personal information manager

{{Short description|Software used for organizing one's personal information}}

{{Merge|Personal information management|discuss=Talk:Personal information manager#Proposed merge of Personal information management with Personal information manager|date=January 2025}}

A personal information manager (often referred to as a PIM tool or, more simply, a PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to personal information management as a field of study.{{cite book |title=Personal Information Management |editor1-first=William |editor1-last=Jones |editor2-first=Jaime |editor2-last=Teevan | year=2007 |publisher=University of Washington Press |location=WA |isbn=978-0295987378}} As an information management tool, a PIM tool's purpose is to facilitate the recording, tracking, and management of certain types of "personal information".

Scope

Personal information can include any of the following:{{Cite journal|last=Jones|first=William|date=January 2008|title=Personal information Management|url=https://doi.org/10.1002/aris.2007.1440410117|journal=Annual Review of Information Science and Technology|publisher=Association for Information Science & Technology|volume=41|pages=460–462|doi=10.1002/aris.2007.1440410117 |arxiv=2107.03291 |via=Wiley}}

Address books
Alerts
A digital calendar with calendar dates, such as:
Anniversaries
Appointments
Birthdays
Events
Meetings
Education records
Email addresses
Fax communications
Itineraries
Instant message archives
Legal documents
Lists (such as reading lists, task lists)
Medical information, such as healthcare provider contact information, medical history, prescriptions
Passwords and login credentials
Personal file collections (digital and physical): documents, music, photos, videos and similar
Personal diary/journal/memos/notes
Project management features
Recipes
Reference materials (including scientific references, websites of interest)
RSS/Atom feeds
Reminders
Voicemail communications

Synchronization

Some PIM/PDM software products are capable of synchronizing data over a computer network, including mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). This feature typically stores the personal data on cloud drives allowing for continuous concurrent data updates/access, on the user's computers, including desktop computers, laptop computers, and mobile devices, such a personal digital assistants or smartphones.){{Cite journal|last=Neyem|first=Andrés|title=Sharing Information Resources in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks|url=https://users.dcc.uchile.cl/~luguerre/papers/CRIWG-05b.pdf|journal=Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile}}

History

Prior to the introduction of the term "Personal digital assistant" ("PDA") by Apple in 1992, handheld personal organizers such as the Psion Organiser and the Sharp Wizard were also referred to as "PIMs".{{cite web |url=http://memex.org/thereturnofthepda.html |title=The Return of the PDA |publisher=Marketing Computers |website=memex.org|date=February 1995}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2284229 |title=History of the Personal Data Assistant (PDA) |work=BBC|publisher=H2G2 |date=March 31, 2004 |access-date=January 18, 2014}}

The time management and communications functions of PIMs largely migrated from PDAs to smartphones, with Apple, RIM (Research In Motion, now BlackBerry), and others all manufacturing smartphones that offer most of the functions of earlier PDAs.

References

External links

{{cite web|website=famnit.upr.si|url=http://pim.famnit.upr.si/pim/pimtools.html|title=PIM Tools}} A list of research Personal information managers.
[https://www.globalmanagergroup.com/Products/iso-27701-gdpr-documents-manual.htm ISO 27701:2019 Personal information management system and GDPR documentation requirements]
[https://www.punyam.com/ISO-27701-certification-consultancy.htm Steps to be followed while implementing ISO/IEC 27701 based Personal information management system]

Personal information manager