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)