In the ideal world, we would have Personal Information Management (PIM) tools that would enable us to have the right information at the right time, in the right place, in the right form, and of sufficient completeness and quality to perform the current activity. However, significant challenges must be met if PIM is to approach this ideal. Notwithstanding the importance of PIM, the field of PIM research is currently fragmented. The NSF Workshop on Personal Information Management will bring together participants selected to represent a range of perspectives on PIM in order to assess PIM as a need and as a field of inquiry with special focus on the ways in which computing technology can help. The workshop will produce a detailed report outlining a roadmap for PIM research and describing: (1) the current state of PIM as a practice and a field of research; (2) major challenges that must be addressed if PIM is to improve and if the field is to advance; (3) approaches that promise to meet these challenges and specific suggestions on how these approaches can be nurtured, including PIM education. The report will be widely disseminated and is expected to have a major influence on the conceptualization of PIM and on the direction of PIM research. Special care will be taken, in the selection of workshop participants and in the content of the final report, to represent a diversity of user needs including the needs of minorities, the economically disadvantaged, students, the elderly and the disabled.
