Disorganization and How to Support it – Reflections on the Design of Wireless Information Devices

This paper examines concepts behind people’s personal data organization, and considers the idea that new technologies support us in remaining, or becoming, disorganized. Examples are given of three technologies which support various forms of disorganized behavior. A study, designed to investigate the ways in which people store and access personal data, is then summarized. Results suggested considerable variation in the extent to which people have structured strategies of information management; four user types are identified. The implications for data management via wireless information devices (WIDs) are considered. It is suggested that the key to designing effective and pleasurable personal data systems for a majority of users is ‘flexibility’ in interface design.