Refinding electronic information is a common problem, yet it has received less study than the problem of how to find information for the first time. In this dissertation, I examine how people approach tasks to refind information they have seen on the Web and factors that may affect refinding. I conducted a controlled, laboratory study in which participants participated in two sessions: one to find information for a set of 18 tasks and a second session, about a week later, to attempt a set of counterpart refinding tasks. Results indicate that finding and refinding do have differences, but not for all types of tasks. The use of Web search engines was not observed to change significantly from the first session to the second. However, for tasks that participants were more familiar with, search engines were used less. Tasks that involved refinding a subset of the information that was found in the first session took longer to complete and were perceived as more difficult. Participants often went directly to known resources on the Web to start their searches. These sets of known resources included many on-line counterparts of paper resources such as telephone directories, dictionaries, and newspapers. For many tasks, participants used the same starting strategy to refind the information that they used find it, indicating strong patterns of access. This work contributes to the base of knowledge about how people refind information and the factors that affect refinding. It also contributes to the research field of information refinding and personal information management by identifying dimensions and factors that affect refinding. The results reported have implications for the design of Web sites and information repositories, the design of tools to help users find and refind information, and for the research community studying personal information management. / Ph. D.

Multiple devices such as desktops, laptops, and cell phones are often used to manage users' personal information, such as files, calendars, contacts, emails, and bookmarks. This dissertation presents the results of two studies that examined users' mental workload in this context, especially when transitioning tasks from one device to another. In a survey of 220 knowledge workers, users reported high frustration with current devices' support for task migration, e.g. making files available on multiple machines. To investigate further, I conducted a controlled experiment with 18 participants. While they performed PIM tasks, I measured their mental workload using subjective measures and physiological measures. Some systems provide support for transitioning users' work between devices, or for using multiple devices together; I explored the impact of such support on mental workload and task performance. Participants performed three tasks (Files, Calendar, Contacts) with two treatment conditions each (lower and higher support for migrating tasks between devices.) This dissertation discusses my findings: workload measures obtained using the subjective NASA TLX scale were able to discriminate between tasks, but not between the two conditions in each task. Task-Evoked Pupillary Response, a continuous measure, was sensitive to changes within each task. For the Files task, a significant increase in workload was noted in the steps before and after task migration. Participants entered events faster into paper calendars than into an electronic calendar, though there was no observable difference in workload. For the Contacts task, task performance was equal, but mental workload was higher when no synchronization support was available between their cell phone and their laptop. Little to no correlation was observed between task performance and both workload measures, except in isolated instances. This suggests that neither task performance metrics nor workload assessments alone offer a complete picture of device usability in multi-device personal information ecosystems. Traditional usability metrics that focus on efficiency and effectiveness are necessary, but not sufficient, to evaluate such designs. Given participants' varying subjective perceptions of these systems and differences in task-evoked pupillary response, aspects of hot cognition such as emotion, pleasure, and likability show promise as important parameters in system evaluation. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to explore how students manage their financial resources. Data consisted of student records of their expenditures and income over a one month period of time, reliable financial documents provided by the respondents (i.e., checkbook registers, credit card statements), and individual interviews. This study was designed to gain a better understanding of the financial behaviors of college students at a large, public, research university. Specifically, this study was designed to explore the following research questions: 1. How do traditional-aged, lower-division college students manage their financial resources? 2. What are the financial management behaviors of freshmen versus sophomore on-campus students? 3. What are the financial management behaviors of on- versus off- campus sophomore students? A stratified purposeful sample of 17 traditional-aged freshman and sophomore students was selected for study. Students who transitioned directly from high school to college were considered traditional-aged students. Students who were in their first or second year of college were considered to be freshman or sophomore students, respectively. The data were analyzed for two purposes. The first purpose was to understand where participants spent their money, on what kinds of items, and their sources of income. This information was collected through a qualitative analysis of documents. The second purpose was to understand how and why the participants made the financial decisions they did during the period under study, and to gain an understanding of their larger financial situations. This information was collected through a qualitative analysis of individual interviews. The results of this research contributed to both practice and research. In terms of practice, the results of this study informed three constituencies. Student affairs professionals might use the results to develop programs and services that assist students in managing their financial resources while in college. Students might benefit from the results by identifying management behaviors to employ, and those to avoid. Parents of traditional-aged students might benefit by assisting their students with management skills before they matriculate. Future researchers might elaborate on the present study and examine financial management skills in relation to other issues in higher education, such as retention and academic success. Additionally, future researchers might examine financial management education programs and services at campuses nationwide, or further examine financial management behaviors of college juniors and seniors. Results revealed several important findings. First, spending patterns can be traced to developmental issues associated with lower division students. For example, freshmen spend more money on food and entertainment than their sophomore counterparts, suggesting that social adjustment and making friends are important issues for first year students. Second, students from families which discuss financial issues have better money management skills. Third, students do not discuss financial matters outside their families, even with close friends. Finally, students spend as much as five times more than they earn in a month. Coupled with the study's other findings, these results suggest campuses need to provide programs and services related to financial management skills if students are to develop sound personal budgeting skills while in college. / Master of Arts

Personal Information Management (PIM) studies the practice of storing, organizing, and retrieving information by an individual in support of their roles and tasks (Bergman, et al., 2004). One important problem in PIM is information fragmentation (IF) — the condition of having data in different formats, distributed across multiple locations, manipulated by different applications, and residing in a generally disconnected manner (Tungare, 2007). IF can conflict with the PIM ideal that users should have access to the right information at the right time, in the right place, in the right form, and of sufficient completeness and quality to perform the task at hand (Bergman, et al., 2004). It is typically assumed that IF is unintentional, and occurs as a result of the many applications and devices we use to do our daily work. It is further assumed that IF is "bad" or has negative consequences. In this thesis, I study when IF occurs intentionally. Intentional IF (IIF) refers to the fragmentation in PIM that occurs when a person fragments his or her own personal data purposefully. Although research into the problem of IF has been growing quickly in the past decade, IIF has not been investigated in the literature. Prior studies have portrayed IF as a problematic type of information management. Email is a common context in which IF is found. While IF in email may be unintentional, such as when required by an employer, it is also likely to be intentional, as is the case when users use separate email accounts for different purposes. To further the research in this field, this project investigated the phenomenon of IIF in email by conducting and analyzing data from an online survey. In addition to finding the extent of IIF in email, the survey addressed what motivates the participant to purposely fragment their email as well as the advantages and disadvantages in doing so. My study is the first that has explored intentional fragmentation of information. The findings of this study show that IIF exists in email usage, revealing that IIF occurs across a user's devices and also across a user's multiple email accounts. The two most common motivations for IIF are to keep information separated by the user's social roles (work, school, personal communications, etc.), and to filter out extraneous information in order to simplify their information management. These results show that in addition to the negative consequences of IF there also exists positive uses of IF, that is helpful for some users. / Master of Science

Email has become deeply embedded in many users' daily lives. To investigate how email features in users lives, particularly how users attend to email and get lost within it, I ran five studies that probed how users determined relevancy of messages, logged interactions with email, gathered diary entries related to individual sessions, and investigated the gratifications sought from email use. For the first study, I performed an exploratory experiment in the laboratory to determine how participants assessed the importance of individual emails (N=10). The next investigation I undertook involved three different studies, which I detail individually: a survey on email usage (N=54); a two-week study of email usage (N=20); and finally, the application of Attentional Network Test (N=9). My final study was to validate my findings around the reasons for attending to email, this was done through deploying a survey that followed the Uses and Gratification Theory tradition (N=52) In my studies I found that the majority of attentional effort is around reading email and participating in conversations, as opposed to email management. I also found that participants attended to email primarily based on notifications, instead of the number of unread messages in their inbox. I present my results through answering several research questions, and leverage Conversation Analysis (CA), particularly conversation openings, to explicate several problematic aspects around email use. My findings point to inefficiencies in email as a communication medium, mainly, around how summons are (or are not) issued. This results in an increased burden on email users to maintain engagement and determine (or construct) the appropriate moment for interruption. My findings have several implications: email triage does not seem to be problematic for the participants in my studies, somewhat in contrast to previous research; much of the problem around email, particularly emph{getting lost in email} is in managing the tension between promptly responding to messages while limiting engagement with email; due to the social nature of the problems with email, modifications to the email client are limited in their potential effectiveness to prevent getting lost and reduce email related anxiety. / Ph. D.

Master of Science

Man's perception of his personal space can be compared to a basic concept in the study of animal behavior, territoriality, defined by Hall as "behavior by which an organism characteristically lays claim to an area and defends it against members of its own species" (1966, p. 7). Territoriality was first described in 1920 by the English ornithologist H. E. Howard. He recognized events that had been noted by naturalists as far back as the seventeenth century as manifestations of territoriality (Hall, 1966). --From "Chapter 1 Introduction and Rationale."

As we move into the new millennium, computers will increasingly become part of the human culture. As such, computers will continue to effect families, and there will undoubtedly be a proliferation of computer usage across family types. Because computers will be an integral part of change in the next millennium, it is important to examine their potential impact on the basic unit of society- the family. This study, descriptive in nature, provides insight on families and their interactions as related to computer use in their homes. Better understanding of computers and family life can help provide the basis for a smoother transition for families into the expanding world of information technology. As the expansion of the digital age proceeds, its impact on family life would seem to warrant investigation. Information on who is using computers in the home, how those computers are being used, and how time is spent on computers can add to our appreciation of the impact of computer technology. In addition, the perceived impact of computers needs to be assessed in relation to outcomes for family life- interaction, relationships, and familial organization. / Master of Science

This thesis examines the influence of nationalism on individual identity, focusing on the United States as a case study. It argues that the emergence of nationalism significantly shapes personal identity, impacting individual worldviews and lifeways. Utilizing insights from sociology, philosophy, and religious studies, this paper delves into modern concepts of diversity, secularism, and the social phenomenon of nationalism. The study explores the intersection of nation and religion, suggesting a shift toward individual worldviews and lifeways as a framework that encompasses both religious and secular perspectives to recognize the influence of both in the lives of individuals. Through an analysis of American culture, the paper demonstrates nationalism's role in molding American societal norms and individual identities. Additionally, this research underscores the importance of recognizing the impact of nationalism for navigating the complexities of modern pluralistic societies, contributing to the ongoing cultural conversation by offering an analysis that bridges secular and religious perspectives to offer a holistic understanding of individual and collective meaning-making in the contemporary world.

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