Context in information behavior research

Considering the Role of Information and Context in Promoting Health-Related Behavioral Change

This poster considers the role that information and context may play in health management. We employ a well-known taxonomy of techniques for promoting behavioral change to consider how social media authors describe their recovery from substance use. We harvest discussion posts from subreddits, or discussion forums, about alcohol, cannabis, and opioids, and perform content analysis to identify behavioral change techniques (BCTs) described in the content. We then consider the role that the context of information use plays in these BCTs, as well as how interventions and technologies might be leveraged to better support the recovery process.

Models of collaborative information behaviour (CIB): A meta-synthesis

Models of information behaviour are one of the prominent features of Library and Information Science research. The purpose of this study was to synthesise models of collaborative information behaviour (CIB). More specifically, the study compares the complementarity and congruent aspects of the models with regard to conceptual relationships that describe CIB processes and activities. The synthesis also ascertains the contributions of the models in exploring new aspects of information behaviour. Six CIB models were purposively selected and studied. The review includes a meta-ethnographic approach. The approach comprises three stages: reciprocal synthesis, reputational synthesis, and line-of-argument-synthesis. The results suggest that despite being analogous, and complementary, the models are dissimilar and relatively lack analogical conceptualization of some of the concepts. The models have explored new contexts and dimensions of information behaviour that go beyond existing approaches and perspectives within LIS. From the synthesis, the potential for developing a taxonomy of CIB and collaboration is proposed.

Beyond disclosure: the role of self-identity and context collapse in privacy management on identified social media for LGBTQ+ people

Purpose

While anonymous online interactions could be helpful and less risky, they are usually not enough for LGBTQ+ people to satisfy the need of expressing their marginalized identity to networks of known ties (i.e. on identified social media like Facebook, WeChat, and TikTok). However, identified social media bring LGBTQ+ people both sources and challenges like “context collapse” that flattens diverse networks or audiences that are originally separated. Previous studies focus on LGBTQ+ people's disclosure and responses to context collapse, few studies investigate how their perceptions of context collapse are shaped and their privacy management beyond regulating disclosure on social media. Drawing on identity theory and communication privacy management (CPM), this study aims to investigate how the need of LGBTQ+ people for self-identity affects their perceived context collapse and results in privacy management on identified social media.

Design/methodology/approach

Given the target population is LGBTQ+ people, The authors recruited participants through active LGBTQ+ online communities, influential LGBTQ+ activists, and the snowballing sampling. The authors empirically examined the proposed model using the PLS-SEM technique with a valid sample of 232 respondents concerning their identity practices and privacy management on WeChat, a typical and popular identified social media in China.

Findings

The results suggested that the need for expressing the self and the need for maintaining continuity of self-identity have significant influences on perceived context collapse, but vary in directions. The perceived context collapse will motivate LGBTQ+ individuals to engage in privacy management to readjust rules on ownership, access, and extension. However, only ownership management helps them regain the perceived privacy control on social media.

Originality/value

This study incorporated and highlighted the influence of LGBTQ+ identity in shaping context collapse and online privacy management. This study contributes to the literature on privacy and information communication and yields practical implications, especially on improving privacy-related interactive design for identified social media services.

Everyday life information seeking in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic: daily topics of information needs in social Q&A

Purpose

This study investigated information needs on COVID-19 by identifying topics discussed on social questions and answers (Q&A) about daily routines, problems, and health issues for survival. A layered model of contexts for everyday life information seeking (ELIS) was adapted for interpreting topics to better understand the contexts in which users could relate information needs.

Design/methodology/approach

Questions and answers posted on Naver Knowledge-iN were collected and analyzed during the first nine months following the outbreak. Time distribution, topic modeling, and association rule mining were applied to examine the topics on COVID-19 and their temporal variation.

Findings

Numerous topics related to the cognitive context (symptoms and masks) and situational contexts (international affairs, financial support, study, and work) were discovered. Topics related to social context were discussed moderately, but the number of questions on this topic increased with time. Strong associations were observed between terms related to symptoms, indicating their importance as a COVID-19 topic in health.

Originality/value

This study investigated topics of information needs using social Q&A data in which not only information inquiry but also information sharing coexist. The findings can help bridge the theory of ELIS to topic modeling in practice. The insights gained from this study can be used by information service providers for developing guidance and programs about how to survive during a pandemic.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0547.

Social capital or non-human sources? A cross-context study on information source selection of migrant farmer workers

Insufficient examination of social factors obscures the reason why non-human information sources are under-utilised by social groups with lower information literacy. This study explores the mechanism of information source selection (ISS) of Chinese migrant farmer workers (MFWs) in different industries by conducting a cross-context analysis. After iterative analyses of multiple cases, a theoretical model of information source selection within an individual’s information world is constructed. It explains why MFWs make more use of social capitals than non-human information sources in information seeking. Besides, the information needs are examined form both the needed information and the need itself. A classification of social capital as human information source is created and the roles that social capitals and non-human information sources play in ISS are identified. This study provides novel theoretical insights into the ‘old’ issue of ISS, and thus has practical implications for public information service providers and MFW-related policy makers.

Pets and people: information experience of multispecies families

Purpose

This paper introduces more-than-human perspective in information behaviour and information experience studies. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understandings of the concept of multispecies families by exploring their significant dimensions related to information phenomena involving multiple contexts, situations, spaces, actors, species, and activities.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on previous research in human information behaviour and human-animal studies, our ideas around information experience of multispecies families are developed conceptually. The paper builds both on previous empirical findings about human information behaviour and the new domain of information experience.

Findings

The paper proposes a holistic approach both to information phenomena in everyday living with companion animals including embodied, affective, cognitive, social, digital, and objectual information that shapes pet care and management practices, and to the context of study, including work, domestic, and leisure aspects of multispecies family.

Originality/value

This study broadens our understanding of information phenomena in multispecies families, and so contributes to the field of information experience. It also provides insights for animal welfare scientists to help them understand the information behaviour of humans who are responsible for keeping and caring for animals.

Geographies of information behaviour: a conceptual exploration

Purpose

This article examines the relation between place, space and information behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Concepts of place and space are explored through a comparison of three leisure pursuits: running, urban exploration and genealogy, based on the authors' research and the published literature.

Findings

A socially constructed meaning of place is central to each leisure activity but how it is experienced physically, emotionally and imaginatively are different. Places have very different meanings within each practice. Mirroring this, information behaviours are also very different: such as the sources used, the type of information created and how it is shared or not shared. Information behaviour contributes to the meanings associated with place in particular social practices.

Research limitations/implications

Meaning attached to place can be understood as actively constructed within social practices. Rather than context for information behaviours in the sense of an outside, containing, even constraining, environment, the meaning of place can be seen as actively constructed within social practices and by the information behaviours that are part of them.

Originality/value

The paper adds a new perspective to the understanding of place and space in the study of information behaviour.

‘Access necessitates being seen’: Queer visibility and intersectional embodiment within the health information practices of queer community leaders

Navigating healthcare infrastructures is particularly challenging for queer-identifying individuals, with significant barriers emerging around stigma and practitioner ignorance. Further intersecting, historically marginalised identities such as one’s race, age or ability exacerbate such engagement with healthcare, particularly the access to and use of reliable and appropriate health information. We explore the salience of one’s queer identity relative to other embodied identities when navigating health information and care for themselves and their communities. Thirty semi-structured interviews with queer community leaders from South Carolina inform our discussion of the role one’s queer visibility plays relational to the visibility of other identities. We find that leaders and their communities navigate these intersectional visibilities through unique and iterative approaches to health information seeking, sharing and use predicated upon anti-queer, racist, ableist and misogynistic sentiments. Findings can inform queer-inclusive, intersectionally informed interventions by health and information professionals such as non-profit advocacy organisations and medical librarians.

Identifying design guidelines for online information resources: a study of expectant and new mothers

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to identify design guidelines for online resources based on the subjective assessment criteria used by individuals to assess and process information resources. This method of creating design guidelines targeted at precise user groups has the potential to aid designers and developers to create more user-centred information resources.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors gathered data using a prospective longitudinal study investigating the information behaviour of expectant and new mothers. Women were asked to report on their information-seeking activities in a series of semi-structured interviews covering pregnancy and early motherhood.

Findings

This research identified 15 assessment criteria that were utilised by women to assess and process information resources. The most popular resource criteria amongst participants were credibility and convenience, while completeness and relevance were the most popular information content criteria. The authors found that assessment criteria were not considered in isolation, with criteria such as formatting and search engine ranking impacting on participants' perception of other criteria.

Practical implications

This research demonstrates the potential of linking a user groups subjective assessment criterion to design guidelines. The authors propose that these guidelines could be used to help design an online information resource. They could also be used to assess if an existing online resource met the needs of a user group. The methodology used in this study could be leveraged to create design guidelines for user groups.

Originality/value

This research uses subjective assessment criteria as a means of understanding how expectant new mothers process information resources. People use subjective judgements when processing information resources, and this should be incorporated into the design of information resources. Analysing longitudinal data allowed the authors to build a rich picture of how participants evaluated and compared different information resources.

Documenting social justice in library and information science research: a literature review

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of social justice research in library and information science (LIS) literature in order to identify the research quantity, what populations or settings were included and future directions for this area of the discipline through examination of when related research was published, what contexts it covered and what contributions LIS researchers have made in this research area.

Design/methodology/approach

This study reviews results from two LIS literature databases—Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) and Library and Information Science Source (LISS)—that use the term “social justice” in title, abstract or full text to explicitly or implicitly describe their research.

Findings

This review of the literature using the term social justice to describe LIS research recognizes the significant increase in quantities of related research over the first two decades of the 21st century as well as the emergence of numerous contexts in which that research is situated. The social justice research identified in the literature review is further classified into two primary contribution categories: indirect action (i.e. steps necessary for making change possible) or direct action (i.e. specific steps, procedures and policies to implement change).

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study provide a stronger conceptualization of the contributions of existing social justice research through examination of past work and guides next steps for the discipline.

Practical implications

The conceptualizations and related details provided in this study help identify gaps that could be filled by future scholarship.

Originality/value

While social justice research in LIS has increased in recent years, few studies have explored the landscape of existing research in this area.

Information landscapes as contexts of information practices

The article examines the strengths and limitations of the analogy of information landscapes proposed by Annemaree Lloyd. The analogy offers a novel approach to the conceptualization of the spatial contexts of information practices. Drawing on the ideas of metaphor analysis, the analogy is scrutinized by comparing the similarities between its source domain, that is, natural landscape, and target domain, that is, information landscape. The study identified three main aspects of the analogy: (1) information landscapes as spaces affording the accomplishment of information practices, (2) information landscapes as spaces entwining physical and imaginary qualities and (3) information landscapes as socially constructed spatial contexts of information practices. The findings suggest that the construct of information landscapes represents a spatial analogy in which the properties of the source domain partially elucidate the nature of the contexts of information practices. The analogy works best with regard to similarities between affordances offered by natural landscapes and information landscapes. The major limitation of the analogy deals with difficulties to map physical features of the source domain onto the cognitive and social qualifiers of the target domain.

The structure of information behavior dissertations 2009–2018: Theories, methods, populations, disciplines

Dissertations can be important sources of information about the future of a research field. These publications capture the ideas, theories, methods, and populations that emerging researchers deem important for study. Dissertation research often exhibits great rigor and innovation. This study of dissertations focuses on one specific field, which has importance in a large variety of academic disciplines: information behavior. An analysis of a sample of information behavior dissertations published in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses between 2009 and 2018 is performed. The top theories, methods, and study populations are identified using data functions to compile the results. While the majority of information behavior research originates in the discipline of library and information science (53%), the field is nonetheless highly interdisciplinary. The theories of Kuhlthau, Dervin, and Wilson are used extensively as frameworks in information behavior dissertations. Students are the most commonly studied population, while interview is the most commonly utilized research method. Information behavior is a diverse research field, stemming from a large number of disciplines and utilizing a broad group of theories, methods, and populations.

Unbundling practice: the unbundling of big deal journal packages as an information practice

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to introduce a theoretical framework and approach for studying the evaluation and decision-making practices through which academic librarians attempt to reduce the cost of electronic journal subscriptions – an organizational practice known as the unbundling of big deal journal packages.

Design/methodology/approach

The article presents a literature-based conceptual analysis of several fields to delineate the elements of the practice of unbundling of big deal journal packages. Beyond analysing the prior literature, the discussion is supported by empirical findings from a pilot study on the topic conducted by two of the article's authors.

Findings

The main finding of the article is that the unbundling of big deal packages is a case of what sociologist refers to as decision-making in a social context. By reviewing previous studies, the article identifies the social and material elements constitutive of this practice. This, in turn, allows to develop questions and concepts for future research on the topic and to position it as an area of inquiry within the field of information behaviour/practices.

Originality/value

The article is the first attempt to conceptualize the unbundling of big deal journal packages by highlighting its phenomenological status as a type of information practice. In addition, the article proposes a research approach for studying this type of information practice by drawing on insights from the information behaviour/practice literature and enriching them through practice theory contributions in organizational studies and sociology.

Considering the local and the translocal

Purpose

Institutional ethnography is a method of inquiry that brings attention to people’s everyday work while simultaneously highlighting broader sites of administration and governance that may be organising that work. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the integration of institutional ethnography in health information practice research represents an important shift in the way that Library and Information Science professionals and researchers study and understand these practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper first explores the key tenets and conceptual underpinnings of Dorothy Smith’s institutional ethnography, illuminating the importance of moving between translocal and the local contexts and identifying ruling relations. Drawing from a library and information science study that combined interviews and textual analyses to examine the social organisation of family caregivers’ health-related information work, the paper then explores the affordances of starting in the local particularities and then moving outwards to the translocal.

Findings

The paper concludes with an overall assessment of what institutional ethnography can contribute to investigations of health information practices. By pushing from the local to the translocal, institutional ethnography enables a questioning of existing library and information science conceptualisations of context and of reappraising the everyday-life information seeking work/non-work dichotomy. Ultimately, in considering both the local and the translocal, institutional ethnography casts a wider net on understanding individuals’ health information practices.

Originality/value

With only two retrieved studies that combine institutional ethnography with the study of health information practices, this paper offers health information practice researchers a new method of inquiry in which to reframe the application of methods used.

Health outcomes of online consumer health information: A systematic mixed studies review with framework synthesis

The Internet has become the first source of consumer health information. Most theoretical and empirical studies are centered on information needs and seeking, rather than on information outcomes. This review's purpose is to explore and explain health outcomes of Online Consumer Health Information (OCHI) in primary care. A participatory systematic mixed studies review with a framework synthesis was undertaken. Starting from an initial conceptual framework, our specific objectives were to (a) identify types of OCHI outcomes in primary care, (b) identify factors associated with these outcomes, and (c) integrate these factors and outcomes into a comprehensive revised framework combining an information theory and a psychosocial theory of behavior. The results of 65 included studies were synthesized using a qualitative thematic data analysis. The themes derived from the literature underwent a harmonization process that produced a comprehensive typology of OCHI outcomes. The revised conceptual framework specifies four individual and one organizational level of OCHI outcomes, while including factors such as consumers' information needs and four interdependent contextual factors. It contributes to theoretical knowledge about OCHI health outcomes, and informs future research, information assessment methods, and tools to help consumers find and use health information.

Understanding data search as a socio-technical practice

Open research data are heralded as having the potential to increase effectiveness, productivity and reproducibility in science, but little is known about the actual practices involved in data search. The socio-technical problem of locating data for reuse is often reduced to the technological dimension of designing data search systems. We combine a bibliometric study of the current academic discourse around data search with interviews with data seekers. In this article, we explore how adopting a contextual, socio-technical perspective can help to understand user practices and behaviour and ultimately help to improve the design of data discovery systems.

Assessing and Improving the Use of Online Information About Child Development, Education, Health, and Well-Being in Low-Education, Low-Income Parents: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Multiphase Study

Background

This study is born from a partnership between Web editors of Naître et grandir (N&G) and AboutKidsHealth (AKH) and researchers who developed and validated the Information Assessment Method (IAM). N&G and AKH are popular Canadian websites with high-quality comprehensive information about child development, education, health, and well-being. IAM allows parents to assess online information and provide feedback to Web editors. High-quality online consumer health information improves knowledge, self-efficacy, and health. However, low-socioeconomic status (SES) parents underuse N&G and IAM, despite these parents being more likely to report decreased worries and increased confidence as outcomes from N&G information.

Objective

The study is aimed to improve low-SES parents’ use of online child information and interaction with Web editors and explore subsequent health outcomes for parents and children.

Methods

Multiphase mixed-methods design. Our general approach is centered on organizational participatory research. In phase 1, we will conduct a qualitative interpretive study to identify barriers and facilitators to using N&G information and to interacting with N&G editors via IAM; interview more than 10 low-SES parents about their experience with N&G and IAM and more than 10 nonusers of N&G and IAM; and use thematic analysis to identify main barriers and facilitators. In phase 2, we will integrate parents’ views (phase 1 findings) in N&G and IAM and implement a new version: IAM+N&G+. In phase 3, we will conduct a quantitative prospective longitudinal study (pre-/postimplementation monitoring of knowledge use and outcomes). We will compare the use of original (IAM and N&G) and new (IAM+ and N&G+) versions using Google Analytics variables, IAM variables, a material and social deprivation index, and demographics. We anticipate increased use post implementation (linear mixed modeling). In phase 4, we will conduct a qualitative descriptive study on outcomes of information use. We will interview more than 30 low-SES parents who receive and rate the N&G+ newsletter using IAM+ and analyze data in the form of life histories to describe how parents and children experience perceived outcomes.

Results

The project was funded in 2017 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and received an ethics approval by the McGill University’s institutional review board. Data collection for phase 1 was completed in 2018. Phases 2 to 4 will be conducted until 2020. Findings from this study will also be used to develop a free toolkit, useful to all Web editors, with recommendations for improving health information for low-SES persons and interactions with them using IAM.

Conclusions

The results of this study will provide a deep understanding of how low-SES parents use online child information and interact with Web editors. Following the implementation of IAM+N&G+, results will also elucidate subsequent health outcomes for low-SES parents and children after interaction with Web editors has been optimized.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/9996

Exploring the context of visual information seeking

Purpose

Information seeking is an interactive behaviour of the end users with information systems, which occurs in a real environment known as context. Context affects information-seeking behaviour in many different ways. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that potentially constitute the context of visual information seeking.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a Straussian version of grounded theory, a qualitative approach, to conduct the study. Using a purposive sampling method, 28 subjects participated in the study. The data were analysed using open, axial and selective coding in MAXQDA software.

Findings

The contextual factors influencing visual information seeking were classified into seven categories, including: “user characteristics”, “general search features”, “visual search features”, “display of results”, “accessibility of results”, “task type” and “environmental factors”.

Practical/implications

This study contributes to a better understanding of how people conduct searches in and interact with visual search interfaces. Results have important implications for the designers of information retrieval systems.

Originality/value

This paper is among the pioneer studies investigating contextual factors influencing information seeking in visual information retrieval systems.

Caregiver informational support in different patient care settings at end of life

Caregivers of the terminally ill face many complicated tasks including providing direct patient care, communicating with clinicians, and managing the logistical demands of daily activities. They require instructive information at all points in the illness process and across several settings where patients receive end-of-life care. This study examines how the setting where a patient receives end-of-life care affects caregivers' informational support needs by thematically analyzing data from caregiver interviews and clinical observations. Caregivers providing care for patients at home received informational support related to meeting patients' mobility, medication, and nutritional needs. Caregivers who provided care remotely received informational support to navigate transitions between patient care settings or long-term care arrangements, including financial considerations and insurance logistics. The findings document that interventions designed to enhance information for caregivers should account for caregiving context and that health care providers should proactively and repeatedly assess caregiver information needs related to end-of-life patient care.

A context-based study of serendipity in information research among Chinese scholars

Purpose

The current understanding of serendipity is based primarily on studies employing westerners as the participants, and it remains uncertain whether or not this understanding would be pervasive under different cultures, such as in China. In addition, there is not a sufficient systematic investigation of context during the occurrence of serendipity in current studies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the above issues by conducting a follow-up empirical study with a group of Chinese scholars.

Design/methodology/approach

The social media application “WeChat” was employed as a research tool. A diary-based study was conducted and 16 participants were required to send to the researchers any cases of serendipity they encountered during a period of two weeks, and this was followed by a post-interview.

Findings

Chinese scholars experienced serendipity in line with the three main processes of: encountering unexpectedness, connection-making and recognising the value. An updated context-based serendipity model was constructed, where the role of context during each episode of experiencing serendipity was identified, including the external context (e.g. time, location and status), the social context and the internal context (e.g. precipitating conditions, sagacity/perceptiveness and emotion).

Originality/value

The updated context model provides a further understanding of the role played by context during the different processes of serendipity. The framework for experiencing serendipity has been expanded, and this may be used to classify the categories of serendipity.

We-Caring: Searching for Online Health Information by Italian Families

Using data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics on 19,000 Italian adults who had accessed the Internet in 2013, our study investigates the interaction between online health information-seeking behaviors and family obligations among household members. The study presents a detailed picture of the likelihood of online health information searching according to health status and gendered family roles. Findings of binomial logistic regression models highlight that family obligations per se influence the probability of searching, regardless of the health of the seeker and that of family members. Illness, whether affecting the seeker or other individuals within the family network, proves to be another trigger for online health information seeking. Directions for future research and practical implications for public health organizations are discussed.

Demarcações epistemológicas dos estudos de citação: concepção sociocultural das citações

RESUMO Revela as demarcações epistemológicas que configuram os estudos de citação na contemporaneidade. Parte-se do pressuposto de que os contextos sociais e culturais são vitais no desenvolvimento dos estudos de citação, na medida em que eles formalizam a relação entre a produção e as práticas de citação. Tem como objetivo propor o delineamento epistemológico inicial para uma concepção sociocultural das citações, com ênfase na explicitação das influências dos múltiplos contextos nos processos de produção e citação dos cientistas. Apresenta e discute os componentes científicos para a concepção sociocultural das citações, de natureza complementar às teorias das citações. Sugere uma matriz epistemológica para os estudos de citação e também um modelo multidimensional analítico para futuras investigações. Conclui que a concepção sociocultural pode ser aplicada metodologicamente, de forma complementar, em pesquisas que problematizem a relação estabelecida entre produção e citação.

Factors affecting the information-seeking behaviour of postgraduate students at the University of South Africa Ethiopia Regional Learning Centre

The purpose of this study was to investigate some of the factors affecting the information-seeking behaviour of postgraduate students registered at the University of South Africa (Unisa) as represented by its Ethiopia Regional Learning Centre, with particular emphasis on their use of electronic information resources. A qualitative case study approach was adopted. In semi-structured interviews, eight conveniently selected postgraduate students shared their information-seeking experiences. The data was analysed thematically. The findings identified contextual and personal factors which gave rise to the respondents’ information needs and in turn prompted information activities such as information seeking. Of these, a lack of ICT infrastructure, frequent interruptions in electricity supply, old computers and the location of the Akaki Branch Library proved to be the main factors affecting postgraduate students’ electronic information-seeking behaviour. The findings showed the effect that inadequate facilities have on postgraduate students’ information behaviour.

Exploring contexts in consulting engineers’ collaborative information behaviour

Reports on a narrative inquiry study exploring the complexity of engineering contexts and endeavouring to establish how engineering contexts shape consulting engineers’ collaborative information behaviour. Fifteen responding engineers recollected their experiences of an engineering project in narrative interviews. The collected data were re-storied and analysed thematically. Multi-layered contexts seem to affect consulting engineers’ information behaviour. These include engineering organisations and engineering projects. Engineering organisations determine the information individual engineers are exposed to and provide natural boundaries that delineate the activities taking place within them. Engineering projects not only determine the information needs of engineers but also the information activities that will provide in their information needs. Due to team relationships that develop throughout an engineering project, social networks develop naturally and become important resources of engineering information.

The embeddedness of collaborative information seeking in information culture

Professionally, people often conduct their work in settings containing a range of different collaborative situations and work practices in which people handle information and work activities. Still, work tasks are usually considered and perceived as individual activities although the technology and the characteristics of the tasks require collaborative and cooperative handling processes. This viewpoint still produces technologies that, in general, assume individual information management and decision-making. Based on previous research on information culture (IC) and collaborative information seeking (CIS), this paper proposes an integrated framework where both environmental (cultural) as well as collaborative aspects of organisational information behaviour are present. This kind of framework would be useful in studies looking into how information is retrieved, how information is organised and managed, and how information is used as a resource in collaborative settings. It gives a more holistic perspective to information use and practices in organisations where culture, collaboration and awareness are especially brought to common attention for effective information management in organisations.

Relationships between work task types, complexity and dwell time of information resources

Information seeking research often reports about types of information resources, ways of acquiring them and opinions on their importance in various professions. Based on self-reporting, these findings are affected by human memory and rationalisation. This article proposes a new way of studying information resource use – based on dwell time in the context provided by concrete work tasks. We use log data of 21 information workers from six organisations to analyse how work task complexity is connected to the time used in various information resources; how task complexity is connected to information resource use in different task types. Unlike traditionally, our findings consist of objective data on which resource types are used, and for how long, in work tasks of varying complexity and type. For example, the findings suggest that growing work task complexity increases the dwell time in local personal computer (PC) resources; these resources are especially popular in intellectual tasks. Such findings help understand factors affecting information resource use. Likewise, they help focus attention on most time-consuming aspects of task-based information interaction when developing support for work.

Queries in authentic work tasks: the effects of task type and complexity

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate information retrieval (IR) in the context of authentic work tasks (WTs), as compared to traditional experimental IR study designs.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants were 22 professionals working in municipal administration, university research and education, and commercial companies. The data comprise 286 WTs and 420 search tasks (STs). The data were collected in natural situations. It includes transaction logs, video recordings, interviews, observation, and daily questionnaires.

Findings

The analysis included the effects of WT type and complexity on the number of STs, queries, search keys and types of queries. The findings suggest that simple STs are enough to support most WTs. Complex WTs (vs more simple ones) and intellectual WTs (vs communication, support and editing WTs) include more STs than other WT categories.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should address the problems related to controllability of field studies and enhance the use of realistic WT situations in test-based studies, as well.

Originality/value

The study is an attempt to bring traditional IR studies and realistic research settings closer to each other. Using authentic WTs when studying IR is still rare. The representativeness of the WT/ST types used in interactive IR experiments should be carefully addressed: in the work flow, people seldom consciously recognise separate “STs”. This means that STs may mainly be an academic construct even to the point that studying IR without a decent context does violence to the further understanding of the phenomenon.

Engineering knowledge and information needs in Italy and Japan: bridging the gap between theory and practice

Purpose

– This study aims to identify and compare the knowledge and information retrieval needs from past projects and for future work among Italian and Japanese engineers. Engineering work, which is knowledge-intensive, is all the more critical as it both uses and generates knowledge for product and process innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research uses data collected from engineers in Italy and Japan from an online survey using open-ended questions in their native language. Answers were then translated into English and coded into pre-determined categories; statistical analyses including factor analysis were conducted.

Findings

– For knowledge to be retrieved from past work, both Italian and Japanese engineers identified mainly experiential and systemic knowledge assets. For knowledge to be captured for future work, both groups picked experiential as well as conceptual knowledge related to the competitive environment of the firm absent from knowledge needs from past work. Finally, this research uncovered almost twice as fewer meta-categories for knowledge needs to be captured for future work compared to knowledge to be retrieved from past projects, as the former are by nature speculative and, therefore, difficult to foresee.

Research limitations/implications

– The study is limited to the engineering domain and to two countries. Further research should extend the scope beyond these two countries.

Practical implications

– The study identified information and knowledge needs that could help inform the design of procedures to capture and document engineering work and the development of supporting information systems.

Originality/value

– This research contributes to an increased understanding of the substance of information and knowledge needs in a knowledge-intensive environment such as engineering work and product/service development.

Le rôle du contexte dans le jugement de pertinence en situation de repérage d’information

Cet article propose de cerner le concept de contexte en recherche d’information et de mieux comprendre son impact sur la définition de la pertinence et de son mode d’évaluation principal par l’usager, à savoir le jugement de pertinence. Après avoir abordé le concept de contexte, nous explorerons les principales définitions du concept de pertinence ainsi que quelques modèles théoriques qui démontrent l’influence grandissante de l’approche sociotechnique sur ces modèles, soit l’intégration des composantes humaines et techniques ainsi que leurs interactions. Par la suite, nous présenterons certains critères utilisés pour juger de la pertinence des résultats de recherche et nous verrons comment ces critères peuvent être affectés par différentes dimensions du contexte. Enfin, nous soulignerons le caractère dynamique et multidimensionnel des concepts de pertinence et de contexte.

Health information seeking of low socioeconomic status Hispanic adults using smartphones

Purpose

– Smartphones have great potential to bridge the digital divide that low-socioeconomic status (SES) Hispanics have been experiencing. However, little is known about this group’s use of smartphones for health information. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by exploring the context in which smartphones were used for health information.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors interviewed 20 low-SES Hispanic participants using the semi-structured interview method. Participants had not obtained college degrees and had annual incomes less than $30,000, but had used their smartphones for health information. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method.

Findings

– Being economical was an important reason for low-SES Hispanic users to use smartphones for health information. The users relied heavily on public Wi-Fi to access the internet. They searched a wide range of health topics, mostly using the mobile web rather than apps. They lacked knowledge and skills to effectively using apps, evaluating the quality of health information, and comprehend information.

Research limitations/implications

– Having access to smartphones alone does not help bridge the digital gap for low-SES Hispanics. Interventions need to consider improving these users’ smartphone literacy and health literacy, as well as improving their access to Wi-Fi services and to more quality content in Spanish.

Originality/value

– Prior studies speculated that smartphones could be a means to bridge digital divide experienced by the Hispanic ethnic group. This study provided empirical knowledge about how smartphones are used by these users for health information, and shed light on the design of future informational interventions.

Information behaviour of French-speaking speech-language therapists in Belgium: results of a questionnaire survey

BACKGROUND

Speech-language therapists (SLTs) are encouraged to implement evidence-based practice (EBP). Nevertheless, EBP use by practitioners can be questioned.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to explore Belgian French-speaking SLTs' information behaviour and their awareness of EBP. The collected data allow one to determine how far they have embraced this approach.

METHODS

The two Belgian French-speaking SLT professional associations promoted an online questionnaire survey by email. Additionally, clinical supervisors of students were asked to participate. In March 2012, 2068 emails were sent.

RESULTS

The participation rate was at least 20% (n = 415). The reported information needs mainly concerned treatment or diagnosis. Most of the time, to attempt to fulfil their information needs, SLTs relied on their own resources (personal experience and libraries) and on colleagues in the workplace. When they searched on the Internet, they preferred to use a general search engine rather than a specialised bibliographic database. Barriers to obtaining scientific information are highlighted. Only 12% of the respondents had already heard about EBP.

CONCLUSION

This study provides the first overview of the information behaviour of SLTs working in the French community of Belgium. Several recommendations are suggested for SLTs and librarians.