Mathemagenic

Stellingen are propositions that go with a PhD thesis according to the Dutch academic traditions. Those propositions are not a summary of a dissertation, but (I think :) rather a set of statements characterising a PhD-to-be and his or her values/thinking/reflections in relation to the work done.

Of course, it's a bit early for my own PhD (still 2 years to go), but I feel like starting to work on my own stellingen.

At this moment it's not about personal KM at all, it's about my relation with my PhD research...

Read Stellingen >>

Was sifting through my bookmarks/blog/paper collections on personal information management for a workshop... Found some papers I haven't seen before and finally got a bit better feel for PIM research
(at least between CSCW/HCI crowd).

I'm going to blog some papers, but if you don't want to wait check PIM+papers del.icio.us bookmarks

And, an overview of PIM challenges from Personal Information Management Group Report by William Jones and David Maier:

• Information is fragmented; so too, is the study of PIM
• How do we capture information from our lives away from the computer (and other electronic devices)?
• How do we keep others from capturing and disseminating our information?
• Where do the bits and pieces go?
• Who owns the information in the workplace?
• How can an employee's knowledge of the information space be captured for later use?
• How do we know what is working and what isn't?
• How can we make more effective use of existing tools and technology?

A lot of these applies to personal KM as well (and don't ask me about relations between PIM and PKM, read the role of information in knowledge sharing instead :) My favourite piece at the moment:

Evaluation of new PIM tools and techniques is very difficult for a number of reasons: a.) the tool/technique may help with one aspect of PIM but hinder others. It is necessary to evaluate the overall effect of a tool/technique on an individual’s ability to manage information. b.) PIM tools/techniques cannot be easily evaluated in a laboratory setting. Management of information occurs against a backdrop of other information and everyday tasks. A synthetic benchmark or common information collection can’t very well play the role of an arbitrary subject’s personal information space. c.) People adapt and their needs change. An accurate picture of a tool or technique’s utility emerges only over an extended period of evaluation.