Keeping found things found

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (12) ◽  
pp. 712-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nosheen Fatima Warraich ◽  
Irfan Ali ◽  
Shazia Yasmeen

Purpose This study aims to investigate the usefulness and challenges of personal digital information management (PDIM) as perceived by engineering faculty members. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative research strategy based on survey design was used to collect data through structured questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was applied to obtain a representative sample from faculty members of University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. Findings Findings indicate that faculty members understand the usefulness of PDIM practices for their teaching and learning. They opined that these practices improve their performance along with effective utilization of resources. PDIM practices save their time, energy and money. Nevertheless, they have to face challenges in managing their personal information in digital format including technology obsolescence, bulk of incoming emails, prediction of future value of information, information fragmentation and memory load in remembering the location of information. It is also noted that PDIM practices are equally useful for both male and female faculty members. However, female faculty members have to face more PDIM challenges than male faculty members. Practical implications Overall, findings of the study reveal that there are benefits of PDIM and it is useful for faculty members with certain challenges. This study identified five major challenges. All these challenges were from technological and cognitive psychology domain. It is noted that assessing future value of information plays important role in overall process of PDIM. Originality/value The present study would be valuable addition in literature and it would be helpful in devising information literacy instructions programs in academic libraries. This study would also helpful for improving quality services for teaching as required by Pakistan Engineering Council. Findings of this study would helpful for system engineers, software developers and system librarians in designing and developing personal information management systems in Pakistan.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Jacques ◽  
Sabine Mas ◽  
Dominique Maurel ◽  
Jonathan Dorey

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to document and analyze the organizational activities of faculty members using a personal information management (PIM) framework developed by Jacques (2016).Design/methodology/approachInterviews were carried out with seven faculty members, focusing on their personal information organization practices as they relate to their academic activities. These interviews took the form of a guided tour of informants' digital workspaces.FindingsAnalyses focused on PIM activities make it possible to identify the different strategies adopted by faculty members to organize their academic personal information. This qualitative approach highlights four activities involved in the organization of personal information: inclusion, exclusion, apprehension and implementation. It also reveals differences in the ability of faculty members to analyze their own practices. Finally, the relationship to time and memory of PIM practices is examined through the lens of the concepts of virtualization and actualization.Originality/valueThis research provides a more nuanced understanding of PIM practices, specifically of organizational activities, by considering the meaning of these practices for individuals as part of their daily lives. It aims to foster literacy by facilitating the interactions of individuals with their personal information through educational activities.


Author(s):  
Alireza Shirazi ◽  
Mikaeil Molazadeh ◽  
Ahad Zeinali ◽  
Ghazale Geraily

In this study, the purpose was to investigate Personal Information Management (PIM) activity rate regardingfourPIM aspects o f acquisition, maintenance, organization, and retrieval o f faculty members in three universities, i.e., Tehran University o f Medical Science (TUMS), Iran University o f Medical Sciences (lUMS), and Shahid Beheshti University o f Medical Sciences (SBUMS). The relationship between PIM use and workplace, academic rank, and gender factors were also studied. A Persian-language questionnaire was used to measure PIM performance of participants. Data were analysed using statistical tests. Findings showed that most o f the participants preferred desktop computers for saving theirpersonal digital information. Also, the percentage of PIM use by the faculty members was reported as 50-75%. However, no significant associations between PIM use by the faculty members and their workplace, academic rank, andgenderwerefound.


2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klen Copic Pucihar ◽  
Matjaž Kljun ◽  
John Mariani ◽  
Alan John Dix

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 1078-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Joseph

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the leisure information behaviour of motor sport enthusiasts, examining: their information needs; their information seeking and sharing; what personal information they had; and their satisfaction with their information seeking and personal information management efforts. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study examined participants’ information behaviour from a postpositivist and inductive research approach. An online survey was completed by 81 motor sport enthusiasts. The quantitative survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics, whilst the qualitative data were analysed using thematic coding. Findings The research findings highlighted that enthusiasts engaged in mixed serious leisure. They required information before, during and after race events, and sought this primarily from online sources, as well as from other individuals. Totally, 90 participants shared information about their interest in motor sport with family, friends and fellow enthusiasts, primarily via e-mails (69 per cent) and Facebook (49 per cent). They also gathered information about motor sport, including photographs and memorabilia. Participants were satisfied with their information management strategies for their personal collections. Research limitations/implications Participants were limited to motor sport enthusiasts in Australia, hence findings cannot be generalised more broadly. Practical implications Understandings of enthusiasts’ information behaviour provide information management professionals with insights to work with this user community. Originality/value This study fills a gap in the literature about leisure information behaviour of motor sport enthusiasts in Australia. It identifies and provides a typology of the 12 categories of information needed by enthusiasts. Provides a preliminary motor sport information behaviour model guided by the conceptual frameworks of the everyday life information seeking model; general models on information behaviour; and the information problem solving behaviour model.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irfan Ali ◽  
Nosheen Fatima Warraich

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between mobile self-efficacy and personal information management (PIM) practices through mobile phones and smartphones, and additionally, to explore the challenges of using a smart device for PIM.Design/methodology/approachThis study followed Preferred Reporting Items for the Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to achieve the objectives. A comprehensive search strategy, inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria were formulated in light of PRISMA guidelines. The data were collected from different scholarly repositories, databases and core journals of PIM. The studies were included after four steps, i.e. identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion of studies.FindingsFindings revealed that there was a positive relationship between mobile self-efficacy and PIM via mobile phones. People used two techniques for finding and re-finding information via mobile phones/smartphones. These techniques include browsing and searching information. People send information, share with others and save in draft folders to emails in mobile phones/smartphones for keeping information for future use. They organize their personal information in folders and use different applications such as Evernote, Google Calendar, alarm and organizer. They uninstall and update mobile applications with new versions, clear phone call history and backup personal information to desktop devices and cloud services to maintain personal information. PIM via mobile phone/smartphone challenges were also identified. These challenges were classified as information related challenges, technical challenges, mobile phone adaptability challenges and miscellaneous challenges.Originality/valueThis study will help library professionals and decision makers to devise information literacy instruction programs according to the users' needs. The results of this study will also open new horizons for system designers to devise mobile-based PIM tools according to users' needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christaline Wijekoon ◽  
Anupa Manewa ◽  
Andrew David Ross

Purpose Building information modelling (BIM) provides a robust platform for information management in built environment facilities. However, one of the consequences of the limited application of BIM in facilities information management (FIM) is that the potential value gain through the integration of as-built information during the operations management process has had limited exploration in current practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential impact of BIM to enhance the value of FIM. Design/methodology/approach A detailed literature review was undertaken to identify BIM application in a construction context, and to develop a framework to investigate the value of information. An interpretative approach was adopted for data collection and analysis. A total of 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with construction industry professionals to identify how value of FIM can be enhanced through BIM integration. The interview data were analysed using open and selective coding. Findings The findings confirm that information exchange between the construction and facilities management (FM) phases of a project are important in terms of efficient and effective maintenance of a facility as well as optimising the design task. With these promising benefits, BIM is an efficient mechanism to facilitate construction information exchange. However, there is an uncertainty over the optimum level of information that ought to be on a BIM model for FM purposes. The relationship between different aspects of value is a starting point to filter the required information for each individual project. In contrast, limited awareness of value of information exchange and the potential of BIM enabled FIM during construction is noted. Research limitations/implications The information exchange considered within this investigation was limited to two key phases of the facility life cycle, namely, construction and FM (in-use). Practical implications The findings bring insight into an unseen aspect of FM information needs that should be given priority in upcoming BIM developments. Also, it draws attention to how value is concerned in a daily basis beyond monetary terms. Originality/value The investigation of value enhancement through BIM integration in particular to FIM and ongoing research with new value dimensions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 909-927
Author(s):  
Sue Yeon Syn ◽  
Donghee Sinn ◽  
Sujin Kim

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how college students' personal information behaviors were impacted by contexts, resource types and perceptions of personal information management.Design/methodology/approachUsing an online survey, a total of 1,194 valid responses were collected from college students. The three contexts used for this study include academic, health and personal digital history. Specific scenarios, along with sets of resource types, were provided for each context.FindingsThe findings show that college students' perceptions and contexts strongly influence their activities related to personal information, and that resource types impact their activities depending on the context in which the resource types are situated. The findings of this study provide evidence of how varying factors influence personal information behaviors at different levels. Information professionals need to design their services and programs in a way that is cognizant of the factors that influence users and the challenges that users meet with in different contexts and resource types.Originality/valueThe findings of this study contribute to personal information research by providing an understanding of how context, perceptions and resource types intertwiningly influence personal information behaviors. This study provides an insight into widely accepted patterns and perceptions of personal information behavior with particular information resource types and within specific contexts.


Libri ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Williams Ezinwa Nwagwu ◽  
Antonia Bernadette Donkor

Abstract This study examined personal information creation and storage practices in digital and print media by faculty in selected universities in Ghana. A sample survey research design guided the research and quantitative data were collected from 235 faculty members of six universities in Ghana. Qualitative data was also collected from 18 willing faculty members, and was guided by an interview schedule. Faculty reported that they created their information in an organized manner and that they created information mainly in digital formats compared with manual. The task at hand determined the information facility created and search words that are semantically related to the item are used in finding/re-finding electronic information. Faculty reported that they acquired their information literacy personally, and information literacy explained re-finding of digital information but not non-digital information. The demographic variables in the study did not explain finding/re-finding of stored information: gender (β = −0.113, p = 0.280) and age (β = 0.038, p = 0.545). This study establishes clearly the pattern of information literacy activities for faculty in the universities in Ghana.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Krtalic

PurposeThis paper presents findings from a study that explored why and how long-settled immigrants, their descendants and family members seek and use information about their country of origin and how they manage personal information about their cultural heritage legacy.Design/methodology/approach15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from the Croatian community in New Zealand.FindingsThe main findings reveal two categories of information needs related to a home country: internally motivated and externally motivated. Information is accessed through a network of family and friends, cultural societies and embassies. These information sources are perceived as reliable and trustworthy, and able to offer an interpretation of information along with access to information. The findings highlight the value of personal collections as information sources and the impact of personal information management practices on preserving and sharing information about one's cultural heritage.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the discussion about information needs and practices of immigrant communities by offering arguments that focus on (1) long-settled immigrants, their descendants and family members, and (2) seeking information about home country culture and heritage, and (3) the role of personal collections and personal information management in maintaining personal cultural heritage. The results of this study may be of use to libraries, archives and museums in designing and offering their services to expatriates of their country and immigrants in their country, and to the wider information management sector developing services in personal information management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 11-12
Author(s):  
Dinesh K. Siddaiah

Purpose Digital information management tools (DIMTs) are used widely for varieties of digital information management. In academics, these tools are being used for the advancement of student productivity, research data management, research consultation, etc. The libraries of universities and institutions use DIMTs for organizing and retrieving varieties of digital information. Design/methodology/approach The author studied the various emerging DIMTs and picked Evernote for further study based on the popularity and usage of the tool in the academic system. Findings This paper explains how and to what extent Evernote can be used as a DIMT in academics and in the digital library management. Evernote is one of the best options for implementation in the library, especially to train the students to use and enrich their academic and research experience. Evernote definitely adds value to the libraries. Originality/value It is found from the study that, Evernote is very handy in handling the research consultation service and manage research projects in libraries.


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