Composing Information Space: Writers’ Need for Information Management Techniques by Shaun Slattery, Ph.D. University of South Florida Polytechnic Presented at Computers & Writing @ Purdue, May 22, 2010

1. Composing Information Space: Writers’ Need for Information Management Techniques Shaun Slattery University of South Florida Polytechnic Computers & Writing @ Purdue Friday, May 22, 2010

3.  You should process information every time you collect it.” Merlin Mann, 43 Folders, on “Inbox 0”

4. Personal Information Management (PIM)

13. rhetorical invention composing processes communication PIMplications

15. …more research into the ways writers work to integrate new tools into their writing processes (acting with these technologies rather than simply acting on them or being acted upon by them)” Derek Van Ittersum. “Distributing Memory: Rhetorical Work in Digital Environments” TCQ, 18.3, 2009 (p.277)

17. Abrams, Baecker, & Chignell. (1998.) Information archiving with bookmarks: personal Web space construction and organization, SIGCHI Proceedings, p.41-48.

18. Abrams, Baecker, & Chignell. (1998.) Information archiving with bookmarks: personal Web space construction and organization, SIGCHI Proceedings, p.41-48.

20. A problem in evaluating PIM tools or systems is that personal information is, by definition, personal. Thus, it is difficult, or close to impossible, to develop reference tasks that can be performed by multiple users to test multiple tools and approaches” ManasTungare. "Mental Workload in Personal Information Management." Unpublished dissertation. 2009. (p.3)

21. Identify a range of practices from published research, our own research, & informally observed practice “Hack” our PIM practices & develop a repertoire and encourage students to do likewise Model our PIM practices for students

22. PIM is idiosyncratic

23. People are slow to adopt new PIM strategies and resistant to changing them

24. Few writers seem willing to wholly adopt and commit to new means of memory work that require drastic changes in their existing practices” Derek Van Ittersum. “Distributing Memory: Rhetorical Work in Digital Environments” TCQ, 18.3, 2009 (p.277)

25. We found that participants were reluctant to engage with a complex range of information sources, preferring to use the Internet. The main driver for progress in information seeking was the immediate demands of their work (e.g., assignments). Students used their growing expertise to justify a conservative information strategy, retaining established strategies as far as possible and completing tasks with minimum information-seeking effort” Claire Warwick, Jon Rimmer, Ann Blandford, Jeremy Gow, George Buchanan. "Cognitive economy and satisficing in information seeking: A longitudinal study of undergraduate information behavior." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 60.12. 2009. p. 2402

27. notes work

29. To Do’s work

30. contrary to popular wisdom, people are not poor at prioritizing. Rather, they have well-honed strategies for tackling particular task management challenges” VaivaKalnikaitė & Steve Whittaker. Cueing digital memory: how and why do digital notes help us remember? Proceedings of the 22nd British HCI Group Annual Conference on HCI 2008. (p. 153)

31. physical/spatial and temporal cues work

32. Two physical factors—spatial configuration and document form—were often considered before topic in determining document storage locations in the office” Case, Donald O. (1991). Conceptual organization and retrieval of text by historians: the role of memory and metaphor. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. v42 i9. 657-668.

33. metadata works

34. extra terms distinct from the main content [of notes] most frequently added to the beginning or the end… we find many searches that were identical to these appended terms” Max Van Kleek, Michael Bernstein, Katrina Panovich, Greg Vargas, David Karger, and M.C. Schraefel. "Note-to-Self: Examining Personal Information Keeping in a Lightweight Note-Taking Tool." CHI, 2009. (p.3)

35. PIM is social

37. PIM is social

38. researchers in the five universities had similar information-seeking behavior, with small differences because of varying academic unit structures and myriad libary services provided at the individual institutions” Niu, Xi. National study of information seeking behavior of academic researchers in the United States. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 61.5, 2010. (p.869)

40. Identify a range of practices from published research, our own research, & informally observed practice “Hack” our PIM practices & develop a repertoire and encourage students to do likewise Model our PIM practices for students

41. our own research…

42. informally observed practice… Image: “Taking Notes” a Creative Commons licensed photograph from the Flickr stream of user Phil Gyford.

43. “Hack” our PIM practices… Giles Turnbull , O’Reilly author, hacking his PIM

44. Model our PIM practices for students Distributing Memory Rhetorical Work in Digital Environments BIGGEST.pdf How Do People Organize Their Desks_1983.pdf

46. a collection of flexible, opportunistic practices that lets users construct, out of the tools available to them, useful assemblies of rhetorical tools and practices” Derek Van Ittersum. “Distributing Memory: Rhetorical Work in Digital Environments” TCQ, 18.3, 2009 (p.278)

47. thank you