A model of social information need

Abstract

The need for social information has six dimensions: function (why do people need information?); form (what kind of information do people need?); clusters (what do people need information about?); agents (who initiates the information activity?); users (how do needs differ between different groups of people?) and mechanisms (which mechanisms can be used to meet information needs?). These dimensions provide the basis for a model that can be used to analyse social information needs and the ways in which they are met.