Evaluating long-term use of the Gnowsis semantic desktop for PIM

Abstract

The Semantic Desktop is a means to support users in Personal Information Management (PIM). Using the open source software prototype Gnowsis, we evaluated the approach in a two month case study in 2006 with eight participants. Two participants continued using the prototype and were interviewed after two years in 2008 to show their long-term usage patterns. This allows us to analyse how the system was used for PIM. Contextual interviews gave insights on behaviour, while questionnaires and event logging did not. We discovered that in the personal environment, simple has-Part and is-related relations are sufficient for users to file and re-find information, and that the personal semantic wiki was used creatively to note information. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.