‘It Never Occurred to Me That I Would Forget That’: Insights From a Personal Electronic Records Management Prototype Trial

Title
‘It Never Occurred to Me That I Would Forget That’: Insights From a Personal Electronic Records Management Prototype Trial
Publication Date
2025-11-30
Author(s)
Balogh, Matt
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3045-4014
Email: mbalogh2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mbalogh2
Billingsley, William
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1720-9076
Email: wbilling@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:wbilling
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Ergon Verlag
Place of publication
Germany
DOI
10.31083/KO44698
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/71822
Abstract

Managing personal electronic records that individuals and households receive and must address in daily life such as bills, receipts, and warranties is often frustrating, and oversights can result in unnecessary costs, including fines for overdue bills or penalties for driving an unregistered vehicle. Important personal records sent as a hyperlink in an email rather than an attachment may not remain available. Systematically saving and sorting personal electronic records leads to higher levels of satisfaction, reduced oversights such as missed payments, and increased motivation to attend to the management of personal electronic records. Information in personal records is often summarized allowing users to view how much they are spending on various categories such as utilities or subscriptions. This paper discusses findings from a user trial of a prototype application designed to aid personal electronic records management and task management at home by downloading, reading, analyzing and summarizing the content of personal records. Findings suggest a personal records management application can assist with timely task completion, such as paying bills, simplifying personal records management, reducing oversights and improving records management. The prototype alerted users that they may need to retrieve records that they did not anticipate needing again. Easier management and tracking of expenses and identification of unnecessary spending may encourage users to enhance their records management. The ability to extract information from personal records can generate innovative ideas for making everyday life easier. This study adds to the body of knowledge in the development of personal records management applications and to the wider domain of personal information management.

Link
Citation
Knowledge Organization, 52(7), p. 1-14
ISSN
2942-3309
0943-7444
Start page
1
End page
14
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International

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