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Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management by William Jones β€” book cover

Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management

by William Jones
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Overview

WE ARE ADRIFT IN A SEA OF INFORMATION. We need information to make good decisions, to get things done, to learn, and to gain better mastery of the world around us. But we do not always have good control of our information - not even in the "home waters" of an office or on the hard drive of a computer. Instead, information may be controlling us - keeping us from doing the things we need to do, getting us to waste money and precious time. The growth of available information, plus the technologies for its creation, storage, retrieval, distribution and use, is astonishing and sometimes bewildering. Can there be a similar growth in our understanding for how best to manage information and informational tools?

This book provides a comprehensive overview of personal information management (PIM) as both a study and a practice of the activities people do and need to be doing so that information can work for them in their daily lives.

Introductory chapters of Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management provide an overview of PIM and a sense for its many facets. The next chapters look more closely at the essential challenges of PIM, including finding, keeping, organizing, maintaining, managing privacy, and managing information flow. The book also contains chapters on search, email, mobile PIM, web-based support, and other technologies relevant to PIM.

*For more information and author blog visit http://www.keepingthingsfound.com/.

* Focuses exclusively on one of the most interesting and challenging problems in today's world
* Explores what good and better PIM looks like, and how to measure improvements
* Presents key questions to consider when evaluating any new PIM informational tools or systems

Synopsis

WE ARE ADRIFT IN A SEA OF INFORMATION. We need information to make good decisions, to get things done, to learn, and to gain better mastery of the world around us. But we do not always have good control of our information - not even in the "home waters" of an office or on the hard drive of a computer. Instead, information may be controlling us - keeping us from doing the things we need to do, getting us to waste money and precious time. The growth of available information, plus the technologies for its creation, storage, retrieval, distribution and use, is astonishing and sometimes bewildering. Can there be a similar growth in our understanding for how best to manage information and informational tools?

This book provides a comprehensive overview of personal information management (PIM) as both a study and a practice of the activities people do and need to be doing so that information can work for them in their daily lives.

Introductory chapters of Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management provide an overview of PIM and a sense for its many facets. The next chapters look more closely at the essential challenges of PIM, including finding, keeping, organizing, maintaining, managing privacy, and managing information flow. The book also contains chapters on search, email, mobile PIM, web-based support, and other technologies relevant to PIM.

*For more information and author blog visit http://www.keepingthingsfound.com/.

* Focuses exclusively on one of the most interesting and challenging problems in today's world
* Explores what good and better PIM looks like, and how to measure improvements
* Presents key questions to consider when evaluating any new PIM informational tools or systems

About the Author, William Jones

William Jones is a research associate professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he manages the Keeping Found Things Found project. Dr. Jones contributed chapters on personal information management (PIM) to the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, the Handbook of Applied Cognition, and the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. He has presented numerous tutorials and courses on PIM, co-edited a book on PIM, and organized two PIM workshops, including an invitational sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Jones has published articles on basic research in cognitive psychology and more applied research in PIM, information retrieval, and human-computer interaction. Dr. Jones holds several patents relating to search and PIM. He received his doctorate in cognitive psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

We swim in information: in our computers, inboxes, Facebook pages, smartphones, digital cameras, MP3 players, everywhere. It's out of control. Taking back control is both an art and a science. It's called "personal information management" People hear that term, and they think: Microsoft Outlook. No. We mean something broader. Deeper. More than getting organized or even improving productivity: These days, managing your information is managing your very reality.

Keeping Found Things Found is about all of that. It offers "best practice," "infomanagement" techniques drawn from the latest research. What to save (and where). What to throw away (and when). Which new tools are worth the trouble (and which aren't).

But also: How should you think about your information? Can you use it in richer ways? What does it mean for your life? What should it mean? Important questions, raised -- and often answered -- in a fascinating book. Bill Camarda, from the January 2008 Read Only

From the Publisher

"A must- read for designers, developers, librarians, and anyone else who cares about the future of information interaction." -- Peter Morville, Author of, Ambient Findability, and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web "Today, software can deliver unprecedented support for managing our ever more copious information. This landmark book provides detailed knowledge of behavior and technology that is essential for effective design and use of these productivity tools." -- Jonathan Grudin, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research "This is an important book. Its theme is powerful and timely. The treatment combines keen observation, practical insight, and broad vision in way seldom seen." -- Clayton Lewis, Professor of Computer Science, University of Colorado

"William Jones has written an excellent book that should be read by anyone interested in personal information management, or indeed other subjects such as search and information seeking behavior." -- Professor T.D. Wilson, Editor-in-Chief, Information Research

Book Details

Published
November 1, 2007
Publisher
Elsevier Science
Pages
448
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780123708663

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