Thinking Tools How Personal Information Management Changes our Work Life Dr Leo Sauermann, Dr Bernhard Schandl founders of gnowsis.com
Bernhard Schandl Hardly remembers anything... Researcher, Teacher, Entrepreneur University of Vienna, Gnowsis.com bernhard.schandl@gnowsis.com
Introduction
Isn t a (desktop) search engine enough? search. ok
4-15% use them messy people less perfect search engine is not enough Ofer Bergman et al., Improved Search Engines and Navigation Preference in Personal Information Management, ACM TOIS, 26(4), Sept. 2008 Teevan et al., The Perfect Search Engine Is Not Enough: A Study of Orienteering Behavior in Directed Search [CHI 2004]
Files Documents Private Projects CID Research
www.flickr.com/photos/christmaswithak/3975103786 cc-by
The Broad Problem Situation Average knowledge worker ~20,000 files ~20,000 emails ~400 Calendar entries ~4.500web visits/month ~300 incoming emails/day Multiple Projects MS Sharepoint, MS Exchange, Workflow, Corporate Wiki Behavior Tactics? Desktop Search only 4 15% >600 Win+Google and Mac users, 2008 57% of users keep bookmarks by sending themselves emails, "A Survey of Personal Information Management Practices", Robert Capra, 2009 Strategy? Diskspace is cheaper than worktime. Things get in but not out.
Defining PIM the organization and maintenance of personal information collections in which information items, such as paper documents, electronic documents, email messages, web references, handwritten notes, etc., are stored for later use and repeated re-use [Jones, 2007]
The situation organize today meeting in Belfast http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:the_earth_seen_from_apollo_17_trsp_back.jpg
PIM is not a new problem! Vertical Filing Cabinet (1886)
PIM is not a new problem! Bush s Memex (1945)
PIM is not a new problem! Nelson s Hypertext Editing System (1967)
PIM is not a new problem! Engelbart s NLS (1968)
PIM is not a new problem! Apple s MessagePad (1997)
PIM Activities
PIM Key Activities Filing Finding Organizing
Filing keeping information hotel receipt for accounting pilers few folders, task oriented desktop/belfast/ Goal Different Strategies reminding and time management put receipt in todo folder filers many folders, structure oriented projects/cid/trips/belfast multi-purpose many more strategies, mixed in use
Finding seeking something new Hotel in Belfast teleportingto the result via search engine receipt belfast Goal Different Strategies re-finding something old Receipt of hotel stay for reimbursement navigating and orienteering Documents\project\Belfast\ receipt.pdf main concern in PIM preferred approach
(Re-)Organizing Ad hoc desktop! Default folder of application! Email inbox! designing the organisation Planned cleaning and reorganising reusable travel template for tickets, receipts, photos Regularly, sometimes, when the structure does not work, a new job, got a new computer, deleting files, cleaning up examine others and learn chances for tools analyzing and optimizing use of time, effectiveness in job, todo-management, project management, e-learning, staying creative, staying up-to-date in a field competitive advantage
How do people organize? Reference Information Type Categories Malone (1983) Paper documents neat, messy Mackay (1988) Email prioritizers, archivers, requesters and responders Whittaker & Sidner (1996) Email no-filers, frequent-filers, springcleaners Bälter (1997) Email folderless cleaners, folderless springcleaners, cleaners, spring-cleaners Abrams, Baecker & Chignell (1998) Web bookmarks Gwizdka (2004) Email cleaners, keepers Boardman & Sasse (2004) Documents, Email, Web bookmarks no-filer, creation-time filer, end-ofsession filer, sporadic filer pro-organizing, organizing-neutral Henderson, Personal Document Management Strategies (CHINZ2009)
Pilers, Filers, Structurers Pilers Filers Structurers Self-reported level of organization Not very organized Somewhat organized Somewhat / very organized Use of search Last resort Second choice Second choice (sometimes first) Preferred view List/Details List/Details Details/List Number of top level folders Medium High Low Number of top level files High High Low Average depth Low Medium High Henderson, Personal Document Management Strategies (CHINZ2009)
Getting interviewed Being interviewed on PIM influences PIM and can cause subjects to pick up a strategy learned from the interviewer The study had an immediate "self-auditing" influence on the behavior of most participants taking part in the study caused them to [ ] plan future strategy changes. [ ] Overall the tool hasn t done that much, its more the conversations between me and you [Boardman+2004pimstudy]
PIM Tool Support
Standard PIM Tools PIM Suites Storage, but no management Information silos, but no PIM process support Data, but no context Does not connect Things go in but don t come out Outlook, Lotus Notes, Mozilla Thunderbird/Sunbird, Mail+iCal+AddressBook, Google Web Apps,...
Standard PIM Tools Mind-mapping connect thoughts with information establish context weak in searching and navigating weak integration no information semantics MindManager, Freemind, TheBrain,...
Standard PIM Tools Note-taking quick way to capture information helps pilers more than filers sometimes: support through auto-suggestion weak support for structured information (e.g., appointments) OneNote, Evernote, DevonThink, NoteScribe,...
Standard PIM Tools (Desktop) Search Engines find text, but no meaning no context, no hierarchy, no organization, no prioritization Windows Search, Google Desktop Search, Spotlight,...
Semantic PIM
The Semantic Desktop: Associative Assistance Associations a mental model Person Project Location Meeting Semantics words connected with meaning Claudia Dirk CID Kickoff Belfast and documents PIMO - a Framework for Representing Personal Information Models http://www.dfki.uni-kl.de/~sauermann/papers/sauermann+2007b.pdf Contacts Claudia Stern Dirk Hagemann Klaus Nord Files Documents Papers Projects CID Research E-Mails Inbox Todo SAP CID-proj Karlsruhe
A Working Semantic Desktop: Nepomuk-KDE http://www2.mandriva.com/linux/overview/
Cluug.com Approach to PIM Identify relevant things Bring information into context (projects, persons, tasks, topics, communication, events,...) Re-find information by browsing Try to understand what information means Assist the user proactively wherever they are Be extensible, non-obtrusive, and orthogonal to what is existing Later: share in groups
How can we benefit from PIM?
PIM Benefits For organizations: better PIM means better productivity! better understanding of information and needs better teamwork and group IM key to leveraging employee expertise For people: better PIM makes happy! feel organized reduce cognitive overload
Creating PIM Awareness Awareness of the challenges and opportunities of active PIM is important! Education and training pays off Interviews and discussions help people reflecting their habits A little PIM can go a long way
Contact bernhard.schandl@gnowsis.com www.gnowsis.com www.cluug.com