Assisted Self Reflection: Combining Lifetracking, Sensemaking & Personal Information Management

Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). CHI 2010, April 10–15, 2010. Atlanta, Georia, USA ACM 978-1-60558-930-5/10/04. Abstract The web, personal computers and instant ubiquitous digital communications have brought unprecedented constant demands on our attention. As a result, people do not spend as much time thinking, reflecting upon situations, decisions and activities as they used to. As a consequence, people feel less organized, and often lack the situational clarity to make informed decisions. In this paper, we present an ongoing project designed to make self-reflection an integral part of daily personal information management activity, and to provide facilities for fostering greater self-understanding through exploration of captured personal activity logs. We describe an application that visualizes such personal activity logs using many available “life-tracking” tools, and uses visual and textual PIM metaphors to convey this information in a familiar way that is personally relevant and meaningful.