The future of personal information management in the age of ubiquitous personal data

Purpose – Personal projects are any kind of projects whose management is left to an individual untrained in project management and is greatly influenced by this individual’s personal touch. This includes the majority of knowledge workers who daily manage information relating to several personal projects. The authors have conducted an in-depth qualitative investigation on information management of such projects and the tacit knowledge behind its processes that cannot be found in the organisational structures of current personal information management (PIM) tools (file managers, e-mail clients, web browsers). The purpose of this paper is to reveal and understand project information management practices in details and provide guidelines for personal project management tools. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews similar to that in several other PIM exploratory studies were carried out focusing on project fragmentation, information overlap and project context recreation. In addition, the authors enhanced interviews with sketching approach not yet used to study PIM. Sketches were used for articulating things that were not easily expressed through words, they represented a time stamp of a project context in the projects’ lifetime, uncovered additional tacit knowledge behind project information management not mentioned during the interviews, and were also used to find what they have in common which might be used in prototype designing. Findings – The paper presents first personal project definition based on the conceptualisations derived from the study. The study revealed that the extensive information fragmentation in the file hierarchy (due to different organisational needs and ease of information access) poses a significant challenge to context recreation besides cross-tool fragmentation so far described in the literature. The study also reveals the division of project information into core and support and emphasises the importance of support information in relation to project goals. Other findings uncover the division of input/output information, project overlaps through information reuse, storytelling and visualising information relations, which could help with user modelling and enhancing project context recreation. Research limitations/implications – On of the limitations is the group of participants that cannot represent the ideally generalised knowledge worker as there are many different kinds of knowledge workers and they all have different information needs besides different management practices. However, participants of variety of different backgrounds were observed and the authors converged observations into points of project information management similarities across the spectrum of different professions. Nevertheless, its observations and conceptualisations should be repeatable. For one, some of the issues that emerged during this work have been to different extents discussed in other studies. Practical implications – The empirical findings are used to create guidelines for designing personal project information management tools: support the selective focus on information with the division into core and supportive information; visualise changes in project information space to support narratives for context recreation; overcome fragmentation in the file system with selective unification; visualising project’s information relationship to better understand the complexity of project information space; and support navigating in project information space on two axes: time and between projects (overlaps through information). Originality/value – The study presents a longitudinal insight into personal project information management. As such it provides a first formal definition of personal project from the information point of view. The method used in the study presented uses a new approach – sketching in which participants externalised and visualised personal information and projects they discussed. The insights derived from the study form design implications for personal project management tools for knowledge workers.

Supporting human memory in personal information management

을 위하여 필요한 경우 등 일정한 요건 아래 개인정보의 공 According to Article 17 of the Korean Constitution, the privacy of no citizen shall be infringed. There have been considerable advances in the fields of computers and communications technology in the late 20th century. However, processing large amounts of personal information has caused many problems. In Korea, incidents of personal information leakage have been occurring frequently. To solve these problems, the Personal Information Protection Act was enacted in 2011. The most significant feature of this Act is that it applies not only to public institutions, but also to corporate bodies, organizations, and individuals who manage personal information. However, the Act does not allow the management of personal information for public purposes such as public health. Recently, the European Parliament has adopted a legislative resolution on the proposed European Union General Protection Regulation. This regulation allows the management of personal information for public health, reflecting the opinions of European public health experts. According to Article 81 of the proposed regulation, processing of personal data concerning health is permitted for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, medical diagnosis, the provision of care or treatment, or the management of health-care services. It is also permitted for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of quality and safety for medicinal products or medical devices and reasons of public interest in areas such as social protection, in order to ensure the quality and cost-effectiveness of the health insurance system and the provision of health services. The proposed regulation is an example of the balance of privacy and public interest in the management of personal information. Although the management of personal information is allowed in the public interest without the consent of the subject of the information, all measures should be taken for privacy protection. It is time for Korea to take legislative steps for the management of personal health information for public health under conditions of strict privacy protection measures.

Aim/Purpose: In this exploratory study we examine personal information management within music streaming applications. Also, we investigate the sense of ownership over songs being played on music streaming applications and whether the use of these services may be considered a social activity. In addition, we explore the extent of user privacy concern in using music streaming applications. Background: This paper represents the second phase of the article titled Usage Habits in Music Streaming Applications and their Influence on Privacy Related Issues [Research in Progress] (Weinberger & Bouhnik, 2019). Methodology: The research is conducted using a mixed methodology and consists of two phases: qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative stage is a pilot which includes semi-structured interviews with three music streaming application users in order to explore the possible change in personal information management, following the emergence of these applications (e.g., changes in classification and song retrieval methods). The quantitative phase includes the distribution of closed ended questionnaires among 192 users of music streaming applications (Male – 72.9%, Female – 27.1%; Age: 18-58), aiming to explore personal information management issues and privacy related issues that emerge while using these applications. Contribution: As far as we know, this is the first academic research to investigate the issue of personal information management among music streaming applications and the also the first to use a mixed methods approach to examine digital music consumption. In addition, it is the first study that takes into account privacy related issues among the users of music streaming applications. Findings: We found major changes between personal musical information management in the past and in the present. As most of the participants (85.4%) prefer nowadays to sort musical items in playlists or not to sort them at all. Out of the participants who chose to sort in folders in the past, only 42.7% still do it at present and out of the participants who chose to sort by alphabetical order in the past, only 15.7% do it at present. Also, we found that the participants have medium sense of ownership over the songs being stored on their streaming applications (M=2.78, SD=1.46) and medium sense that those applications may be used as social activity (M=2.75, SD=1.25). Interestingly, the choice of "sophisticated" genres (e.g. Blues, Jazz or Classical) as favorite music genre predicts the perception of using music streaming applications as part of social activity (R2=0.044, p<0.05). As for privacy concern, it was found that although the participants are moderately concerned about privacy within music streaming applications (M=2.67, SD=1.15), they are willing to pay for higher privacy protection services if they will be offered to them (r=0.49, p<0.001). In general, participants were found to be moderately willing to pay for premium services (M=2.44, SD=1.01), with ad-free service (M=3.07, SD=1.54) being the highest ranked premium service. Impact on Society: The research may drive music streaming applications operators to offer premium services that provide various benefits, such as: ad-free usage, higher privacy protection or better social features, as participants are willing to pay for those features. They may also personalize their users by preferred music genres, to adapt the specific service being offered to them.

Information fragmentation is a well-known issue in personal information management (PIM). In order to overcome this problem, various PIM solutions have focussed on linking documents via semantic relationships. More recently, task-centered information management (TIM) has been introduced as an alternative PIM paradigm. While these two paradigms have their strengths and weaknesses, we aim for a new PIM system design approach to achieve better synergies with human memory. We further envision a cross-media solution where physical information is integrated with a user’s digital personal information space. We present the Object-Concept-Context (OC2) conceptual framework for context-aware personal cross-media information management combining the best of the two existing PIM paradigms and integrating the most relevant features of the human memory. Further, we outline how the OC2 framework has been implemented based on a domain-specific application of the Resource-Selector-Link (RSL) hypermedia metamodel.

While there are challenges in transferring personal information management (PIM) research into products, PIM research does, over time, filter through into commercial systems, and practical systems often exhibit innovation that can guide future PIM research. This paper uses two approaches to understand some potential future directions for PIM research and practice. First, it deconstructs the term “personal information management” to understand how PIM techniques and tools intersect with other academic areas. Second, it examines a small selection of popular PIM tools to see how they shed light on actual adoption of PIM systems. It uses lessons from these in a more open discussion of potential future developments.

This paper explores the use of Fisher and Tronto's four phases of ethics of care (caring about, taking care of, caregiving, and care receiving) to three personal information management (PIM) frameworks, with a focus on PIM maintaining. The author argues that ethics of care can provide a theoretical foundation for PIM by using the four phases of caring to develop a perspective of PIM as a caring process using the categories of PIM as self‐care and PIM as caring for others. The paper begins by reviewing Fisher and Tronto's ethics of care, cites research in related fields that have applied ethics of care, and then describes how ethics of care could be applied to PIM research. To conclude, the author offers suggestions for how ethics of care can be applied to future PIM research in the following areas: better understand the motivations for PIM; the ways in which PIM can contribute to the social concepts of equality, justice, and trust and how social institutions can facilitate “good” PIM.

Purpose – This paper aims to develop a comprehensive concept map to guide adequate protection and effective management of personal information in the provision of networked services in China through comprehensively considering the multi-disciplinary perspective of personal information protection and management with respect to their multi-dimensional applications, multi-directional controls and multi-contextual analysis in today’s networked environments. There are different perspectives on what personal information protection and management is about, why and how personal information should be protected and managed in the literature. Little, however, is known about the relationships between these multiple perspectives and their implications to personal information protection and management in the real-world practice. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-methods approach is adopted in the study, including a comprehensive review of the related literature, a content analysis of the relevant laws, polices, standards, a multi-cases study of the relevant network services providers and an online survey of the Chinese citizens who are the end-users of the networked services to adequately achieve the objective of this study. The concept map building technique is used as a tool for conducting the meta-synthesis of the findings from multiple data resources in the development of a comprehensive concept map for personal information protection and management. Findings – This study rationalizes the importance of the identification of personal information for adequate protection and effective management. It identifies five perspectives on personal information protection and management, namely, law, economics, sociology, information technology and information resources management for their applications at the organizational level. Five types of personal information are identified in the study for protection and management, namely, identifiable personal information, personal identity information, personal moral right information, personal civil right and interest information and personal business and transaction information. An integrated approach consisting of risk control, security control and users control is proposed for personal information protection and management in the provision of networked services in China. The study shows that not enough attention has been paid to the personal information protection and management from multi-disciplinary perspectives with respect to their multi-dimensional applications, multi-directional controls and multi-contextual analysis in the literature. There is a lack of understanding of what, why and how personal information is protected and managed in real-world practices in China. Practical implications – The investigation of the issues of personal information protection and management with respect to the relevant laws, polices, standards, networked services and organizations can lead to a better understanding of what, why and how personal information is protected and managed in real-world practices in China. The development of a comprehensive concept map for personal information protection and management can be used as an effective guideline for the formulation and implementation of appropriate strategies and policies in individual organizations for providing their stakeholders with quality-networked services in today’s highly connected network environment in China. Originality/value – The paper is the first step of a comprehensive study on the protection and management of personal information for the provision of networked services in China. It provides a solid foundation for further research with respect to the personal information protection and management. It is the first of this kind of studies to answer the questions of what types of personal information needed to be protected, why and how they should be protected in conformity with laws, regulations, polices, standards and the needs of networked services and business activities of organizations.

Purpose – This column seeks to explore the potential of personal information management (PIM) and reference management to offer more than easy citation of information sources and the creation of bibliographies. The emphasis is on the role librarians and information professionals (hereafter referred to only as librarians) can play in raising awareness of the potential of PIM and reference management and issues to be considered. The end goal is increasing quality, productivity, collaboration and creativity in the use of information. Over the next few issues, the column will share impressions from personal research in the field of information behaviour and PIM, analysis from the subject literature, exploration of the software as such, and trends noted through various means.Design/methodology/approach – The column will be written against the background of research from information behaviour, information organisation, PIM and information curation, as well as alerts on software development in this regard and so...

Personal knowledge and information management (PKIM) as an integrated approach of three concepts – personal knowledge management, personal information management and information literacy – is an appropriate and comprehensive approach to these issues with overlapping and supplementary areas of interests. The theoretical basis and results of pioneering empirical studies in the PKIM field, carried out in an academic environment, are presented in this exploratory study. The development and validation of the PKIM scale are characterized. An analysis of the subject literature, discussions with experts and students, and statistical methods used in creation of the PKIM scale, which is an original instrument for measuring a self-assessment of knowledge and information skills of students, are reported. The PKIM self-assessment of Polish students of information science majors and related specializations was high, but not as high as expected. Master’s students reported higher level of PKIM self-assessment than Bachelor’s students.

This research explored how young adults (ages 18–25) learn to use financial records and the roles financial records play in their experiences in coming to see themselves as financially mature social actors. The contribution of this paper is a revised model of transitions theory that includes personal information management (PIM) as an information behavior that helps people navigate life changes. Data collected during 23 guided tours was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, guided by transitions theory. The unifying theme was acting and becoming a “financially responsible” adult. Four themes captured different elements of this process: (1) changes generate financial identity exploration and awareness of new information needs and responsibilities; (2) young adults use financial recordkeeping to see, evaluate, modify, and therefore know the financial self; (3) human and societal factors as mediators and initiators of financial recordkeeping; and (4) construction of provisional adult identities. This study highlights social functions of financial records and value generated by inclusion of personal financial information management (PFIM) as a way to understand information behavior and coming of age transitions.

Today's consumer-facing activity trackers, such as fitness wristbands and smartwatches, often hold the promise of improving users' health, yet problems in user interaction with activity tracking technology, such as low user adoption, short-lived use, and limited user engagement, undermine the potential health benefits. In this dissertation, I tackle these problems by developing a comprehensive understanding of non-patient healthy activity tracker users' personal health information management (PHIM) with the data generated by their devices, an essential component of long-term user interaction with activity tracking technology. Building on personal information management (PIM) theories and activity tracker user research, I present results from a web survey study and an in-depth interview study that jointly examined healthy activity tracker users' PHIM behaviors with data generated by their devices. Major findings include: the identification of healthy activity tracker users' health/fitness-related needs and information needs; an in-depth portrayal of their PHIM, covering the spectrum of PHIM tools they used, the six types of PHIM activities they performed, as well as the concurrent and subsequent PHIM practices they engaged in; and the depiction of the ways their needs were met, partially met, or unmet by their activity tracking technology use and relevant PHIM. This dissertation contributes to existing research in information science, human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, and health informatics at empirical, theoretical, and methodological levels. First, I contribute empirical updates to both activity tracker user research and PIM research by examining healthy activity tracker users' PHIM. Second, I generate practical design implications for future activity tracking technology to better support PHIM based on my empirical findings. Finally, I reflect on my enhanced participant-driven photo elicitation techniques and provide methodological recommendations for future qualitative research to adopt the method.

The continuous bombardment of digital information accumulates overtime causes us to be overwhelmed by the burden of digital information management across many devices and from multiple sources. The presence of such digital information deluge and its negative implications causes the user to lose efficiency and lose the overall understanding and perspectives of the information. Personal Information Management (PIM) is specialized in studying this rapidly growing and overwhelming responsibility. Personal Digital Information Management (PDIM) is a specialty of PIM that is concerned with digital information. The research aims to and improve and enhance PDIM experience. Four important PDIM aspects were perceived from various PIM-related aspects. A survey was conducted to gain more insights and revealed new research directions that support the aspects. Related PIM solutions were analyzed against the aspects. This revealed a lack of PIM solutions that addresses the aspects collaboratively. This drives a new research opportunity of creating a new novel PDIM framework. An abstract system architecture of the framework is presented. For future work, best implementation options of the framework components will be chosen. A proof-of-concept of the system prototype that integrates the framework will be developed. User experiment sessions will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework.

Over the last decade, we have witnessed an emergence of Personal Information Management (PIM) solutions. Despite the fact that paper documents still form a significant part of our daily working activities, existing PIM systems usually support the organisation and re-finding of digital documents only. While physical document tracking solutions such as RFID- or computer vision-based systems are recently gaining some attention, they usually focus on the paper document tracking and offer limited support for re-finding activities. We present PimVis, a solution for exploring and re-finding digital and paper documents in so-called cross-media information spaces. The PimVis user interface enables a unified organisation of digital and paper documents through the creation of bidirectional links between the digital and physical information space. The presented personal cross-media information management solution further supports the extension with alternative document tracking techniques as well as augmented reality solutions. A formative PimVis evaluation revealed the high potential of fully integrated cross-media PIM solutions.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the personal information management (PIM) practices of students and its implications for library services at the University of Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThis was a survey research, and questionnaires were administered to 150 students across their various programs of study. Questionnaire design was based on the literature reviewed and research objectives.FindingsResults showed that, format, skills, size of collection, memory, and habits accounted for diverse PIM practices among students. Among the major drawbacks were inadequate skills, information fragmentation, inappropriate habits, and imperfect memory. These aspects when improved, would enhance the effectiveness of students' PIM practices tremendously.Research limitations/implicationsThe study adopted the PIM framework developed by James and Teevan and focused on the core activities of PIM namely: keeping, organizing and re‐finding. In order to provide a fair rounded picture of the PIM situation of students, it is expected that subsequent studies would cover the remaining variables notably‐ information maintenance; selection and implementation of a scheme; managing privacy and the flow of information; matters of security; measurement and evaluation; and making sense of things.Practical implicationsThe study concludes that, through comprehensive information literacy training programmes offered by libraries; student‐oriented PIM researches; the formation of PIM clubs spearheaded by librarians and supported by university administrators, benevolent organizations and individuals, the PIM practices of students can be made better. PIM efforts should aim at shaping, improving, integrating and supporting students' PIM habits, skills, personal information collections and memories respectively.Originality/valuePIM practices of students is among the least explored topics in the field of library and information studies in Ghana. This research would not only create awareness about PIM practices, but would also draw attention to the efforts that can be made to improve PIM practices of students in Ghana.