The Process of Organizing Personal Information

This paper presents preliminary results from an ongoing research study, which explores the process of organizing personal information from a cognitive sociological perspective. Participants were asked to keep a diary for a week whenever they save or organize information in digital forms, and two post diary semi-structured interviews were conducted to ask how and why they organized information files. The initial analysis of the results showed that there are five stages in the process of personal information organization. The findings from this study will deepen our understanding about information organizing behavior and contributes to the development and design of various personal information strategies, devices, and interfaces that support individuals’ organizing their information