2023/06/09 by Helene Hellmich, Hellmich, Helene, Jesse David Dinneen +1 · 1 citation
Decision Sciences · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cognitive Functions and Memory #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Personal Information Management and User Behavior #Technology Use by Older Adults
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2306.06026
openalex publication_date 2023/06/09 · openalex created_date 2023/06/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
While all individuals deal with increasingly large amounts of digital information in their everyday lives and professionally, prior works suggest visual artists have unique information management practices and challenges. This study therefore examined the personal information management (PIM) practices and challenges of six practising visual artists using guided tours and short interviews. It was found that the visual artists had some unique practices connected to their strong emphasis on serendipity, inspiration, and visual dimensions of information. Like non-artists, the participants faced challenges across all phases of PIM, chiefly an excess of information and fragmented organisation, and they found it especially hard to assess how personal and valuable their information could be. After characterising this rarely discussed PIM demographic, we draw on the findings to provide concrete recommendations for artists doing PIM, for information and cultural heritage institutions, and for designers of PIM software.