[Source](https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/2031 "Permalink to Don’t Take My Folders Away! Organizing Personal Information to Get Things Done") # Don’t Take My Folders Away! Organizing Personal Information to Get Things Done Toggle navigation![][1] [ ResearchWorks Archive ][2] * **** * [Login][3] Toggle navigation [View Item ****][4] * __ [ ResearchWorks Home][2] * [Faculty and Researcher Data and Papers][5] * [Information School][6] * [Information School Technical Report Repository][7] * [View Item][4] * __  [ResearchWorks Home][2] * [Faculty and Researcher Data and Papers][5] * [Information School][6] * [Information School Technical Report Repository][7] * View Item JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. ## Don’t Take My Folders Away! Organizing Personal Information to Get Things Done ![Thumbnail][8] ##### View/Open [__ Don't take my folders away, current.pdf (232.2Kb)][9] ##### Date 2005-01-11 ##### Author Jones, William Phuwanartnurak, Ammy Jiranida Gill, Rajdeep Bruce, Harry ##### Metadata [Show full item record][10] ##### Abstract A study explores the way people organize information in support of projects (“teach a course”, “plan a wedding”, etc.). The folder structures to organize project information – especially electronic documents and other files – frequently resembled a “divide and conquer” problem decomposition with subfolders corresponding to major components (subprojects) of the project. Folders were clearly more than simply a means to one end: Organizing for later retrieval. Folders were information in their own right – representing, for example, a person’s evolving understanding of a project and its components. Unfortunately, folders are often “overloaded” with information. For example, folders sometimes included leading characters to force an ordering (“aa”, “zz”). And folder hierarchies frequently reflected a tension between organizing information for current use vs. repeated re-use. ##### URI ##### Collections * [Information School Technical Report Repository][7] [20] * * * [DSpace software][11] copyright © 2002-2015  [DuraSpace][12] [Contact Us][13] | [Send Feedback][14] Theme by  ![@mire NV][15]     Search ResearchWorks This Collection ## Browse All of ResearchWorks[Communities & Collections][16][By Issue Date][17][Authors][18][Titles][19][Subjects][20]This Collection[By Issue Date][21][Authors][22][Titles][23][Subjects][24] ## My Account [Login][3][Register][25] * * * [DSpace software][11] copyright © 2002-2015  [DuraSpace][12] [Contact Us][13] | [Send Feedback][14] Theme by  ![@mire NV][15]     [1]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/themes/Mirage2/images/uw-letter-logo.png [2]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/ [3]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/login [4]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu# [5]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/3774 [6]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/108 [7]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/1976 [8]: /researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/2031/Don%27t%20take%20my%20folders%20away%2c%20current.pdf.jpg?sequence=4&isAllowed=y [9]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/2031/Don%27t%20take%20my%20folders%20away%2c%20current.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y [10]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/2031?show=full [11]: http://www.dspace.org/ [12]: http://www.duraspace.org/ [13]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/contact [14]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/feedback [15]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/themes/Mirage2/images/%40mirelogo-small.png [16]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/community-list [17]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/browse?type=dateissued [18]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/browse?type=author [19]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/browse?type=title [20]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/browse?type=subject [21]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/1976/browse?type=dateissued [22]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/1976/browse?type=author [23]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/1976/browse?type=title [24]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/1976/browse?type=subject [25]: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/register