Building a Better World with Our Information: The Future of Personal Information Management, Part 3 (Synthesis Lectures on Information Copncepts, Retrieval, and Services)

Personal Information Management (PIM) is the art of getting things done in our lives through information. How do we - can we better - manage our information at home, at school, at work, at play and at large; in a global community? How do we use information not only to know but also to represent, communicate and effect useful change in the world around us?

In the study of PIM, does the search for practical methods with practical impact lead to methods that are "massive open on-line"? Can the ancient practice of storytelling help us better to weave our fragmented information together? In the practice of PIM, how can our information best serve as "near knowledge" - close at hand and, through our information tools, serving in practical ways to extend the knowledge that's "in the head?" If attempts to multitask lead to ineffective, even dangerous, instances of task switching and divided attention, can better PIM help us to realize, instead, opportunities for "multi-goaling" where the same time and effort accomplishes not just one but several goals?

These and other questions are addressed in this third and final book to conclude the series on "The Future of Personal Information Management.

Part 1, Our Information, Always and Forever, covered the fundamentals of PIM and then explored the seismic shift, already well underway, towards a world where our information is always at hand (thanks to our devices) and forever on the web.

Part 2, Transforming Technologies to Manage Our Information, provided a more focused look at technologies for managing information. The opening chapter discussed "natural interface" technologies of input/output to free us from keyboard, screen and mouse. Successive chapters then explored technologies to save, search and structure our information. A concluding chapter introduced the possibility that we may see dramatic reductions in the "clerical tax" we pay as we work with our information.

Now in Part 3, "Building a Better World with Our Information", focus shifts to the practical present and to the near future. Part 3 is in three chapters:

- Group information management and the social fabric in PIM. How do we preserve and promote our PIM practices as we interact with others at home, at work, at play and in wider, even global, communities? (Chapter 10).

- Designing for PIM in the development of tools and in the selection of teachable (learnable) "better practices" of PIM. (Chapter 11).

- To each of us, our own concludes with an exploration of the ways each of us, individually, can develop better practices for the management of our information in service of the lives we wish to live and towards a better world we all must share. (Chapter 12).

個人資訊管理（PIM）是透過資訊來完成生活中各種事務的藝術。我們如何在家、學校、工作、娛樂和整個全球社群中更好地管理我們的資訊？我們如何利用資訊不僅僅是瞭解，還能夠表達、溝通和對周圍世界產生有用的改變？

在研究PIM時，尋找具有實際影響的實用方法是否會導致“大規模開放在線”（massive open on-line）的方法？古老的故事講述實踐是否能夠幫助我們更好地將我們分散的資訊結合在一起？在PIM的實踐中，我們的資訊如何最好地作為“近知識”（near knowledge） - 隨手可得，並且通過我們的資訊工具以實際的方式擴展“頭腦中的知識”？如果多任務嘗試導致無效甚至危險的任務切換和分散注意力，那麼更好的PIM是否能夠幫助我們實現“多目標”（multi-goaling）的機會，即同一時間和努力不僅實現一個目標，而是多個目標？

這些問題以及其他問題都在這本第三本也是最後一本書中得到了回答，以結束關於“個人資訊管理的未來”的系列。第一部分“我們的資訊，永遠存在”涵蓋了PIM的基礎知識，然後探討了已經在進行中的向我們的資訊始終在手（多虧我們的設備）並永遠存在於網絡上的世界的巨大轉變。

第二部分“轉變技術以管理我們的資訊”更加專注地探討了管理資訊的技術。開篇章討論了“自然界面”輸入/輸出技術，以使我們擺脫鍵盤、屏幕和滑鼠。接下來的章節探討了保存、搜索和結構化我們的資訊的技術。最後一章介紹了我們在處理資訊時可能會看到“文書稅”大幅減少的可能性。

現在在第三部分“利用我們的資訊建立更美好的世界”中，焦點轉向實際的現在和不久的將來。第三部分分為三章：

- 團體資訊管理和PIM中的社會結構。我們如何在與他人在家、工作、娛樂和更廣泛的社群中互動時保護和促進我們的PIM實踐？（第10章）。

- 在工具開發和可教授（可學習）的PIM“更好實踐”的選擇中設計PIM。 （第11章）。

- 對於我們每個人來說，我們自己的結束探索了每個人如何在我們希望過的生活和我們必須共享的更美好世界的服務中發展更好的資訊管理實踐的方式。 （第12章）。