Re-branding and Re-discovering the Digital Information User

Abstract

It is time that researchers and practitioners give further thought to the terminology that they employ to study information use and information seeking in the digital environment. Existing (print) terminology is proving an impediment to understanding what happens when people go online to communicate or retrieve information, as they are increasingly doing. It also probably produces false readings. This article is based upon the findings of a number of funded research projects, which examined the behaviour of the digital information ‘user’. The studies were undertaken by City University's Internet Studies Research Group to evaluate the term ‘user’ and some related ones – information seeking, intermediary and end-user, in the light of our knowledge of the new digital information order. A replacement term – the information ‘player’ – is presented for consideration and explained. The new term should enhance our understanding of what goes on in the digital information environment and will bring us closer to the information mainstream, which is ever more represented by the World Wide Web and the use of its information resources.