E-mail in Semantic Task Management

Email management applications are among the mostly used tools for collaboration in enterprises. They are often overused and simultaneously criticised for lacking means to prevent cognitive overload of the users and off-target value of the deployed software. Apparently, their value proposition does not cover the user needs for the management of personal communication, information and collaboration appropriately. Recently, several approaches towards Semantic Email handling have been proposed to ensure more efficient use of contextual information. Rather novel Semantic Task Management approaches have been considered to support break down of the personal workload in terms of information, communication and context management. In this paper, we propose to combine the strengths of semantic web technologies, email technology and task management. We base our research upon results obtained in the EU projects Nepomuk and Ecospace, and describe the synergies that result from the introduced combination. To illustrate the idea of integrating task management and email by means of semantic technologies, we refer to a prototype that we have developed within the framework of the Nepomuk project. We also conducted case study interviews that underline the expected benefits of combining the three technologies.