The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff

Our digital stuff is increasing by the bucket load each day. How do we manage it? Bergman and Whittaker's important and scientifically grounded book provides a fascinating account of why we persist with seemingly old-fashioned methods when there are alternative seemingly better approaches that have been designed by software companies. Much food for thought.

Yvonne Rogers, Professor of Interaction Design, University College London

In 1980, personal digital information meant a few dozen files. Today, it is many thousands of files per person. We each curate our own British Museum of digital stuff. Bergman and Whittaker explain how and why we do this, accessibly and authoritatively integrating the psychology and technology of personal information management, and directing that understanding toward future designs.

John M. Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University; author of Making Use

As two of the most experienced researchers in the world on personal information management, Bergman and Whittaker have written the go-to book. Drawing on insights from years of research, they point the way to developing much better technologies for dealing with the thorny challenges of keeping, organizing, and using our own digital stuff.

Abigail Sellen, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research; coauthor of The Myth of the Paperless Office

Why aren't the information retrieval tools that have partly tamed content on the web equally effective in helping us manage the massive amounts of digital stuff we all have accumulated? Drawing from their own empirical research and fundamental principles of cognitive psychology, Bergman and Whittaker identify the way that our prior knowledge of the content and predictions about context of future use cause hierarchical folders to be both the preferred and most effective methods for managing our digital content. The deep, scientific base for their explanation and applications to new designs for personal information management makes this book stand out.

Robert Kraut, Herbert A. Simon Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Carnegie Mellon University

Fascinating.

Tim Harford

Financial Times