen et al , 2010; Jones, 2007; Kearns et al , 2014; Rasel and Ali, 2016; Bergman and Whittaker, 2016; Henderson, 2011; Copic Pucihar et al , 2016; Geel and Norrie, 2016; Whitham and Cruickshank, 2017), but its effects on retrieval have never been directly measured.…”