Understanding the Fundamental Processes of Personal Information Management, a Comparison of Academic’s Personal Archiving Methods to the DCC Digital Curation Lifecycle Model

This qualitative research study investigated how academic users manage and archive their personal digital information. Specific focus was placed on learning how graduates of different disciplines managed their personal digital information. Twelve graduate students from diverse disciplines were interviewed, given a background questionnaire, and then sorted into focus groups that matched their personal information management methods. One focus group discussion was guided by questions that referenced the model I created for a previous study of how graduate students of diverse disciplines manage their personal digital photographs; while the other group’s discussion focused on questions that referenced the Digital Curation Centre’s DCC lifecycle model.