Moreover, the users’ motivations are reflected and an EDS’s role with respect to other cloud-based storage services is analyzed. A typology of content that is kept safe in an EDS is developed. The second essay investigates what it means to go paperless with the help of an EDS in terms of user-behavior. Essays two and three identify current usage patterns and emerging problems from the user-perspective when individuals chose to store their information items in an EDS. Thereby, and with its in-depth study of business models for EDS, this essay provides the foundation and context for the further research activities of this thesis. The first essay gives an overview of the current landscape of electronic data safes in the e-business and e-government domain. The thesis consists of four research essays. Thereby, this thesis contributes to e-government, e-business, and human com-puter interaction by providing new knowledge and insights due to an in depth-analysis of current practices and by uncovering challenges and requirements that are relevant for the future design of EDS solutions or cloud-based information item storage solutions in general. This is done by researching existing EDS services and by carrying out exploratory research using the prototype of an active EDS. This thesis investigates the overarching research question: How can we reduce or even overcome information fragmentation in the context of e-business or e-government processes? by putting the EDS concept into practice. In other words, an EDS acts as a tool or service at the intersection of personal information management and process support in the domain of e-government and e-business.

This means, that the individuals decide with whom they want to share specific information items.

Besides storing such information items, an (active) EDS also connects individuals and organizations from the private and the public sector to exchange information items related to business processes following the user-managed access paradigm. As a technological solution to alleviate or overcome this problem of information fragmentation, cloud-based storage services such as Electronic Data Safes (EDS) emerge as the quasi-natural habitat for all digital valuables. In order to “get organized”, an individual nowadays needs to oversee a plethora of digital and physical information items stored at various locations.

In private households, paper-based documents are increasingly substituted by electronic documents.

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