(Information Studies) programme at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. These students have to complete either a small Master's thesis or a group project (plus an extra course) to complete the requirements for the M.Sc. The approach we use to collect data is through a series of student group projects, where each student obtains permission from three or four friends to harvest the filenames, folder names and file structure from the personal computer or notebook that they use at work. One reason lies in the difficulty of gaining access to people's personal hard drives, which provides the principal record of such behaviour. The frequency of folders of different types appear related to the type of occupation.ĭespite the importance of the subject of personal informaton organization behaviour, only a small number of user studies have been published concerning how people organize paper files in their offices ( Kwasnik 1989 & 1991), e-mails ( Ducheneaut & Bellotti 2001 Whittaker & Sidner 1996), bookmarks of Web pages ( Boardman & Sasse 2004), and objects on the computer desktop screen ( Barreau & Nardi 1995 Ravasio et al. The most common types of folder names were document type, organizational function/structure, and miscellaneous/temporary. Most subjects located files by browsing the folder structure, with searching used as a last resort. The labels for first level folders tended to be task-based or project-based. One to three levels of folders is common. The subjects organized their folders in a variety of structures, from broad and shallow to narrow and deep hierarchies. The data were analysed mainly through qualitative analysis and content analysis. A semi-structured interview collected information on subjects' strategies in naming and organizing files and folders, and in locating and retrieving files.Īnalysis. 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 questionnaire was used to collect information on the subjects, their work responsibilities and characteristics of their workstations. 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. Division of Information Studies, School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeĪbstract Introduction.

How to organize files and folders