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Basic Concepts in HIB

Acquiring new lenses to see HIB and a new language to

analyze it

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Information Need—Definition

• Information needs arise whenever individuals find themselves in a situation, and require information to deal with the situation as they see fit.

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Information Need—Definition

The difference between:

• Information want

• Information demand

• Information need

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Information Want

• The information a person thinks she or he wants to have to solve an information problem

Or:

• The information a person believes will solve his or her information problem

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Information Demand

• The information a person believes he or she can ask for

Why should not one ask for what one wants?

• One may not know what one wants• One may want to ask for what one think

one can get• One feels uncomfortable

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Information Need

• The information that will solve the person’s information problem

How can we know if something is a true information need?

• After the fact• Have a “scientific” way to

determine

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Stages of Need Development (Taylor)

• Visceral: A sense of uneasiness• Conscious: Ill-defined area of

indecision • Formalized: Describes area in

concrete terms, making the need as explicit as possible

• Compromised: Need as translated into the system’s language

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Stages of Need Development Exercise

Please identify the stages of the information need in each of the following quotations on the handout.

Time: 5 minutes

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Needs• By Nature of Expected Answer:

– Known item need: The answer that is required is a certain, known item

– Subject need: The answer that is required is information on a particular subject, or of a particular kind

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Needs• By the Generator of the Need:

– Self need: A need generated by the person who is looking for answers

– Proxy need: A need generated by another person (imposed need)

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My Information Need Exercise

• Turn to your neighbor and exchange a copy of the completed assignment

• Read your neighbor’s assignment and analyze the need described in terms of the characteristics just covered

• Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 5 minutes

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Information Behavior • Information seeking

• Information evaluating • Information use

• Information representing

• Information giving

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Information Behavior

• Information seeking: How an individual goes about obtaining information.

• Information evaluating: How users decide if the information they obtained is relevant to their need, that is, if it can resolve their need.

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Information Behavior

• Information use: The outcome of information seeking.

• Information representing: creating surrogates to represent information.

• Information giving: The act of disseminating messages.

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Information Seeking

How an individual goes about obtaining information.

Types by level of purpose: – Searching– Surfing– Encountering

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Information SeekingSearching: Purposely looking for information to

resolve a particular information need.

Surfing: Browsing through a source of information, just to see what it has, without a particular information need.

Encountering: “Bumping” into information that can resolve a particular information need when doing other things.

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Information Seeking—

Class Workout• Revisit your neighbor’s assignment and indicate:– What behavior is described (seeking,

evaluating, use, giving)?– If seeking, what type (searching, surfing,

encountering)?

• Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 3 minutes

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Search Strategies

Where are we now?

• Information behavior– Information seeking

•Searching– Search strategies

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(Cognitive Work analysis)

The five search strategies:

•The browsing strategy •The analytical strategy •The empirical strategy •The known site strategy •The similarity strategy

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Search Strategies

The browsing strategy: Intuitive scanning following leads by association without much planning ahead.

 The analytical strategy: Explicit

consideration of attributes of the information need and of the search system 

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Search Strategies

The empirical strategy: Based on previous experience, using rules and tactics that were successful in the past

The known site strategy: Going directly to the place where the information is located

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Search Strategies

The similarity strategy: Find information based on a previous successful example that is similar to the current need.

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Exercise

• Revisit your neighbor’s assignment and indicate:– What search strategies were used?

• Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 3 minutes

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Searching Methods (Ellis)

Where are we now?

• Information behavior– Information seeking

•Searching– Search strategies– Searching methods

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Searching Methods (Ellis)

The five searching methods:

1. Starting2. Chaining3. Differentiating4. Monitoring 5. Extracting

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Searching Methods (Ellis)

Starting: Looking for information in a new area or on a new topic.

 Chaining: Searching by following citation

connections between materials. Differentiating: Selecting information

sources based on their orientation and the intended audience.

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Searching Methods (Ellis)

Monitoring: The continuous monitoring of developments in a field of study.

 Extracting: Going through a

particular source selectively identifying relevant material from that source.

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Searching Methods Exercise

• Revisit your neighbor’s assignment and indicate:

– What searching methods were used?

– Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 3 minutes

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Surfing

Where are we now?

• Information behavior– Information seeking

• Searching• Surfing• Encountering

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SurfingSurfing: Browsing through a source of

information, just to see what it has, with no particular information need in mind.

Examples: – Reading the daily newspaper – Watching programs on TV – Visiting a bookstore – Surfing the Web 

Other examples?

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Encountering

Encountering: “Bumping” into information that can resolve past or future information need.

Also called:  – Accidental discovery of information – Incidental information acquisition

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Encountering

Can happen when:

• Searching for information to resolve another need

• Surfing

• Any other activity

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Information Evaluating

Where are we now?

• Information behavior– Information seeking– Information evaluating– Information use– Information giving

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Information Evaluating

Information Evaluating:

Users evaluate information when they decide if it is relevant to their need; that is, if it can resolve their need

Also called: Compare/match

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Information Evaluating

The major issues:

• The subjective nature of relevance judgment

• The levels of relevance • Factors affecting relevance

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Information Surfing, Encountering and Evaluating

Exercise• Revisit your neighbor’s assignment and

indicate:

– Was any surfing or encountering done?– What criteria was used to evaluate the

information?

• Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 3 minutes

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Information Use

• The outcome of information seeking

May take various forms:– Acting on information– Changing state of knowledge (making

new sense)– Confirming what one already knows

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Information Use Exercise

• Revisit your neighbor’s assignment and indicate:

– How did your neighbor used the information obtained? 

– How did it help (or not help) her or him? – Did another information need emerge as a

result?

• Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 3 minutes

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Information giving

Where are we now?

• Information behavior– Information seeking– Information evaluating– Information use– Information giving

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Information giving

Information giving: The act of disseminating messages

Triggers for giving:

• A user asks for information directly 

• A user raises a topic about which the giver has information 

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Information givingTriggers for giving:

• A user describes his/her situation to the giver who has information that can help 

• A user behaves (or shows signs) in a certain way that prompts the giver to give information that will help 

• The giver expects to receive needed information in return

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Information givingStrategies for giving:

• Tailoring complete information to the attributes of a particular need 

• Planting a nugget (giving in anticipation of a situation) 

• Pushing, or, making a case for the need of information 

• Presenting information and asking for feedback

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exercise• Revisit your neighbor’s assignment and

indicate:– Was information giving involved?– If yes,

• What triggered it?• What giving strategy was used?

• Discuss with your neighbor what your analysis revealed

Time: 3 minutes