Personal information management in the present and future perfect: Reports from a special NSF-sponsored workshop

In an ideal of personal information management or PIM, people always have just the right information, in the right form and at the right place, to meet their current information needs. Panelists all participated in a special workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation to consider the challenges of PIM that must be met in order to make significant progress towards this ideal. Panelists will discuss key challenges of and promising approaches to PIM. Approaches discussed involve not only high-technology tools but also practical, teachable everyday techniques of PIM. Panelists will also discuss what it means to foster a research community for the field of PIM inquiry. Although panelists will use their experiences at the workshop as a starting point, discussion will freely range beyond the workshop to a general discussion of PIM. The panel is structured to maximize interaction among the panelists themselves and with the audience.