The use of subjective attributes in personal information management systems - Initial results

Personal computers often serve as Personal Information Management (PIM) systems: they allow people to collect items of information and store them outside their cognitive system. Research has consistently shown that users of PIM systems find it hard to remember where they placed their personal information and thus have difficulties in retrieving it. A possible explanation for these difficulties is that PIM system designers are not sensitive enough to the fact that it is a personal system: the same person that stores the information is the one who retrieves it. In a recent article we suggested a user-subjective approach to PIM system design which advocates that PIM systems should relate to the subjective attributes that the user gives to the data stored in the PIM system. This paper presents preliminary results from a study in which users of personal computers were asked to guide the researcher in their PIM system. The study allows us to test the user-subjective approach advocated in the mentioned article.