Personal information management systems : an introduction & outlook

Abstract

In this so called "digital age" or "information age" human beings are dealing with a huge quantum of information in their daily lives like never before in history. Humans generate, require and rely on information for the completion of their daily, even routine tasks. The constant emerging of new applications to generate and manipulate information as well as ubiquitous computing induced a general digitalization of information. Thanks to advances in communication technologies digital information can be shared with thousands and millions at a mouse click.<br />We are able to receive and distribute information at the same speed and ease as we create them, if not faster. Digital storage has stopped being a constraint due to its high availability to everyone.<br />However, as information has become highly available and its manipulation easy, humans with a tendency to collect, sit on huge piles of information. Retaining an overview becomes excessively difficult. Required information is lost in the chaos and we are not able to exploit the potential of the information at our hands. As Vannevar Bush in 1945 recognized, this situation calls for designated Information Management Systems for the optimal utilization of the personal information at the disposal of a user. Subject to this thesis are Personal Information Management Systems that aim at organizing the information pile of a user and offering functionalities to make an efficient exploitation of information at hand possible. Personal Information Management is a fairly new field of research. This thesis describes the meaning of Personal Information Management with key notions and central issues and gives a detailed overview on existing Personal Information Management System projects based on different approaches. Based on current projects and needs of Personal Information Management, one chapter depicts a concept proposal for "the ideal PIM system". This introductory work also contains a discussion of problem areas in Personal Information Management as well as an outlook on research trends.