How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour
Introduction. We report an ongoing study of how people organize their computer files/folders on the hard disk of their office workstations, and discuss the questions being investigated as well as the results of a small survey with twelve subjects. Method. A questionnaire was used to collect informa...
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sg-ntu-dr.10356-1475652023-03-05T15:58:22Z How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour Khoo, Christopher S. G. Luyt, Brendan Ee, Caroline Osman, Jamila Lim, Hui-Hui Yong, Sally Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Social sciences::Communication Files Organization Office Introduction. We report an ongoing study of how people organize their computer files/folders on the hard disk of their office workstations, and discuss the questions being investigated as well as the results of a small survey with twelve subjects. Method. A questionnaire was used to collect information on the subjects, their work responsibilities and characteristics of their workstations. Data on file and folder names and file structure were extracted from the hard disk using a computer program STG FolderPrint Plus, DOS command and screen capture. A semi-structured interview collected information on subjects' strategies in naming and organizing files and folders, and in locating and retrieving files. Analysis. The data were analysed mainly through qualitative analysis and content analysis. Results. The subjects organized their folders in a variety of structures, from broad and shallow to narrow and deep hierarchies. One to three levels of folders is common. The labels for first level folders tended to be task-based or project-based. Most subjects located files by browsing the folder structure, with searching used as a last resort. The most common types of folder names were document type, organizational function/structure, and miscellaneous/temporary. The frequency of folders of different types appear related to the type of occupation. Published version 2021-04-06T05:30:14Z 2021-04-06T05:30:14Z 2007 Journal Article Khoo, C. S. G., Luyt, B., Ee, C., Osman, J., Lim, H. & Yong, S. (2007). How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour. Information Research, 11(2), Paper 293-. - http://informationr.net/ir/12-2/paper293.html https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147565 2 11 Paper 293 en Information Research © 2006 The Authors (published by University of Borås). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. application/pdf |
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Social sciences::Communication Files Organization Office Khoo, Christopher S. G. Luyt, Brendan Ee, Caroline Osman, Jamila Lim, Hui-Hui Yong, Sally How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
description |
Introduction. We report an ongoing study of how people organize their computer files/folders on the hard disk of their office workstations, and discuss the questions being investigated as well as the results of a small survey with twelve subjects.
Method. A questionnaire was used to collect information on the subjects, their work responsibilities and characteristics of their workstations. Data on file and folder names and file structure were extracted from the hard disk using a computer program STG FolderPrint Plus, DOS command and screen capture. A semi-structured interview collected information on subjects' strategies in naming and organizing files and folders, and in locating and retrieving files.
Analysis. The data were analysed mainly through qualitative analysis and content analysis.
Results. The subjects organized their folders in a variety of structures, from broad and shallow to narrow and deep hierarchies. One to three levels of folders is common. The labels for first level folders tended to be task-based or project-based. Most subjects located files by browsing the folder structure, with searching used as a last resort. The most common types of folder names were document type, organizational function/structure, and miscellaneous/temporary. The frequency of folders of different types appear related to the type of occupation. |
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Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information |
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Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Khoo, Christopher S. G. Luyt, Brendan Ee, Caroline Osman, Jamila Lim, Hui-Hui Yong, Sally |
format |
Article |
author |
Khoo, Christopher S. G. Luyt, Brendan Ee, Caroline Osman, Jamila Lim, Hui-Hui Yong, Sally |
author_sort |
Khoo, Christopher S. G. |
title |
How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
title_short |
How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
title_full |
How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
title_fullStr |
How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
title_full_unstemmed |
How users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
title_sort |
how users organize electronic files on their workstations in the office environment : a preliminary study of personal information organization behaviour |
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2021 |
url |
http://informationr.net/ir/12-2/paper293.html https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147565 |
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1759856153038159872 |