Information Behavior Studies Research Articles

Reflections of affect in studies of information behavior in HIV/AIDS contexts: An exploratory quantitative content analysis

Information seeking and use are critically important for people living with HIV/AIDS and for those who care for people with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the HIV/AIDS context is characterized by significant affective or emotional aspects including stigma, fear, and coping. Thus, studies of information behavior in this context should be expected to take account of emotional variables. In information behavior scholarship, emotional variables have been marginalized in favor of a focus on cognitive aspects, although in recent years greater attention has been paid to the affective realm. This study used quantitative content analysis to explore the degree to which information behavior studies across a range of disciplines actually include affect or emotion in their analyses. Findings suggest that most studies pay little or no attention to these variables, and that attention has not changed over the past 20years. Those studies that do account for emotion, however, provide excellent examples of information behavior research that can lead the way for future work.

Research and practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion on the nature of research into people's information behaviour, and in particular the contribution of the phenomenological approach for the development of information solutions. Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of a conceptual analysis drawing on the research literature and personal research experience. Findings – The paper brings to the foreground the relative value of different conceptual approaches and how these underpin and relate to the development of information solutions. Research limitations/implications – The paper, due to the breadth and complexity of the subject, serves to highlight key issues and bringing together ideas. Some topics deserve further explanation. However, this was beyond the scope of this paper. Practical implications – A conceptual framework is provided that indicates the value of the epistemic spectrum for information behaviour studies and provides support for action research and participative design. Social implications – Taking a phenomenological approach, and consequently either a first person approach and/or a highly participative approach to research, challenges the relationship between researcher and respondent. It also raises questions about why the authors conduct research and for whom it is intended. Originality/value – The paper makes explicit the underlying philosophical assumptions and how these ideas influence the way the authors conduct research; it highlights the significance of Cartesian dualism and indicates the significance of these assumptions for the development of information solutions. It supports the view that researchers and developers should be open to respondents leading the exploration of their needs.

Characteristics and Problems of Information Usage in Producing Academic Articles by Humanities Academics and Social Scientists in Thailand

This research aims to study the information characteristics of humanities academics and social scientists in Thailand when producing academic articles and to identify the problems of their information usage. A set of questionnaires was sent to 203 samples who had articles published in six qualified journals indexed in both Thai and foreign databases. The findings showed that the types of information used were mostly books, following by research articles, reviewed articles, book/movie reviews. To produce one article, they used less than 10 books, 10-20 research articles, 10-20 reviewed articles, and less than 10 book/movie reviews. Most of the articles were written in the Thai language. The humanities academics and social scientists spent the longest time searching for research articles. The overall problems of information usage concerning information centers/libraries, humanities academics and social scientists themselves, humanities and social sciences information, and publishers were moderate. However, there were higher levels of problems in these aspects: audio-visual materials, real materials. This paper suggests a new perspective for the in-depth study of information behaviors in particular areas.

Characteristics of human perception and their relevance when studying information behavior

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to highlight findings regarding human perception in allied disciplines and to argue that information behaviour research needs to find ways to address human characteristics that imply that: first, subjects are likely to fail to recognize information that is present in an environment and potentially relevant to a task at hand; and second, subjects would not be able to report on the fact that they failed to recognize the information. The authors also discuss as to how information behaviour research can address the aforementioned challenges resulting from human movement and perception.Design/methodology/approach– The author draws on the literature primarily in cognitive science and psychology to highlight the findings that are most relevant to the scientific study of information behaviour, to develop a model of the information environment in which information behaviour is situated, and to critically examine how data is collected in information behaviour research. Ways to provide more comprehensive information about information behaviour are also discussed.Findings– The literature in cognitive science and psychology suggests that failing to notice information relevant to a task at hand may not be the exception but to be expected, and needs to be taken into account by information behaviour researchers. Popular data collection methods including questionnaires and interviews do not pick that up because subjects would not be aware of the fact which means in turn that they cannot articulate the fact either. This suggests that: first, current models of information behaviour focus too much on one side of the coin; and second, information behaviour researchers may need to complement their data collection methods with data collection methods such as gaze tracking.Research limitations/implications– This is a conceptual paper based on the careful analysis of relevant research primarily in cognitive science and psychology. Relating theory to practice provides a strong indication of the general validity of the findings but there may be other aspects that have not been covered as yet.Originality/value– The paper is unique in that it critically reviews information behaviour research from a human perception and movement point of view. There have been papers criticizing information behaviour research from a methodological point of view. This paper adds to that body of work and proposes a way forward.

Experiencing documents

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to invite further consideration of how people experience documents. By offering a model from Reader Response theory – Louise Rosenblatt's Transactional Theory of Reading – as well as examples from research on numinous experiences with museum objects, the author hopes to open further avenues of information behavior studies about people and documents. The goal is to incorporate more aspects of lived experience and the aesthetic into practice with and research of documents.Design/methodology/approach– Theoretical scope includes Louise Rosenblatt's Transactional Theory of Reading, John Dewey's concepts of transaction and experience and lived experience concepts/methods derived from phenomenology.Findings– Rosenblatt's Transactional Theory explicates the continuum of reader response, from the efferent to the aesthetic, stating that the act of “reading” (experience) involves a transaction between the reader (person) and the text (document). Each transaction is a unique experience in which the reader and text continuously act and are acted upon by each other. This theory of reading translates well into the realm of investigating the lived experience of documents and in that context, a concrete example and suggested strategies for future study are provided.Originality/value– This paper provides a holistic approach to understanding lived experience with documents and introduces the concept of person-document transaction. It inserts the wider notion of document into a more specific theory of reading, expanding its use beyond the borders of text, print and literature. By providing an example of real document experiences and applying Rosenblatt's continuum, the value of this paper is in opening new avenues for information behavior inquiries.

Peer relationships and information sharing between LIS doctoral students

ABSTRACTDoctoral students rely on their peers as important information sources. However, information behavior studies in academic settings most often describe peers as intermediaries who simply assist individuals’ information seeking for academic resources. To address this issue, the authors interviewed six LIS doctoral students at Florida State University in order to explore the types of peer relationships and information sharing between LIS doctoral students. The preliminary findings confirmed the existence of close, social/academic, and other peers that can be categorized as special, collegial, and information peers using Kram and Isabella's continuum of peer relationships. In addition, it was found that work‐related and everyday life information is shared in all three types of peer relationships, while relational strength influences the scope and depth of information sharing. Future work will investigate the role of peers as mentors and agents of socialization in academic settings, and will further address the types of information shared as part of such mentoring relationships.

On Cars and Food: Reflections on Sources for the Historical Study of Everyday Information Behavior

Historical approaches are beginning to be used in the study of everyday information behavior. The ideal sources for carrying out this kind of scholarship would be large bodies of correspondence or large numbers of diary entries that discuss particular everyday activities, spread across long periods of time. Given the general lack of availability of these kinds of sources, historically minded everyday information behavior scholars need to find alternative source materials to employ in their research, even if these sources give only indirect rather than direct information about individuals' everyday information behavior. This article discusses a number of these alternative sources (consumer magazines, popular magazines, corporate marketing literature, guidebooks, reviews, and various kinds of advertising) and shows how they were used in historical studies on car buying and eating out in America.

Investigación del comportamiento informacional a través del análisis de redes sociales

The field of information behaviour research is dominated by a constructivist vision focused on the individual as a generator of knowledge. Recently, a group of researchers have increased the criticism of this approach and advocate a social turn. From this point of view, methods such as discourse analysis are used to try to learn from the language of users how they generate and share knowledge in the social context. Other methods that could contribute to a better understanding of this aspect include social network analysis. The article describes how this method has been applied to the study of information behaviour, shows a practical application and discusses the professional and methodological implications.

Information retrieval and individual differences

ABSTRACTThe paper presents individual differences, which are found in studies of information retrieval with emphasis on models of personality traits, cognitive and learning styles. It pays special attention to those models which are most often included in studies of information behaviour, information seeking, perceptions of IR systems, etc., but also brings forward some models which have not yet been included in such studies. Additionally, the relationship between different individual characteristics and individual’s chosen profession or academic area is discussed. In this context, the paper presents how investigation of individual differences can be useful in the design of IR systems.

Towards a conceptual framework for provider information behaviour

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion of the paucity of research on information behaviour of information providers and to propose a framework for investigating the emerging area of provider information behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of a conceptual analysis and literature review.Findings – A multidisciplinary framework is provided to form the basis of further exploration of provider information behaviour.Research limitations/implications – There are various types of information providers and they provide opportunities for exploring and comparing their range of information activities and developing models of provider information behaviour.Originality/value – The paper argues for a new perspective to the study of information behaviour. The paucity of research on internal users of information has not matched those on external users of information over the years. An exploration of provider information behaviour together with its internal i...

Making Life Easier for the Visually Impaired Web Searcher: It Is Now Clearer How This Should and Can Be Done, but Implementation Lags

Making Life Easier for the Visually Impaired Web Searcher: It Is Now Clearer How This Should and Can Be Done, but Implementation Lags

Patterns of graduate students' information seeking behavior: a meta‐synthesis of the literature

PurposeThe purpose of this review is to draw out patterns of information seeking behavior of graduate students as described in the empirical research published from 1997 to the present.Design/methodology/approachA systematic search of databases for studies on information behavior and graduate students was employed in order to retrieve studies for a systematic review. Common themes that emerged from the literature were synthesized into a discussion of behavior patterns. Additionally a study quality analysis was conducted for all retrieved studies using a critical appraisal checklist for library and information research.FindingsThis review revealed that graduate students begin their research on the internet much like any other information seeker, consult their faculty advisors before other people, and use libraries in diverse ways depending on the discipline studied. Additionally differences were noted between international and home students, and doctoral and master's students.Practical implicationsThe findings of this review indicate that information behavior research conducted on graduate students should delineate between masters' and doctoral students. Further, the findings may inform both academic librarian and faculty practice as to how to assist students with their research by helping them to understand how students typically approach research and how other institutions address common issues with special populations, such as non‐native speakers and distance learners.Originality/valueNo comprehensive review of information behavior studies, encompassing only the behaviors of graduate students has been conducted to date.

Information Behavior Underground: New York City, Paris

People who live in large metropolitan areas spend a vast amount of time on public transportation, including the subway. Yet there are very few studies that examine commuters’ information behavior. We conducted a study of information behavior of commuters in two large metropolitan areas: New York City, USA and Paris, France. We found similarities and differences in the patterns of information consumption of French and American subway travellers. For example, one of the similarities between French and American riders is heavy readership of print media, especially books; one of the differences between the two groups is related to the much lower usage of electronic media by French riders. The article discusses the ways to integrate study methodology and findings into future work.

Sense‐making across space and time: Implications for the organization and findability of information

AbstractThis paper presents the results from a study of information behaviors, with specific focus on information organisation‐related behaviours conducted as part of a larger daily diary study with 34 participants. The findings indicate that organization of information in everyday life is a problematic area due to various factors. The self‐evident one is the inter‐subjectivity between the person who may have organized the information and the person looking for that same information (Berlin et. al., 1993). Increasingly though, we are not just looking for information within collections that have been designed by someone else, but within our own personal collections of information, which frequently include books, electronic files, photos, records, documents, desktops, web bookmarks, and portable devices. The passage of time between when we categorized or classified the information, and the time when we look for the same information, poses several problems of intra‐subjectivity, or the difference between our own past and present perceptions of the same information. Information searching, and hence the retrieval of information from one's own collection of information in everyday life involved a spatial and temporal coordination with one's own past selves in a sort of cognitive and affective time travel, just as organizing information is a form of anticipatory coordination with one's future information needs. This has implications for finding information and also on personal information management.

Modeling the impact of individuals’ characteristics and library service levels on high school students’ public library usage: A national analysis

Information behavior (IB) and public library usage studies seldom simultaneously analyze individual-level characteristics and community-level information service factors. Thus, it is uncertain whether changes in community-level factors, such as an increase in public library funding and service level, make a difference in an individual's library usage after differences in personal characteristics are accounted for. Applying the person-in-environment (PIE) framework designed to integrate individual agency and sociostructural factors in IB research, this study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the factors influencing a student's frequency of public library usage for schoolwork, leisure, and Internet access. It mapped and merged a nationally representative survey of 13,000 U.S. 12th graders with census tract data and public library statistics. The SEM findings indicate that school information environment, frequency of school library use, race/ethnicity, and home computer availability were among the top three factors affecting public library usage for schoolwork, leisure, and Internet access. More importantly, library service levels had a positive impact on students’ library usage in terms of frequency of use. Specifically, even after personal differences such as each student's socioeconomic status and achievement motivation were controlled for, higher service levels in the student's neighborhood public library contributed to more frequent library usage. The findings pinpoint the benefits for individual-level IB study to incorporate etic measures of community-level factors. The findings also suggest that continuous effort to fund high levels of public library services—particularly in disadvantaged areas—is worthwhile. Such efforts should be encouraged.

Measuring researchers’ use of scholarly information through social bookmarking data: A case study of BibSonomy

This paper explores the possibility of using data from social bookmarking services to measure the use of information by academic researchers. Social bookmarking data can be used to augment participative methods (e.g. interviews and surveys) and other, non-participative methods (e.g. citation analysis and transaction logs) to measure the use of scholarly information. We use BibSonomy, a free resource-sharing system, as a case study. Results show that published journal articles are by far the most popular type of source bookmarked, followed by conference proceedings and books. Commercial journal publisher platforms are the most popular type of information resource bookmarked, followed by websites, records in databases and digital repositories. Usage of open access information resources is low in comparison with toll access journals. In the case of open access repositories, there is a marked preference for the use of subject-based repositories over institutional repositories. The results are consistent with those observed in related studies based on surveys and citation analysis, confirming the possible use of bookmarking data in studies of information behaviour in academic settings. The main advantages of using social bookmarking data are that is an unobtrusive approach, it captures the reading habits of researchers who are not necessarily authors, and data are readily available. The main limitation is that a significant amount of human resources is required in cleaning and standardizing the data.

An exploration of the practice approach and its place in information science

A number of cognate disciplines, such as science and technology studies and media studies, appear to be turning to practice theories as a theoretical perspective. Using Schatzki’s work as a starting point, this conceptual paper explores the practice approach, and its actual and potential application to different fields in information science. The paper begins by discussing definitions of practice, and charting differences in how authors have emphasized different aspects within the theory, such as the body, materiality, routine and knowing. Examples drawn from a study of family photography illustrate the discussion. The paper also locates a familiar concept, communities of practice, in the wider development of the theory. It then evaluates the practice approach as a perspective. The last sections of the paper examine the ways in which the practice approach has begun to be used in the study of information behaviour. The paper concludes that recasting this field as the study of information in social practice – in other words, as about exploring how information activities are woven through social practices – could be a highly productive perspective.

Grounded theory for generating theory in the study of behavior

The use of grounded theory procedures for the study of information behavior has contributed to generating theory in this field. Thirty-one works were analyzed with regard to a) their relationship to the context in which the research was carried out, b) the aspect of information behavior researched, c) the use of grounded theory procedures, and d) the generation of theory. Most of the studies were carried out in the context of health information, and grounded theory procedures were for the most part only partially applied. The theoretical propositions produced depended on the subject being studied. Although this methodology is suitable for the study of an individual's interaction with information from that individual's own point of view, documentation of the procedures involved is often deficient.

Information searching behaviour of young Slovenian researchers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an empirical study of information behaviour of young Slovenian researchers.Design/methodology/approachBuilt on some well‐known models of scholarly information behaviour the study complements a previously conducted study of the same population, which focused on the aspects of user friendliness. This second study is an attempt to shape a more detailed picture of the investigated user group. Presented are types of scholarly information behaviour, enriched by some complementary issues regarding their behaviour as digital users.FindingsThe respondents were found to express many of the features of both digital scholars and other users of digital technology. Direct searching and power browsing are most often expressed searching behaviours; also common are probing and accessing. Collecting behaviour is mostly expressed through “squirrelling”, and sometimes gathering. Satisfaction with the system and with search results is very influential, but sometimes not decisive, for the user to stay with the system, since attention to the content of the results is also very strong.Practical implicationsThe rationale for the study was that understanding users' information behaviour is crucial in the design of their information tools.Originality/valueScholarly information behaviour has been extensively studied in Western countries, however, studies of this nature are not so common in Slovenian scholarly literature. As such, this study is one of the first to tackle this issue.

ISI-KDD

Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI) is concerned with the study of the development and use of advanced information technologies and systems for national, international, and societal security-related applications. ISI is an interdisciplinary research field involving academic researchers in information technologies, computer science, public policy, bioinformatics, medical informatics, and social and behavior studies as well as local, state, and federal law enforcement and intelligence experts, and information technology industry consultants and practitioners to support counterterrorism and homeland security missions of anticipation, interdiction, prevention, preparedness and response to terrorist acts. ISI events were started in 2003. The events included the annual IEEE International Conference on ISI, Pacific Asia Workshop on ISI (PAISI), and European ISI Conference. Since 2009, we started the ISI-KDD workshop. More details about the ISI events can be found at http://www.isiconference.org/.