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ABSTRACT

Semantic desktop environments aim at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of users carrying out daily tasks within their personal information management (PIM) infrastructure. They support the user by transferring and exploiting the explicit semantics of data items across different PIM applications. Whether such an approach does indeed reach its aim of facilitating users' life and--if so--to which extent, however, remains an open question. In this paper we address this question with the first summative evaluation of a semantic desktop. We have developed a test environment to evaluate two semantic PIM applications against standard PIM tools. As result, we have found significant efficiency and satisfaction improvements for typical PIM tasks.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Evaluation/methodology

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.1 Office Automation

General Terms:
Experimentation, Management

Keywords:
personal information management, semantic desktop, summative evaluation