In this paper we show how a user-centered design (UCD) method can be successfully combined with an agile software development approach, namely feature-driven development (FDD), to develop the web-based information management system myPIM. This system supports users’ workflow requirements in research and teaching/learning contexts. It provides bookmark, file, and reference archives, as well as possibilities for exchanging information with colleagues and students. By describing the system and its development process we show how this combination of methodologies supported our development process to create a service that truly assists the target audience and is easy to use.
In this paper we present myPIM -- a graphical information management system that provides user workflow requirements in research and teaching/learning context mainly by providing a user's bookmark archive, file archive and the possibility to exchange information with colleagues.
The massive growth of online information continually increases in complexity and needs to be managed efficiently and resourcefully. We describe an important distinction between data, information and knowledge in this scope to gain awareness about these notions. Based on the analysis of searching, recovering and finding, it was concluded that flat tagging instead of hierarchical taxonomies should be used. Therefore, we developed a modular concept based on common Java and JavaScript frameworks that supports this kind of labeling.
A very important feature of myPIM is its dual use approach. Primarily designed as a personal knowledge management tool, this usage gives off information, which can support colleagues in discovering relevant information. As a collaborative or community tool myPIM tries on the one hand to employ the so-called "wisdom of the crowds" phenomenon, but on the other hand has to deal with the fact that the used ontologies are not fixed but co-evolve with their communities of use -- an issue that was recently addressed in the new pragmatic web approach [27].