Centralize (media) file sharing within organizations: Design guidelines

File sharing is a significant activity of enterprise computer use. In organizations, files are usually shared using e-mail attachments. However, large media files cannot be shared using e-mail, due to file size limitations. Instead, different external file sharing systems are used to share large files. The use and size of media files will continue to increase, which requires file sharing mechanisms that can handle this. For organizations today, it is difficult to find a file sharing application that fulfills all requirements and needs of the users. Especially for large media rich organizations, where the file sharing scenarios are many and files can be shared internally and externally with dissimilar feature and security requirements. An example of such an organization is Baggie, a fashion company where large media files are shared daily, using various file sharing systems. The inconsistency of what system to use, leads to confusion and frustration among its users. Additionally, their current file sharing systems do not fulfill all of Baggie’s users’ requirements and no system is integrated with their media asset management system. This master thesis aims to solve the challenges of file sharing within large organizations, particularly media rich organizations such as Baggie by centralize file sharing to one application. By performing a theoretical study and user studies, thirteen design guidelines for file sharing applications have been established. The guidelines focuses on usability, security and users’ requirements regarding media file sharing. Based on the studies, a prototype have been designed for a new file sharing application: BShare. BShare aims to replace Baggie’s current file sharing systems and the application fulfills all requirements of Baggie users. The BShare prototype can be seen as a reference design for file sharing applications.