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INFO 414 Information Behavior
Theoretical foundations, frameworks and paradigms
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Frameworks and paradigms
System or physical paradigm
Social/ psychological view
user oriented paradigm
Cognitive view
Sensemaking
Social constructionism
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The system or physical paradigm
Objective view of information
Users seen as mechanistic and passive
User behavior predicted according to general variables - age, income
Atomistic - focus on user’s interaction with system; point of contact only
focus on external behaviors; contact with system is indication of need and behavior
individuality regarded as chaotic
quantitative
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Objective Information
information has constant meaning
a commodity or thing.
can be transported
reflects an absolute correspondence with reality
It will convey the same meaning to all users.
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Mechanistic Passive Users
· Users are regarded as information processing systems
· Being informed or benefiting from information is assumed to result directly from document delivery with no intervening user behaviour
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Transituationality
Users with similar characteristics in similar situations will react in
similar ways, use information similarly and make similar decisions.
The information behavior of users is described in ways that apply across situations.
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Atomistic View of Experience
The focus is on user behaviour at the point of intersection with the information system
The moment of contact and exchange
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External Behavior
Very concrete
Contact with a system is the basic indicator of information need
Focus on what can be observed as overt behaviour
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Chaotic Individuality
Focus on individual information behavior will cause too much variation
Systems cannot accommodate individual interpretation
Individuality means chaos and prevents systematic research
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Sociological and psychological approaches
Sociological approach to information behavior 60’s...
views the individual user of information systems as part of a complex of other systems all of which affect the person’s information behavior
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Sociological and psychological approaches
factors outside the information system ought to be studied if we are to interpret information behavior accurately
the person’s social situation
the individual’s problems
the use to which the information will be put
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Sociological and psychological approaches
Psychological approach
reinforces the sociological perspectives
takes account of the user’s internal state as it interacts with the external factors identified by the sociological approach
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User oriented paradigm
subjective information
constructivist active user
situationality
wholistic views of experience
internal cognitions
systematic individuality
qualitative research
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Subjective information
Information does not transmit constant meaning
Information users interpret information and create sense or meaning in accordance with their unique model or image of the world
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Constructivist Active Users
The user constructs need out of situations and is actively involved in information transfer
The user undertakes activities that will induce sensemaking
The user is actively involved from the time the information problem arises to the point of problem resolution
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Situationality
An individual’s responsiveness to information is governed by a range of variables that are unique to the individual and to the information problem that the individual is engaging
Individuals operate from different centres at different times
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Wholistic View of Experience
A user’s behavior is studied in terms of those factors that lead to an encounter with an information system and the consequences of such an encounter
A broader view of information behaviour from the time need arises to when it no longer exists
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Internal Cognitions
Acknowledges the premise that what is going on inside a person’s mind (the individual’s model of the world) will shape the way information is interpreted and used
Interested in what people think as well as what they do when they engage in information behavior
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Systematic Individuality
The complexity of individuality can be addressed in a way that is consistent with scientific investigation.
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Problem orientation
A change in perception
away from seeing information as only about something
towards seeing information as having an effect on something
concentrating on problems rather than questions
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Problem dimensions
A focus on problems
continuum from questions to problems to sensemaking
Problems
the initial state
the goal state
the processes - mental physical or perceptual that move the user from initial state to goal state
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A problem orientation (Saracevic, 1988)
no such thing as information need in the abstract but rather circumstances that lead to information behavior
there is more to a question than the words expressing it
viewing the problem behind the question rather than the information need is central to the information retrieval interaction
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A problem orientation (Saracevic, 1988)
Internal and cognitive aspects
Problem
Intent
Internal knowledge state
Public knowledge expectation
The problem State or problem Space
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The cognitive view…(B.C. Brookes)
Any processing of information - whether perceptual or symbolic - is mediated by a system of categories or concepts, which, for the processing device, are a model of its world (De Mey)
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The cognitive view (Ingwersen)
The world model consists of knowledge structures. These are determined by the individual and social/ collective experiences, education and training etc.
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Ingwersen (1986)
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Sensemaking
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Sensemaking moment
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Social Constructionism
Essential premise
The primary human reality is about people in conversation
communication and conversation are used to structure and organize social reality
focus on public and social not private and subjective
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Social contructionism
Emphasizes the negotiation of meaning
attention to reality construction through discourse
there is no versionless reality
rejects monologism and replaces this with dialogism
the most important things take place in interaction, in discursive and bodily practices between people not within the individual cut off from his or her social relationships
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Social constructionism
Assumes that we construct versions of reality between ourselves
Knowledge is something people do together rather than an individual possession
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Social constructionism
Social constructionist view
discourse is constructive in itself
not about cognitive states but rather about the situated and occasioned nature of talk
discursive constructions make sense in terms of the social action they are constructed to accomplish
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Social constructionism
It is possible to study people’s thoughts, ideas and emotions by looking at how they are played out in action
applied to the analysis of information use social constructionism is not about studying the internal and subjective but rather the discursive constructions of information
information is a property of conversation (Taylor)
information as a thing must be reconceptualized in communication terms (Dervin)