Abstract
When comparing how younger and older internet users search for information, young people often impress by operating Web applications quickly and effortlessly. However, information literacy is not only a question of speed; it is highly dependent on cognitive abilities such as monitoring and regulating the search process. To avoid a general deficiency perspective on older Web users, this study goes beyond the results of Web searching to focus on individual approaches to information problem solving. We conducted ten guided interviews based on two different search tasks the participants (aged 16-77) worked on while thinking aloud. Applying a qualitative content analysis approach, we find that younger participants (aged 16-26) use more productive strategies to collect information, but observed no age-related differences in completing a complex task. The strong task dependence of our results underlines the necessity of teaching regulative search techniques that are suitable for solving unstructured everyday problems in order to ensure that all users can make the most of today’s rich but unstructured information environment.
Highlights
Jüngere Internetnutzer beeindrucken oft durch ihren schnellen und mühelosen Umgang mit Webanwendungen
In the current omnipresent, dynamic and dispersed information environment, information literacy should not be considered only a normatively founded, list-like standard (Shenton and HayGibson 2011); it should instead be conceptualized as a regulative competence suitable for everyday use that enables people to benefit from the wealth of available information
The Role of Age searching the Web varies greatly between individuals, we used the analytical concept of tactics and strategies to identify similarities in information problemsolving using the Web
Summary
Jüngere Internetnutzer beeindrucken oft durch ihren schnellen und mühelosen Umgang mit Webanwendungen. We assume that media literacy manifests itself in the course of searching This suggests the need to use a process perspective to reconstruct this translation into knowledge on a micro level (similar to Wirth et al 2009; Schweiger 2010). Information-literate users are able to solve an information problem using the Web, which means they can use the unstructured Web environment in a goal-oriented, effective way. For this purpose, they have to develop meta-cognitive, top-down oriented skills like a strong process orientation (Brand-Gruwel et al 2009), but they should be able to benefit flexibly from information they encounter inadvertently. This narrow definition enables us to focus more on interactions with the information system – to analyze information literacy not as solely technical expertise, but as the interplay between cognitions and actions within a given technical infrastructure
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