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INFO 414 Information Behavior
Theoretical foundations, frameworks and paradigms
Frameworks and paradigms
System or physical paradigm Social/ psychological view
user oriented paradigm Cognitive view Sensemaking Social constructionism
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
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.
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
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.
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
External Behavior
Very concrete Contact with a system is the basic indicator
of information need Focus on what can be observed as overt
behaviour
Chaotic Individuality
Focus on individual information behavior will cause too much variation
Systems cannot accommodate individual interpretation
Individuality means chaos and prevents systematic research
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
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
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
User oriented paradigm
subjective information constructivist active user situationality wholistic views of experience internal cognitions systematic individuality qualitative research
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
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
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
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
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
Systematic Individuality
The complexity of individuality can be addressed in a way that is consistent with scientific investigation.
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
Problem dimensions
A focus on problemscontinuum 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
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
A problem orientation (Saracevic, 1988)
Internal and cognitive aspects
The problemState or problemSpace
• Problem• Intent• Internal knowledge state• Public knowledge expectation
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)
K[s] + i = k[s + s]
Knowledgestructure Information
Modified knowledgestructure
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.
Ingwersen (1986)
ConceptualKnowledge
Human Intermediary
Knowledge ofdocuments andrepresentation
Perceptionsand pictureof user need
Document User
InteractionTransformation
Sensemaking
Situation Uses(Helps)
Gap faced
Gap bridged
Questions answered, ideasformed, resourcesobtained
Strategies usedinfo values sought
DiscontinuityCondition
Sensemaking moment
Situation
Gap Use (Help)
Circlingtheexperience
Each momentis potentially asensemaking moment
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
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
Social constructionism
Assumes that we construct versions of reality between ourselves
Knowledge is something people do together rather than an individual possession
Social constructionism
Social constructionist viewdiscourse is constructive in itselfnot about cognitive states but rather about the situated
and occasioned nature of talkdiscursive constructions make sense in terms of the
social action they are constructed to accomplish
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)