Open AccessPersonal information management strategies and tactics used by senior engineers
Author(s) -
Pikas Christina K.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.1450440214
Subject(s) - personal information management , exploratory research , work (physics) , knowledge management , qualitative research , senior management , engineering , information system , engineering ethics , psychology , computer science , management information systems , sociology , public relations , political science , social science , mechanical engineering , electrical engineering
This paper reports the results of an exploratory qualitative study of how senior engineers in a research laboratory environment do personal information management (PIM). Responsive, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with four senior engineers. Thirteen themes in four groupings emerged. The four groupings are: organization and retrieval, un‐organized aspects, information keeping and preservation, and use of specialized tools. Themes not seen in other studies are: writing to remember and reporting to retrieve, and personal handbooks. The themes are described in detail. Implications for the design of information systems and future work are discussed.