Toward an integrated framework of information and communication behavior: College students' information resources and media selection

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigated college students' selection of information resources and engagement in information activities from the perspective of an integrated framework of information and communication behavior, by examining students' interactions with many different types of information resources and media across their school, personal, entertainment, problem solving, and other daily routines. Both web‐based diaries and semi‐structured interviews were used to capture students' information behavior in natural settings. The subjects logged into a web‐based diary and recorded the details of their most important information seeking activity on that day by responding to eleven questions including information seeking topic, resources used, time taken, difficulty, familiarity, and confidence. Two hundred and forty‐five information seeking episodes reported by twenty‐four subjects from three different colleges and universities were collected over a ten‐day period. Findings indicate that the students used multiple information resources in one information seeking episode to verify the content in, often, both information and communication behaviors. The results also reveal that information seeking can be better understood from a social framework because students were aware that human information behavior is influenced by other people's opinions and recommendations and may also affect other people's lives.