Information and experience, a dialogue (original) (raw)

Recently, scholars have called for further research into information experience. However, it remains to be articulated how " information experience " fits within the broader realm of information behavior, and what the value of information experience research is for information science generally. This paper draws on the philosophy of aesthetics and phenomenology of practice in order to address these questions. The discussion is presented as a dialogue between an epistemologist, representing the majority viewpoint of information science, and an aestheticist, representing this emerging paradigm. The aestheticist suggests that truth can be understood not only as factuality that contributes to gnostic knowledge, but also as an uncovering that contributes to pathic knowledge. The aim of " understanding " is found to stand as common ground between epistemology and aesthetics. The value of individual experience in sociocultural development is discussed, along with some methodological approaches to the study of lived experience through phenomenology and aesthetic inquiry.