Personal Information Behavior Research Articles

Trend of blood pressure changes among children from 2012 to 2022: findings from student health surveillance in Eastern China.

The primary objective of this study is to examine the secular trends in blood pressure levels from 2012 to 2022 in eastern China. Additionally, to compare two standards [International Blood Pressure Reference for Children and Adolescents (ICBP) and the National Blood Pressure Reference for Chinese Han Children and Adolescents (CCBP)], we calculate the 95th percentile of blood pressure levels for students in developed regions (ECCBP). Secondly, the study aims to investigate potential contributors to elevated blood pressure, including sex, age, behaviors, and mental health. Lastly, the study seeks to estimate the total population aged 7-18 years with elevated blood pressure in Eastern China based on three references. The data used in this study were obtained from the Student Health Surveillance program in Jiangsu Province, which has been collecting data since 2012. Trained project members, skilled nurses, and doctors measured anthropometric variables. Additionally, online student questionnaires were administered in 2017, 2019, and 2021 to collect personal information behavior patterns, and mental health. The study examined blood pressure changes in 123 013 children and adolescents in Eastern China from 2012 to 2022. Significant increases were observed in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and pulse pressure difference. Prevalence of elevated blood pressure followed a similar trend with ECCBP and CCBP, ranging from 17.2%/16.3% (2012-2015) to 11.6%/14.6% (2020-2022). Notably, BP with ICBP showed a significant increase in both prevalence and population, from 12.6% [6 713 679, 95% confidence interval (CI): 6 708 931 to 6 718 427] to 14.5% (7 004 208, 95% CI: 6 999 411 to 7 009 004). The study further emphasizes the significant impact of various risk factors on elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents, particularly the detrimental effect of depression on blood pressure, with the odds ratios (OR) in 2021 being 1.310 (95% CI, 1.290-1.330) for ECCBP, 1.239 (95% CI, 1.223-1.255) for CCBP, and 1.189 (95% CI, 1.176-1.202) for ICBP. The study revealed significant changes in the population and prevalence of elevated blood pressure in Eastern China from 2012 to 2022. The findings indicate a decline in the prevalence of elevated blood pressure (referred to as CCBP or ECCBP), while highlighting an increasing trend in elevated blood pressure (referred to as ICBP). Untreated high blood pressure can lead to serious cardiovascular diseases in adulthood, underscoring the importance of early prevention and management, particularly through nonpharmacological methods and regular monitoring for students in Eastern China. Raising awareness among educators, parents, and healthcare providers about the association between mental health and elevated blood pressure is essential.

Impact of contexts, resource types and perceptions on information management within the personal domain among college students

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how college students' personal information behaviors were impacted by contexts, resource types and perceptions of personal information management.Design/methodology/approachUsing an online survey, a total of 1,194 valid responses were collected from college students. The three contexts used for this study include academic, health and personal digital history. Specific scenarios, along with sets of resource types, were provided for each context.FindingsThe findings show that college students' perceptions and contexts strongly influence their activities related to personal information, and that resource types impact their activities depending on the context in which the resource types are situated. The findings of this study provide evidence of how varying factors influence personal information behaviors at different levels. Information professionals need to design their services and programs in a way that is cognizant of the factors that influence users and the challenges that users meet with in different contexts and resource types.Originality/valueThe findings of this study contribute to personal information research by providing an understanding of how context, perceptions and resource types intertwiningly influence personal information behaviors. This study provides an insight into widely accepted patterns and perceptions of personal information behavior with particular information resource types and within specific contexts.

The Behavior and Perception of Personal Digital Archiving of Chinese University Students

It is widely received that personal records are a kind of unique documentary evidence for both individual and the society. Thus, same care is required for the preservation of personal records as for public records. While personal archiving in the analogue environment has been extensively studied by scholars from different fields, the rapidly changing web environment are raising new challenges on personal information behavior, further, personal digital archiving. To effectively address these challenges, it is important to first understand what the individuals’ perception and behavior of personal digital archiving are. The proposed presentation aims to contribute to this knowledge by discussing the preliminary results of a mixed-method study on the behavior and perception of personal digital archiving of Chinese university students. More specifically, the mixed-method study is approached sequentially by first using a web-based questionnaire to investigate Chinese university students’ perception of personal digital archiving when using email and blogs, which is followed by a semi-structured interview of information professionals to solicit their opinions on the results of the web-based questionnaire and the role of information professionals for facilitating personal digital archiving. The results of this study will shed light on Chinese university students’ awareness of personal records preservation, the measures used for personal records preservation, the difficulties encountered, and responsibilities of different stakeholders (e.g., individual, web service provider, and information professionals) for personal digital archiving. This knowledge will help identify focal areas for future personal digital archiving research.

Book or NOOK? Information behavior of academic librarians

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to understand patterns in information behavior of academic librarians, individuals who influence information technology adoption in academic libraries and parent institutions. Librarians’ perception of their student patrons’ information behavior was also investigated.Design/methodology/approach– An exploratory study investigated professional and personal information behavior of eight librarians employed by various academic institutions in the Greater New York City area. The data were collected in face-to-face interviews and analyzed using the content analysis technique.Findings– The study found that librarians’ institutional affiliations had no effect on their information behavior. The patterns in librarians’ information behavior at work and leisure suggest that those behaviors are influenced by contextual variables, personal preferences and tasks, and are no different from the general population. Overall, librarians had accurate, evidence-driven understanding of their student patrons’ information behavior.Research limitations/implications– The study findings have limited generalizability due to the small sample size and limited geographical pool of participants.Practical implications– Academic library is often seen as the hub of the adoption of information technologies as librarians introduce new digital content and resources to the rest of academia. Understanding information behavior of academic librarians contributes to understanding factors that are affecting technology adoption in academia overall, and can potentially inform recommendations for optimizing academic library offerings.Originality/value– The study is an original investigation of the relationships between institutional characteristics and librarian demographics, librarian information behavior at work and leisure, and librarians’ perception of students’ information behavior and information preferences.

Key factors in the transfer of information‐related competencies between academic, workplace, and daily life contexts

Personal information behavior has been studied within a large number of different contexts; however, individuals show different information‐related competencies in their professional, academic or daily life contexts. Literature suggests that if a person is information‐related competent in one context, then he or she will be competent in the rest of the contexts of action. But this is only true for a basic level of information competencies. This article reports results from 24 interviews performed to mature e‐learning students and suggests that in a more advanced level of information competencies, some competencies that appear in one context are not manifested in another context. Several factors have been found to be related with information competencies transfer between contexts. Attitude is a key factor and feelings regarding Internet use is another critical factor. Specifically in learning environments, the results suggest that canned content and planned learning strategies can discourage a proactive attitude and enthusiasm for information and communication technologies, and therefore the acquisition of information‐related competencies. Understanding the differences and common patterns between these contexts may be useful for designing better information systems, services and instruction.

Impacts of New Media on Scholarly Publishing

This article summarizes a few key results of a workshop, held in the University of California Berkeley in June 2006, organized by the Center for New Media and supported by Elsevier, the leading publisher of scholarly journals. The workshop focused on the following questions: How will scientific publishing be affected by New Media? How will the new means of production, dissemination, and consumption of information impact scientific publishing? How will they affect the social, cultural, legal, and economic modalities of its practice? How will they affect the practitioners and the institutions that rely on it? How will they affect society at large? The article discusses the results of the workshop in terms of how New Media affect personal information behavior, research group behavior, and issues affecting scholarly communication generally.

Information behavior realities in organizations

AbstractThis short paper provides discussion on the influencing effect of information behavior in organizations, as well as the forces which influence information behavior itself. The research goal is to offer insight on the nature of information behavior in organizations. To do so, the authors present findings from their quantitative analysis of a Web‐based survey administered in one particular information knowledge and information intensive firm. Results point to: i) the stronger role information behavior plays over information management processes and policies in affecting organizational information use outcomes; ii) the influencing effect of the information environment on organizational information behaviors; and iii) the influencing effect of both the information environment and organizational information behaviors on personal information behavior.