Human Information Behavior Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Human Information Behavior

From a behaviorist perspective, the desire to upload “minds” is already being realized on a mass, hyper-industrial scale thanks to the convergence of cognitive computing and Big Data. The accusation is that the “mind” is not an entity that exists intracranially. Instead, it is conceived as a process of individuation, which occurs in different modes and numbers. Some narratives of mind-uploading and technics in popular culture are explored: Transcendence (2014, dir. Wally Pfister) and Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. The discussed issues consider Bernard Stiegler’s phenomenological notion of originary default and Thierry Bardini’s analysis of junk. Several questions are raised regarding miscalculations, accidents, in addition to Nicolas Agar’s discussion on the end of humanity, and Daniel Dennett’s Multiple Drafts theory within the context of exteriorization, which is considered as constitutive of interiority.

- by Adrian Mróz
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- Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy, Posthumanism, Human Information Behavior

As an emergence of social question-answering (Q&A) services has spurred the growth of social information seeking through question-answering interactions in order to share knowledge and information for users’ need in their learning processes, the current study focuses on conceptualizing and gaining a holistic view of what motivates students to visit social Q&A services and engage in social interactions for sharing and seeking knowledge. The findings show that an immediate help, learning, verification are the top motivations for asking a question, while altruism, learning, and self-enjoyment are the top motivations for answering a question on Brainly, an online social learning Q&A service.

- by Brainly Inc. and +2
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- Information Technology, Education, Machine Learning, Personalization

A quantitative content analysis of recently published research in information
behaviour is compared with previous analyses to create a 30-year profile of
work in the field. Variables of particular interest include research methods employed,
user groups studied, relative interdisciplinarity, theoretical frameworks
applied, attention to affect, and attention to systems design.

- by Heidi Julien
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- Information Behavior, Content Analysis, Human Information Behavior

This study investigated the psychometric properties of Information Seeking Anxiety Scale (ISAS) using postgraduate students in a Pakistani university. A 47-item ISAS was administered to 297 students, selected through stratified convenient sampling procedure, by visiting each department. An eighty-five percent (85%) response rate was achieved through usable returned questionnaires. The principal component analysis (PCA) using varimax rotation yielded six-factor solution to the Information Seeking Anxiety Scale (ISAS), namely, (1) Resource Anxiety; (2) ICT Anxiety; (3) Library Anxiety; (4) Search Anxiety; (5) Mechanical Anxiety; and, (6) Thematic Anxiety. This six factors corresponded to those of Erfanmanesh, Abrizah, and Karim (2012) but differed somewhat with regard to the statements loaded on each factor. Moreover, these six-factors combined together accounted for 52.7 % of the total variance explained. Seven item were dropped as a result of reliability analysis resulting 40-item instrument. Also, the values of Cronbach’s internal reliability coefficient alpha for overall ISAS and its sub-scales were found satisfactory as recommended by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994). These results demonstrated the psychometric soundness and stability of ISAS when tested with Pakistani postgraduate students recruited from a research-intensive institute of higher learning. More psychometric studies are required before drawing any sound conclusions regarding adequacy of ISAS in assessing information seeking anxiety in Pakistani information users.

The importance of the acquisition and provision of information within knowledge work such as engineering is widely acknowledged. This article reports an extensive empirical study of such information behaviors in engineers, using a novel and effective work sampling method. Seventy-eight design engineers each carried a portable handheld computer (PDA) for 20 working days. Once every hour, they were prompted to enter data concerning the task they were currently performing, including the information behaviors in which they were engaging. The resultant data represent a comprehensive picture of engineers' information behaviors and the percentage of their working time for which each of these behaviors accounts (55.75% in total). Specific hypotheses concerning the time spent engaged in these behaviors were also tested. Accordingly, it was found that participants spent substantially more time receiving information they had not requested than information they had, and this pattern was also reflected when they provided others with information. Furthermore, although there was no difference found between the time participants spent searching for information from other people compared with nonhuman sources, in the former case they spent relatively less time locating the information source and information within that source, and relatively more time engaged in problem solving and decision making. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and organizational practice.

- by Mark Robinson
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- Information Systems, Information Science, Information Retrieval, Communication
- by James P. Purdy
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- Psychology, Computer Science, Information Science, Information Technology

Purpose/Thesis: The article contains theoretical and conceptual reflection and analysis of how emotions and other affective phenomena are defined and understood in contemporary research on human information behavior. The article draws attention to the interdisciplinary nature of research into affective information activities. Approach/Methods: The reported research employs a qualitative approach, relying on critical literature review, and conceptual and thematic analysis. The analyzed material came from select publications from 2014-2020. Results and Conclusions: Information science studies the role of emotions in information behavior. However, the application of the affective paradigm remains very limited. The affective understanding of information activities should be constantly expanded on an interdisciplinary basis with reference to theories and methods of other disciplines, such as psychology. Originality/Value: The article studies the development of the theoretical affective phenomenon paradigm and presents the most important approaches psychology takes to emotions. By analyzing the latest trends in the study of affective information behaviors, the study joins the collaborative effort to develop an agenda providing a theoretical and practical basis for the development of interdisciplinary research within the affective paradigm. Keywords Affective paradigm. Emotions. Information behavior. Interdisciplinary approach. Psychology of emotions. Qualitative analysis. Qualitative content analysis.

This paper reports on an exploratory study of how university students perceive and interact with Web search engines compared to Web-based OPACs. A qualitative study was conducted involving sixteen students, eight of whom were first-year undergraduates and eight of whom were graduate students in Library and Information Science. The participants performed searches on Google and on a university OPAC. The interviews and think-afters revealed that while students were aware of the problems inherent in Web searching and of the many ways in which OPACS are more organized, they generally preferred Web searching. The coding of the data suggests that the reason for this preference lies in psychological factors associated with the comparative ease with which search engines can be used, and system and interface factors which made searching the Web much easier and less confusing. As a result of these factors, students were able to approach even the drawbacks of the Web—its clutter of irrelevant pages and the dubious authority of the results—in an enthusiastic and proactive manner, very different from the passive and ineffectual admiration they expressed for the OPAC. The findings suggest that requirements of good OPAC interface design must be aggressively redefined in the face of new, Web-based standards of usability.

Referat ma charakter metodologiczny, jego zasadniczym celem jest opis i dyskusja jakościowej analizy danych wizualnych jako procedury poznawczej w badaniach zachowań informacyjnych człowieka (ang. human information behavior). W interpretatywnych/rozumiejących dociekaniach informatologicznych, zwłaszcza związanych z refleksją nad człowiekiem w świecie informacji, wizualny materiał empiryczny (fotografie, nagrania wideo, rysunki i schematy wykonane przez respondentów) stanowić może – obok „klasycznych” danych werbalnych (pochodzących np. z dzienniczków albo wywiadów) – wartościowe źródło poznania. W szczególności zwraca na to uwagę Jenna Hartel, pionierka badań wizualnych w dziedzinie information behavior. Należy dodatkowo pokreślić, iż analiza danych wizualnych nie jest tożsama z wizualizacją danych, mimo podobieństwa nazw obydwu procedur.
Opracowanie niniejsze składa się z dwóch głównych części. Pierwsza z nich powstała na podstawie analizy i krytyki piśmiennictwa informatologicznego z lat 2001-2019 oraz wybranych publikacji z zakresu innych nauk społecznych. Odpowiada na następujące pytania badawcze: (1) czy wizualne dane empiryczne są w ogóle wykorzystywane w obszarze zachowań informacyjnych i – jeżeli tak – w jaki sposób i w kontekście jakich zagadnień szczegółowych, w tym – za pomocą jakich technik są gromadzone, (2) jak prowadzona jest analiza tych danych – intuicyjnie czy systematycznie, ze świadomością i eksplikacją przyjmowanych założeń teoretycznych oraz epistemologicznych i metodologicznych.
Część druga referatu ukazuje sposób wykonania, typ rezultatów oraz możliwe korzyści, wady i zalety jakościowej analizy danych wizualnych w badawczej praktyce. Stanowi studium przypadku przestrzeni informacyjnych w życiu codziennym studentów pierwszego roku zarządzania informacją w Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim. Materiał empiryczny w postaci 63. rysunków przeanalizowano stosując kodowanie indukcyjne oraz analizę tematyczną. Perspektywę teoretyczno-metodologiczną opisywanych badań uformowały m.in. teoria horyzontów informacyjnych Diane H. Sonnewald, a także koncepcje małych światów Elfredy Chatman oraz tymczasowych miejsc informacyjnych Karen Fisher.
Analiza danych wizualnych może być bardzo owocna poznawczo, umożliwia m.in. uchwycenie „rzeczywistości informacyjnej” tak, jak ta faktycznie jest postrzegana przez użytkowników (współczynnik humanistyczny). Jest jednak czasochłonna, wymaga skrupulatności, solidnej autorefleksji badacza oraz – podobnie jak inne procedury jakościowe – pozostawienia tzw. „ścieżki sprawdzenia” w celu zapewnienia wiarygodności i intersubiektywnej sprawdzalności dociekań.

The human factor is often described as the weakest link of an information security system. The application of information security technical solutions does not always result in improved security. The human factor is more likely to cause serious information security breaches than technical vulnerabilities. In the local context, the human factor has been found to lack interest from the research community, with most information security research giving focus on the management and technological component of Information Security. The aim of this research is to identify and focus on the human factor of the organisation, which affects the information security. This research tries to explore and understand employees' role in information security in public licensed commercial banks focusing on human factors that contributes towards information security. The purpose is to achieve a better understanding of the importance of the human factor in ensuring and improving the information security of public licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka. The analysis indicated that a main problem regarding users' role in the information security work is their lack of motivation and knowledge regarding information security and related work. This specifies the need to increase the quality of the users' role and responsibility. Secondly, the existing approaches at the studied public banks, documentation and awareness sessions, have no considerable effect on users' behaviour and awareness. Third, in order to cope with conflicting issues of information security and other work tasks, it is argued for new approaches that influence users' risk perception and safe behaviour. Participants demand for more user involving approaches in the information security work in their respective banks. This call for humanistic information security management approach which builds awareness and confidence, improving knowledge and utilize balanced risk communication in direct contact with the employees.

- by Sahan Weerasinghe and +1
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- Information Security, Cyberpsychology, Human Information Behavior, Information System Security

Purpose — Serendipity is an interesting phenomenon to study in information science as it plays a fundamental - but perhaps underestimated - role in how we discover, explore, and learn in all fields of life. The purpose of this paper is to operationalize the concept of serendipity by providing terminological 'building blocks' for understanding connections between environmental and personal factors in serendipitous encounters. Understanding these connections is essential when designing affordances in physical and digital environments that can facilitate serendipity.
Approach — In this paper, serendipity is defined as what happens when we, in unplanned ways, encounter resources (information, things, people, etc.) that we find interesting. In the outlined framework, serendipity is understood as an affordance, i.e. a usage potential when environmental and personal factors correspond with each other. The framework introduces three key affordances for facilitating serendipity: diversifiability, traversability, and sensoriability, covering capacities of physical and digital environments to be diversified, traversed, and sensed. The framework is structured around couplings between the three key affordances and three key personal serendipity factors: curiosity, mobility, and sensitivity. Ten sub-affordances for serendipity and ten coupled personal sub-factors are briefly outlined. Related research is compared with and mapped into the framework aiming at a theoretical validation. The affordance approach to serendipity is discussed, including different degrees and types of serendipity.
Findings — All the terminological 'building blocks' in the framework are seen to resonate with the included related research. Serendipity is found to be a commonplace phenomenon in everyday life. It is argued that we cannot "engineer" nor "design" serendipity per se, but can design affordances for serendipity. Serendipity may thus be intended by designers, but must always be unplanned by users. The outlined affordance approach to serendipity points to the importance of our sensory-motor abilities to discover and explore serendipitous affordances.
Research implications/limitations — Implications of the framework for designing physical and digital environments with affordances for serendipity are briefly considered. It is suggested that physical environments may have a primacy regarding affordances of sensoriability for facilitating serendipity, and digital environments a primacy regarding traversability, whereas physical and digital environments may afford similar degrees of diversifiability. In future research, the framework needs further empirical validation in physical and digital environments.
Originality/value — No other research has been found addressing affordances for serendipity and connections between environmental and personal factors in similarly detailed ways. The outlined framework and typology may function as a baseline for further serendipity studies.

- by Lennart Björneborn
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- Design, Information Behavior, Human Information Behavior, Affordances

Purpose/Thesis: The paper contains a methodological reflection on qualitative analysis of visual empirical data as a research procedure in the contemporary human information behavior research. The possibility of implementing this approach has been tested on a case study of personalized information spaces in everyday life of undergraduate information management students in the academic year 2018/2019. Approach/Methods: The reported research employs the realist epistemological stance, qualitative and descriptive approaches, and four methods/techniques: critical literature review, case study, drawing as a mental mapping tool, and thematic analysis. Results and conclusions: Visual data analysis is cognitively fruitful; it enables grasping the multidi-mensional "information reality" as perceived by the users (the humanistic coefficient). However, it is time-consuming, it requires meticulousness and self-reflection on the part of the researcher; it must also leave a clear audit trail to assure credibility and intersubjective verifiability of investigations. Originality/Value: The article is concerned with innovative research procedures, rarely discussed in Polish information science literature. Combining visual approach with individual information spaces, it corresponds to the latest methodological and topical trends in the field of information behavior. It also links theoretical reflection with the research practice.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the ability of natural places to positively influence individual well-being. Even brief views of nature have been found to speed recovery from surgery, and enhance one’s ability to function effectively. And designing the landscape is an endless process of movement and change, which respond to environmental conditions and human activities. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analysis the relation between the historical landscape of open parks in old districts within the city and activities and behaviour that occur inside it, and how we can develop it by the comprehensive use of landscape elements in the space. The paper vehicle is to present the idea of experiential landscape as a tool to evaluate the user’s perception in the park. Alazhar Park in Cairo (Egypt) is used as a case study to explore the social patterns within the local area, and existing social and anti-social behavior in the park, the results are based on the observation and recording the people’s response towards historic landscape elements, beside applying a questionnaire to selected sample of park users to investigate their opinion.

- by Sabina Cisek
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- Information Behavior, Human Information Behavior

The acquisition of information in service to or on behalf of someone else is an information-seeking behavior that is already present in the literature of library and information science in an implicit way. This paper seeks to make this process explicit by naming it and providing a model through which its special nature can be discussed. Key features of the model are presented and questions concerning implications for research and practice are examined.

- by Melissa Gross
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- Human Information Behavior

The attempt to establish a unified taxonomy for the field of Information Ethics is both unattainable and unwarranted. The categorization of Information Ethics as a defined discipline, an applicable practice, a philosophy and a worldview remains constantly in flux due to, what Luciano Floridi terms, ‘philosophical naturalism’. As such, a broadening understanding of the field will only serve to further collapse categorization. The following paper will outline, using a discourse analysis methodology, how the nature of the field of Information Ethics at a foundational level must necessarily defy classification. The assumptions behind the current classifications of the field will be questioned. Beginning with the history of the inception of the field through Librarianship and Cybernetics and questioning the yet unresolved ontological debates between information philosophers such as Rafael Capurro and Floridi, this paper will explicate how any such attempt to develop an agreed upon taxonomy will and should always remain incomplete.

- by Jared Bielby
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- Critical Theory, Information Systems, Business Ethics, Discourse Analysis

Referat ma charakter teoretyczny. Głównym celem jest dyskusja możliwości stworzenia kompleksowego, zintegrowanego modelu zachowań informacyjnych naukowców oraz jego implementacji do badań nad zarządzaniem informacją i komunikowaniem wiedzy. Zadanie dodatkowe – i punkt wyjścia dla dalszych rozważań – stanowi analiza najważniejszych koncepcji i modeli zachowań informacyjnych, odnoszących się w całości lub częściowo do środowiska akademickiego, a tworzących dorobek teoretyczny informatologii jako obszaru badawczego nauk o komunikacji społecznej i mediach.
Dociekania oparto o metodę analizy i krytyki piśmiennictwa, polskiego i zagranicznego, głównie z lat 2001-2019, zidentyfikowanego na podstawie dziedzinowych baz LISTA, Web of Science, wyszukiwarek Google Scholar i FBC oraz podstawowych monografii/prac zbiorowych dotyczących zachowań informacyjnych i zagadnień pokrewnych. Zastosowano również analizę pojęciową i strategię analityczno-syntetyczną. Podstawę teoretyczną tworzą m.in. idee Birgera Hjorlanda (analiza domen), Davida Ellisa (ujęcie behawioralne), Carol C. Kuhlthau (ISP – Information Search Process), Reijo Savolainena (podejście integrujące), Diane Sonnenwald (horyzonty informacyjne) i Roberta Taylora (information use environments).
Opracowanie składa się z dwu głównych części. Pierwsza z nich odpowiada na następujące pytania: (1) czy i jakie istniejące modele zachowań informacyjnych dotyczą badaczy/naukowców (także z uwzględnieniem doktorantów i studentów piszących prace na stopień); (2) jakie – wedle tychże modeli – cechy i typy zachowań informacyjnych przejawia ta specyficzna grupa zawodowa w relacji do komunikowania wiedzy – m.in. pozyskiwanie, reagowanie na informację, jej przetwarzanie, indywidualne zarządzanie, wykorzystanie, dzielenie się; (3) co wpływa na zachowania informacyjne naukowców – konteksty i uwarunkowania, w tym afektywne, kognitywne i społeczno-kulturowe, wskazane w wybranych, wpływowych koncepcjach informatologicznych.
Druga część referatu obejmuje autorską propozycję zintegrowanego modelu zachowań informacyjnych naukowców, powstałą w wyniku: ujednolicenia terminologii stosowanej w dotychczasowych dociekaniach, kategoryzacji wymienianych w literaturze zachowań informacyjnych, ich kontekstów, determinantów i właściwości oraz uporządkowania funkcjonujących w piśmiennictwie założeń meta-teoretycznych.
Problem stanowi duża liczba potencjalnie ważnych aspektów, czynników i perspektyw związanych z zachowaniami informacyjnymi. Model zintegrowany musi być zatem w znacznym stopniu uproszczony, co może skutkować jego „niewydolnością” poznawczą. Dlatego kolejne badania winny zostać poświęcone jego empirycznym testom.

We"re talking about us when we think about groups. Ordinary people, like us, belong to groups. Most of us, however, are not trained to operate successfully in groups. Individuals on groups come with their own "baggage"their own ideas, beliefs, fears, hopes, ways of speaking, and patterns of behavior. People have mixed attitudes towards groups .

- by brighton majo
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- Human Information Behavior

No período de 2001 a 2004, foi feita uma pesquisa entre escoteiros da Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte – RMBH, a fim de analisar suas práticas informacionais, em particular as que utilizavam como canal de comunicação a Internet. Assim, apresenta-se a metodologia de pesquisa adotada na época, em
particular discutindo o uso da ferramenta de coleta de dados de grupos focais. Coloca-se em pauta a possibilidade de se realizar grupos focais online, discutindo-se as vantagens e desvantagens do uso dessa técnica via Internet.
Discute-se a abordagem metodológica, principalmente no que tange à implementação desses grupos. A pesquisa realizada aparece como pano de fundo para exemplificar a adoção da técnica.

The efficient management of our daily information in physical and digital information spaces is a well-known problem. Current research on personal information management (PIM) aims to understand and improve organisational and re-finding activities. We present a case study about organisational strategies in cross-media information spaces, consisting of physical as well as digital information. In contrast to existing work, we provide a unified view on organisational strategies and investigate how re-finding cues differ across the physical and digital space. We further introduce a new mixing organisational strategy which is used in addition to the well-known filing and piling strategies. Last but not least, based on the results of our study we discuss opportunities and pitfalls for future descriptive PIM research and outline some directions for future PIM system design.

- by Sandra Trullemans and +1
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- Information Systems, Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering

Smartphone notifications are often delivered without considering user interruptibility, potentially causing frustration for the recipient. Therefore research in this area has concerned finding contexts where interruptions are better received. The typical convention for monitoring interruption behaviour assumes binary actions, where a response is either completed or not at all. However, in reality a user may partially respond to an interruption, such as reacting to an audible alert or exploring which application caused it. Consequently we present a multi-step model of interruptibility that allows assessment of both partial and complete notification responses. Through a 6-month in-the-wild case study of 11,346 to-do list reminders from 93 users, we find support for reducing false-negative classification of interruptibility. Additionally, we find that different response behaviour is correlated with different contexts and that these behaviours are predictable with similar accuracy to complete responses.

- by Liam D Turner
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- Human Computer Interaction, Mobile Learning, Machine Learning, Ubiquitous Computing

The information intents theory strives to explain how and why information is used. In this research the theory was used to discover what happens when online LIS graduate students exchange and use information in threaded discussions. The primary source of data was 33 discussion threads, in which students exhibited cognitive and affective intents and were influenced by their instructor's immediacy in the online classroom. This research provides insight for LIS education, instructional design, and other disciplines that utilize distance education technologies.

Information behavior is an important area of research in library and information science (LIS) that has evolved over the last 75 years. The aim of this study is to investigate the recent trends of information behavior research by providing insights into emerging topical areas within information behavior. To conduct this study, the bibliographic data from Scopus was used, and the trends of information behavior were traced by using variations of key terms used in information behavior research, such as " information behavior " , " information seeking behavior " , and " information needs. " In addition, the trends were analyzed in terms of content words in the title, highly cited journal articles, disciplinary categories, and author keywords. Information behavior research has its roots in LIS, but the findings of the study reveal that information behavior has expanded to other disciplines by intersecting a variety of topical areas. In particular, this study showed that information behavior in the health/medicine domain has become a predominant emerging topical area of research. In order to enhance our understanding of complex human behavior, future research should focus more on interdisciplinary aspects by measuring the scope of information behavior.

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.

- by Tim Gorichanaz
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- Information Science, Aesthetics, Epistemology, Documentation

This article presents two new mathematical models, an information forgetting curve (IFC) model and a memory reception fading and cumulating (MRFC) model, to examine forgetting and learning behaviors of individuals during an infectious disease epidemic. Both models consider how epidemic prevalence and community behavior-change information may affect agent emotions and subsequently influence an individual's behavior changes during an epidemic. The IFC model utilizes a forgetting curve to process epidemic information, and the MRFC model formulates disease information variations using the Itô diffusion process. Sensitivity analysis and simulation comparisons showed that the MRFC model more accurately describes the epidemic with high lethal rate gets high attention. The author also demonstrated that MRFC model has higher sensitivity parameters and is more flexible on wide ranges of infection rates than the IFC model. However, the IFC model is a better suited for widespread, low-risk mortality epidemics, such as seasonal influenza, the infection information and protective behavior have close relationships among the susceptible population. An agent-based simulation model also developed to mimic the epidemic prevalence of the 2009 Chicago H1N1 using public available historical data sets by IFC model.

[Title:Information Seeking-Behavior in the Effort to Fulfill Information Needs in Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community] The purpose of this study is to find out how information tracing behavior in an effort to meet the information needs of writers in the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community. In addition, this research aims to find out what are the information needs of members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community. The research method used was qualitative research design with a type of case study research. The subjects in this study are individuals who are members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community who are still actively carrying out community activities and or have poetry works in the form of printed publications. Then the object of this research is the behavior of information retrieval as fulfilling the information needs of members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community. The results of this study indicate that the information needs of members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community like, the subject needed is their field of study that is about the development of the world of literature and poetry. Sources of information needed in the form of documents in the form of books and internet sources. Whereas non-document sources are in the form of discussion results in activities held by the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community.

An exploratory study into the information needs and information behaviour of Lesbian, Gay & Bi-sexual (LGBT) students at tertiary institutions in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research delves into LGBT identity and LGBT... more

- by Delano Alexander
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- History, Sociology, Information Science, Historical Sociology

This study attempts to examine the effect of user’s self-disclosed identification to measure his influence and activity on Twitter. By looking at the most frequently shared top 1076 tweets written by 250 users during the 2012 presidential election campaign South Korea, we particularly examine the relation between user’s occupation information and the measures of his ‘influence’: the number of followers and number of retweets by others. Influential users in South Korean political communication network on Twitter are classified as one group with self-disclosed occupation information and the other group without that information. User’s occupation information clearly shows the impact on the number of followers for both groups. On the other hand, user group without self-disclosed occupation information has a higher level of producing influential political tweets and wide retweetability over the other group, regardless the small number of followers. It suggests that further study needs to identify other variables that may influence particular user or tweet’s retweetability as an indicator of influence.

The purpose of this article is to provide a critical review of published research on information seeking by Pakistani farmers, with a view to inform the relevant departments and individuals of the existing situation. The results from the related research are summarized by noting major methodological features and reviewing practical and theoretical implications of major findings. Although the findings from related studies were not directly comparable due to variations in research methods and geographical contexts, it was nevertheless possible to draw some common conclusions regarding the farmers' information seeking. The results from these studies overwhelmingly show that Pakistani farmers rely very much on interpersonal relationships with friends, relatives, fellow or progressive farmers, and neighbors for obtaining agricultural information. The use of mass-media, both print and electronic, and agricultural extension agents as sources of information was lower than expected. The results indicate the necessity for a need-based information infrastructure for farmers in Pakistan.

- by John Dorsey
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- Human Information Behavior, Social Media

This paper presents a conceptual model for scholarly researchactivity, developed as part of the conceptual modelling work within the “Preparing DARIAH” European e-Infrastructures project. It is inspired by cultural-historical activity theory, and is expressed in terms of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, extending its notion of activity so as to also account, apart from historical practice, for scholarly research planning. It is intended as a framework for structuring and analyzing the results of empirical research on scholarly practice and information requirements, encompassing the full research lifecycle of information work and involving both primary evidence and scholarly objects; also, as a framework for producing clear and pertinent information requirements, and specifications of digital infrastructures, tools and services for scholarly research. We plan to use the model to tag interview transcripts from an empirical study on scholarly information work, and thus validate its soundness and fitness for purpose.

This research aimed to explore the actual situation of information accessibility for university students with visual impairment at higher academic institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. This research adopted a qualitative research design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to investigate the proposed phenomenon. The participants were recruited with purposive sampling from higher academic institutions for data collection. Face to face interview of 15 visually impaired students was conducted using an interview guide. The participants were debriefed for data authentication and verification at the end. Each interview was transcribed and analyzed carefully using IPA. The results indicated that these students utilized interpersonal relationships as the primary source of their academic information. The other available facilities for information access included the internet, disability resources center (if available at the institution), and the university library. The major barriers in accessing needed information included: format barriers, navigational barriers, technical barriers, ICTs illiteracy, and financial barriers. The university administration, especially libraries, should consider students with various disabilities while designing information infrastructure for its community. This research can be used as a guide by library staff in designing need-based information services for students with visual imprisonment. This research would be a worthy contribution to the existing literature as only a few studies were conducted in Pakistan.

This study intends to investigate the relationship of emotional intelligence (EI) with information seeking anxiety (ISA) among postgraduate students at universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Quantitative research design using a survey method was adopted to conduct this inquiry. Data were collected form 367 postgraduate students, enrolled in three different universities through the use of two different standardized instruments such as Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and Information Seeking Anxiety Scales (ISAS). The results indicated a strong but inverse relationship between emotional intelligence and information seeking anxiety of postgraduate students of different universities (r = -.260, P = .000 < .01) which implies that as the emotional intelligence of postgraduate student increases, their information seeking anxiety decreases and vice-versa. This research has a great implication for information literacy curriculum as emotional intelligence appeared as the predictor of information seeking anxiety. Emotional intelligence are attainable skills which can significantly contribute for minimizing information seeking anxiety. These results would possibly help the academician, psychologists and information professionals for mitigation of student’s information seeking anxieties by optimizing their emotional intelligence skills.

While acknowledging that efforts in information literacy are a global, the paper concentrates on information literacy efforts in the USA. The American Library Association (ALA) issued in year 2000 a set of standards that provided a framework for assessing the information literate individual. By 2013 it was realized that many changes require an update and even new approaches to information literacy. At the start of 2014 ALA proposed an initial draft of a new framework for information literacy for higher education. A new definition of information literacy was offered, together with a new framework based on threshold concepts– critically reviewed in the paper. During 2014 several public debates were conducted; the new framework is scheduled to be finalized in 2015. The paper summarizes these debates, with particular emphasis of description and critiques of threshold concept, which is at the core of the new framework.

Purpose -This study investigates the use of a popular portable e-reader device, the Kindle 2, among Library and Information Science (LIS) students and its effects on individual reading practices and the potential applications for library services. Design/methodology -Using journal logs and diary-interviews as methods of data collection, the study analyzes the use of the Kindle over a one-week period by a pool of 20 LIS students at Pratt Institute's School of Information and Library Science. Findings -The findings reveal four key areas that provide a framework for data interpretation: usage patterns, user interaction, effect on reading habits, and future applications. One major finding is that the portability of the device and its convenience of use anywhere and anytime is pivotal for enhancing the students' reading experience and outweighs the limitations of the device's usability. Research limitations/implications -Results may not be generalizable due to the small size and homogeneity of the sample. Originality/value -The social and cultural impacts of e-book readers in everyday life have received little attention so far. In particular, questions about the effects of ereaders on individual reading practices and the potential applications for library delivery systems have yet to be examined. This study is one of the first to investigate the use of portable e-book readers.

- by Cristina Pattuelli and +1
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- Human Information Behavior, E-Reading, Mobile Devices

This study explores the employment-related information seeking behaviour of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 60 Bangladeshi immigrants in Ontario, Canada, and obtained 205 survey responses. The study highlights the centrality of employment-related settlement among Bangladeshi immigrants in Ontario and reports many immigrants not being able to utilize their education and skills after arrival in Canada. The results show that Bangladeshi immigrants utilize various information sources for their employment in Canada, including friends and professional colleagues, online searchers, and settlement agencies. Although Bangladeshi immigrants utilized a large array of information sources for meeting their employment-related information needs, many interview participants emphasized that the employment-related benefits they received was because of their access to friends and professional colleagues in Canada. Th...

- by Nafiz Zaman Shuva
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- Sociology, Social Networks, Social Networking, Information Behavior

This paper reports on research of scholarly research practices and requirements conducted in the context of the Preparing DARIAH European e-Infrastructures project, with a view to ensuring current and future fitness for purpose of the planned digital infrastructure, services and tools. It summarises the findings of earlier research, primarily from the field of human information behaviour as applied in scholarly work, it presents a conceptual perspective informed by culturalhistorical activity theory, it introduces briefly a formal conceptual model for scholarly research activity compliant with CIDOC CRM, it describes the plan of work and methodology of an empirical research project based on open-questionnaire interviews with arts and humanities researchers, and presents illustrative examples of segmentation, tagging and initial conceptual analysis of the empirical evidence. Finally, it presents plans for future work, consisting, firstly, of a comprehensive re-analysis of interview segments within the framework of the scholarly research activity model, and, secondly, of the integration of this analysis with the extended digital curation process model we presented in earlier work. 1

This systematic review examined the evidence of psychometric properties of scales available in studies reporting surveys measuring information related anxieties such as library anxiety, information seeking anxiety, and information anxiety. A systematic search in four databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, LISA, and LISTA was carried out using the keywords 'library anxiety', 'information anxiety', 'information seeking anxiety', and 'information seeking' AND 'anxiety'. This review included those studies reporting the use of any scale measuring information related anxiety published in the English language and included all type of documents (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, theses/dissertations, research reports). The screening process resulted in 45 studies meeting the eligibility criterion. The extracted data included author names, year of publication, type of scale used, scale title, background, type of construct assessed, number of items in the scale, scale origin, studies reporting use, studies contributing psychometric information, scale availability, and psychometric properties reported. The results indicated nine instruments assessing information-related anxieties. The classical test theory was applied for eight instruments. No psychometric properties were reported for a single instrument. Most psychometric instruments were developed in the United States. Face/Content validity through experts, construct validity through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and internal consistency reliability through Cronbach alpha was the most commonly used psychometric analysis. None of these studies applied the Rasch model of modern item response theory for psychometric examination. This review has serious implications on the inferences drawn by the practitioners and researchers based on the earlier assessment of information related anxieties. It suggests the development of standards for not only designing new psychometric tests but also for the use and reporting of such tests. This study contributes to the existing research on information-related anxieties by systematic reviewing the evidence of psychometric properties as no such study available so far.

Introduction. This paper problematises how children are categorised as a specific user group within information behaviour research and discusses the implications of this categorisation. Methods. Two edited collections of papers on children's information behaviour are analysed. Analysis. The analysis is influenced by previous discourse analytic studies of users within information science and by the sociology of childhood and the discourse analytic concept of subject positions guides the analysis. Results. In the children-focussed discourse of information behaviour research, children are described as being characterised by distinctive child-typical features, which means that similarities between children and other groups, as well as differences within the group, are downplayed. Children are also characterised by deficiencies: by not being adults, by not being mature and by not being competent information seekers. The discourse creates a position of power for adults, and for children a position as those in need of expert help. Children are also ascribed a subject position as users of technologies that affect the group in various ways. Conclusions. It is suggested that information behaviour research would benefit from shifting the focus from trying to explain how children innately are and therefore behave with information, to creating understandings of various information practices which involve people of a young age.

Research in document work has tended to take a sociocultural perspective. Recent interest in document experience invites the consideration of document work from the perspective of an individual's lived experience. This paper reports on a holistic, single-case study of how the head gardener at Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, a historic landscape site in Philadelphia, experiences the document work involved in developing a comprehensive garden plan. A hermeneutic analysis of the data reveals how the underlying foundational values of authenticity, education and reducing ambiguity support the process of document work in this case, which involves summoning diverse knowledge, channeling the master and stepping back. This process is punctuated by organizational and historical challenges. These findings suggest that the theoretical framework of foundation–process–challenges may be used to study the lived experience of document work in other cases. Further ramifications are discussed for practice in gardening and historical document work.