Chapter 7

Organising and retrieving information on

your computer

Chapter 1: Navigating Information Literacy 1

Learning outcomes

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions:

• Why should I organise information on my personal computer and other devices?

• What is personal information management (PIM)?

• How can I organise information on my personal computer?

• How can I integrate cloud storage in my personal work environment?

• How can I use taxonomies to help me organise my information?

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Learning outcomes (cont.)

• How can I share data with friends and colleagues?

• How can I collaborate with friends and colleagues via the internet?

• What is metadata and how does this relate to tagging?

• Why should I install a desktop search engine on my personal computer?

• What are the typical characteristics of desktop search engines?

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How to organise information on your computer

Types of information needed in our soap-making example:

• Suppliers of ingredients and equipment

• Recipes

• Videos on techniques

• Inspirational photos of beautiful soap

• Material safety data sheets

• Relevant legislation.

Image credit: elena moiseeva. Shutterstock

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer

Examples of suppliers
Google search for soap ingredients suppliers:

Source: Google. https://www.google.com/. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 5

Examples of soap recipes

Source: Google. https://www.google.com/. Google and the Google logo are

registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission
Image source: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXbEPy_Xao

Source: Folder on personal computer. Microsoft© Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 6

Examples of ‘how to’ videos

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 7

Examples of photos for inspiration

Image credit: Valentyn Volkov. Shutterstock

Image credit: Jules Selmes. Pearson Education Ltd

Image credit: Imagemore Co., Ltd Image credit: oksix. 123rf.com

Image credit: Dr Erica Cosijn

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 8

Example of safety data sheet

© 2008, Scholar Chemistry. All Rights Reserved. Available: http://www.btps.ca/documents/general/Vegetable_Oil.pdf

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 9

Example of legislation

Source: https://www.gov.za/documents/foodstuffs-cosmetics-and-disinfectants-act-2-jun-1972-0000

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 10

Taxonomies

Taxonomy of Living Things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqxomJIBGcY&ab_channel=MarkDrollinger

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 11

Creating folders to organise your
information

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 12

Creating folders to organise your
information

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer

13
Metadata: data about data

Source: https://www.gov.za/documents/foodstuffs-cosmetics-and-disinfectants-act-2-jun-1972-0000# (Download act-54-1972.pdf)

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer

14
Cloud storage

• Requirement: Internet access.

• Safeguarding your data.

• Synchronising your data between the devices you are using.

• Automatic back-ups.

• Collaboration.

• Fee or free?

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bPkm-1mbuM

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 15

Desktop search engines

• Despite best practice PIM procedures, things might still get ‘lost’.

• Operating systems have built-in search engines.

• Subscription services, such as Copernic Desktop search:

https://www.capterra.co.za/software/9020/copernic-desktop-search

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 16

Summary

In this chapter, we have learned:

• How to organise your information by creating a folder structure and adding

metadata.

• Finding information by browsing a folder structure and searching for it using

a desktop search engine.

Chapter 7: Organising and retrieving information on your computer 17