What is a File on a Phone? Personal Information Management Practices Amongst WhatsApp Users

Abstract

The file, as a means of sharing structured information across time and place, has spanned centuries of ICTs. Despite much CSCW research on file management practices in organizational desktop computing settings, little research has examined how files are managed and shared using mobile devices. Our research asks, how do mobile phones and mobile applications impact the personal information management (PIM) practices involving files for young adults? In this interview and task observation study, we examined the file management practices of mobile phone users (N=25), both Android and iOS owners who use the superapp WhatsApp. Superapps like WeChat and WhatsApp are increasingly characterized as technology of life for the majority world, particularly among mobile-first users. We find that many grammars of action related to managing digital files in personal computing and email contexts persist, but participants' sharing practices are influenced by media ideologies of friends, family, colleagues; and that their file management practices are shaped by the affordances of WhatsApp, as well as mobile operating systems and device hardware constraints. These results will be useful to researchers examining collective PIM practices; mobile communication practices between users and businesses via messaging apps; and theories of personal information practices related to the sharing and storage of digital files among mobile-first cohorts who increasingly share and access information via platforms and mobile applications.