Life Exploration Model of Information Seeking

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Life Exploration Model of Information Seeking

Grace Wadholm, MLS Student

Indiana University Bloomington

[email protected]

Abstract

TheLife Exploration model of information seeking takes into account the many areas of

an individuals life that may influence the way they seek, respond to and use information. This

model broadly incorporates the variables of life into three concepts: life activities,

information resources, and life context factors. These concepts are then connected in a

cyclical process of need recognition, question forming, information searching, and information

use. Using research including SavolainensEveryday Life Information Seeking, BelkinsASK

theory, Dervins GAPmodel, and TaylorsInformation Use Environment, the author attempts to

show that the entire context of peoples lives must be considered when trying to understand their

use of information. Their life context determines who they are and how they will search for, find,

and finally integrate information into their lives.

Introduction

In her explanation of the sense-making theory of information seeking, Brenda Dervin

(1992) describes information seeking as the crossing of GAPs between information needs and


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learn and grow and seek further understanding. This idea of gaining knowledge is derived

from information seeking theories ofcollectivism, in which individuals take in information

through interactions with individuals around them and within social contexts, and then

internalize that information into an individualized understanding of the world (Talja, Tuominen

& Savolainen, 2005). This process continues within the knowledge that this particular life

eventually comes to an end, either sooner or later, and there is only a limited amount of time to

attain whatever goals have been consciously or unconsciously set by the individual. For this

model, this timeline is seen as a journey of life exploration, within which we all move and make

decisions about what we need, or would like, to know, and what information is important to have

and use. Chases definition of information is used here, as any difference that makes a

difference to a conscious human mind (Chase, 2007, p. 40). This can be everyday information

that helps us to maintain our life and meet our basic needs, or can be deeper information we

pursue in our efforts to find meaning. It can also include the concept of entertainment

information, which Chase says is inextricably tangled with more traditional ideas of what

constitutes information (p. 164, see also p. 108-115).

Second, this model is based on the idea that an individuals context influences their

information seeking needs and behavior. As Kari and Hartel state, information activities are

inextricably interwoven with context (p. 1131). Taylor (1968) was one of the first to point out

that an individuals previous experiences influence their information seeking behavior. Later, he

developed his theory of Information Use Environments (IUE) in which the flow and use of


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requirements of the problem, and time allotted for resolution, (p. 362) as well as the great

influence of affective factors of information seeking (in particular for her, anxiety). Sense-

making, according to Dervin (1992), assumes that the individual is situated at cultural/historical

moments in time-space and that culture, history, and institutions define much of the world within

which the individual lives (p. 67). This idea of the context of information seeking is also

integral to Savolainens (1995) ELIS model, within which the relationship between way of life

and mastery of life are influenced by a persons values, conceptions, and the current phase of

life and by the material, social, and cultural (cognitive) capital owned by the individual (p.

267). Context is the framework within which a person makes choices regarding the need of,

search for, and value of information.

Third, this model is based on the idea, mentioned above, that life is an integrated

experience of work and leisure, high and low activities. Separating realms of life is useful

for studying specific types of information seeking, but it also dismisses the fact that a persons

experience in one realm of life, such as their home-life, will carry over into their experiences and

needs in other realms of life, such as their work-life. Savolainen mentions this type of cross-

over in his ELIS model, when he says issues of job-related and nonwork information seeking

tend to overlapjob-related information seeking and ELIS complement each other (p. 266). In

a study of stay-at-home mothers (SAHMs), Fisher and Landry (2007) describe how SAHMs

identified themselves as having many different roles in life, and how each role prompted

certain types of information needs Though this article was primarily focused on the impact of


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other, and information or affective experiences in one situation may affect how information is

sought and used in other situations.

Discussion

Concepts and Variables

Within thisLife Experience model of information seeking, there are three main concepts,

with accompanying variables, that may impact the information seeking process. The life

activities concept determines what information needs are recognized, what questions are formed

as a result, and then what activities occur during the search for relevant information. This

concept is made up of variables in areas such as daily life activities, spiritual needs,responsibilities (including work or job), hobbies and interests, and crisis situations. The

information resources concept relates to what sources of information are available to the

individual, from formal sources, to social networks, to chance encounters in daily life. This

concept determines what information the individual accesses to fulfill the questions derived from

the life activities concept, which are then integrated back into a persons understanding of the

world. What resources are available can particularly be influenced by life contextvariables. This

concept underlies the entire information seeking process, because it influences each interaction

and choice made. Variables within this concept include time, health, economics, geography,

demographics, previous experience, and attitude and motivation.

Life Activities


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such as in Fisher (2007), but should not be viewed as exclusive of one another, but rather

complementary and mutually influential. The roles people play and information needs that result

are determined by variables such as: daily life activities, responsibilities (including work or job),

spiritual needs, hobbies and interests, and crisis situations. This is only a short list that tries to

cover broadly the many roles and activities that encompass a persons life.

Daily life activities includes those tasks a person must do in order to meet the basic

demands of life, such as keeping a home, eating, and maintaining relationships. These types of

needs and daily life activities were included in a research project by Savolainen (2004) that

studied peoples use of the Internet in ELIS, as well as in a similar study by Rieh (2004) on

Internet use at home. Information needs related to daily life activities were also included in a

study by McKenzie (2003) on the variety information practices used by a group of women who

were pregnant with twins.

Responsibilities, are the tasks a person must do within the occupational areas of their life,

such as a job, responsibilities as a student, or, in the case of SAHMs, their many roles as

caretakers, managers, etc. (Fisher 2007) Examples of studies that examine the information

seeking needs of students include Kuhlthaus (1991) study of the information seeking process of

students, and a study by Fisher, Landry and Naumer (2007) surveying students on their use ofinformation grounds. In the area of occupational information searching, Chase comments that

occupations have provided the most common structure for the investigation of information

ki ( 251) Hi bl f h i l d b f i (2007 253) id


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literature review of information seeking research on engineers, health care workers and lawyers

in their attempt to develop a general model of information seeking of professionals.

Spiritual needs refers to the needs that lie within a person to come to deeper

understanding of their existence and purpose. Kari and Hartel (2006) refer to these types of needs

within his explanation ofhigher things of life. He mentions areas such as altruism, creativity,

emotion, ethics, paranormal, religion, volunteering and wisdom, among others. These types of

needs may spur a person on toward discovering potentialities that lie inside or an understanding

of a higher purpose, outside of themselves. Often, these needs cannot be well defined. Beyond

the article mentioned, I was unable to find studies that specifically focused on information

seeking for these types of needs, indicating a need for further research in this area.

Hobbies and interests have been a recent subject of research, and include those activities

a person does outside the realm of work but not as a part of daily life maintenance. Two studies

examining the information needs related to hobbies include a study of hobbiest gourmet cooks

(Hartel, 2006) and genealogists and family historians (Yakel, 2004).

Finally, life can often be interrupted by crises, such as health emergencies or financial

trouble. These crisis situations create information needs that are strongly influence by contextual

factors such as stress, lack of time and high motivation. Research studying information seeking

in these areas include a study by Courtright (2005) studying the health information seeking of

Latino immigrants and a study by Hersberser (2001) surveying homeless parents on their


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The concept ofinformation resources a person has available to meet an information need

is derived partly from Bates (1989) concept of an information knowledge universe within

which a person moves and berrypicks information to meet information needs. These

information sources can include formal sources such as libraries and government organizations;

informal sources such as social networks; or even serendipity, defined by Chase (2007, p. 90)

as the discovery of information either through browsing or without any premeditated action at

all, but by chance within the course of daily life. Studies that have focused on the information

sources used by individuals include Taylors (1964) article which focused on why and how users

chose to search library systems; Courtrights (2005) study of Latino immigrants, which

examined not only their use of social networks to discover information but also focused heavily

on their use of formal government sources of information; Johnsons (2004) study of the role of

social networks in the information seeking process of members of a community in Mongolia; and

McKenzies (2003) article studying pregnant women that included much discussion on the role

of serendipity in the discovery of information.

The types of information a person may know of, choose, or be able to use are influenced

by many variables within the persons life context, described below. Some of the more important

factors are how much time a person has to search, where the information is located

(geographically or within a complicated system), and the previous experience of the individual in

using certain systems or trusting certain sources. The role of context in the use of information

resources is discussed by Dervin (1992) because these context factors often become barriers to


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prior knowledge, communication skills, and attitude toward information can influence what

segments of a culture have access to information (Tichenor, Donohue & Olien, 1970). The

theory suggests that certain groups of individuals will acquire information sooner than other

groups, particularly those that have a higher level of education or that already have exposure to

information in that particular area (Donohue,Tichenor, & Olien, 1975). According to Harris and

Dewdneys third principle of information seeking (1994), individuals will tend to seek

information that requires the least effort to obtain. This means that if, according to the

knowledge gap theory, relevant information is excluded from their immediate context, it will be

difficult for them to find and use that information, limiting their available knowledge universe.

Life Contexts

Finally, the life contextconcept is placed in a position underneath and across the entire

length of the information seeking process, because it influences all the interactions that take

place within the model. Variables within this context are categorized into the areas of time,

health, economics, geography, demographics, previous experience, and attitude and motivation.

Kari and Savolainen (2007) researched the links between context and information seeking

behavior in their article studying the use of the Internet in personal development information

seeking. Also, significant here is the idea of affect as factor in the information seeking process,

a concept studied at length in the work of Kuhlthau (1991), Fisher and Landry (2007) and Fisher,

Landry and Naumer (2007).


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by public library users. Time can influence what sources an individual chooses to search, as well

as what information is not accessed because the individual could not continue searching.

The health of a person deeply impacts not only a persons ability to seek information ,but

also what types of information they need. Information seeking studies that discuss individuals

needs for health information are prevalent, especially in studies of parents or caregivers

information seeking needs (Hughes, 1983 and Nicholas, 1998), since health-related information

is often high on a caregivers list of information needs. The impact of health status on an

individuals information behavior was studied by Goldner (2006) in a research project evaluating

the impact of health status on what types of information people search for on the Internet.

Economics plays a large part in what types of information resources are available and in

how much freedom a person has to seek information. Fisher, Landry and Naumer (2007) discuss

this factor in their study of peoples use of information grounds, since whether or not an

individual must pay to be a part of an information ground impacts their use of it. Socioeconomic

condition is a factor often considered in research studying individuals access to and use of

information resources, especially in Meyer (2003) and Courtright (2005).

Geography can affect a persons information search process in many ways, from

influencing economic status to determining what information is, or is not, available. Dutta (2009)

performed a literature review on the information seeking needs and behavior of indigenous

people in developing countries to determine how geographic location, which influenced both


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Demographic factors such as sex, age, and education, are frequently factors in studies on

individuals information seeking behavior. A persons age can affect why they seek information,

their abilities to search and their motivations for searching certain types of information. Meyers,

Fisher and Marcoux (2009) conducted a study on the use of information grounds by preteens;

Wicks (2007) studied the information needs of older adults, particularly related to how their

stage of life influence their information seeking behavior; and Cooper (2002) studied the

information seeking behavior of 7-year olds in their school library, noting their use of visual

clues to overcome their reading limitations. Regarding gender, Steinerova and Susol (2007)

conducted a study in Slovakia to compare the information seeking behavior of men and women.

Many studies have also focused specifically on the information seeking behavior of women,

including the study already discussed by Fisher and Landry (2007) on the information needs of

SAHMs. A persons educational background can effect what information they are already

exposed to as well as what types of information they can understand or use. Duttas (2009) study

found that even more than geographic factors, individuals educational status impacted their use

of information. Education was also a factor in who people turned to for information in Johnsons

(2004) study of social networks in Mongolia.

Previous experience will determine what sources the individual sees as valuable

(Savolainen, 1995) or as most efficient to use (Taylor, 1964). This concept is closely related to

attitude and motivation, described below, since a persons previous experience with an

information source or in searching for information on a topic will affect their attitude in future


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as a factor impacting current behavior in a study of womens information seeking behavior

related to weight management.

Attitude and motivation relate to how much a person wants or needsor does not want

or needinformation, and why. Weiler (2005), in a study on Generation Y students and their

information seeking habits, discusses the issue of motivation within the information seeking

process. The consequences or rewards of finding or not finding information can drive an

individuals actions. Motivation can relate to the internal need that drives an individual to seek

information, or to external factors that determines an information need. Case (2007) gives

examples of each type of motivation. First, he describes a womans searching for information on

cancer to satisfy her own curiosity, which is an example of internal motivation. Then, he

describes a lawyer who is asked to find information about alimony for a relative, a high-

importance situation that was externally motivated. When considering motivation as related to

information seeking, important variables are: where the need originated, why it is or is not

important to the person, and what rewards or consequences may come as a result of the

information seeking process.

The Life Exploration Model of Information Seeking

TheLife Exploration (LE) model of information seeking begins with the life activities of

an individual, indicated by the arrow to the far right of the model. As a person conducts the many

life activities that comprise a whole life experience, they may recognize a need for more


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described above, as well as the life contextvariables which further define a persons life. These

roles create actions, interests and responsibilities within an individuals life, all of which may

bring the individual to a point when the information he or she has inside is not enough,

prompting a recognition of an information need. This recognition is not necessarily completely

clear to the individual, but may be simply a feeling of incompleteness or uncertainty. This

recognition leads to questions, which are situated at the center of the information process and

around which the entire process revolves.

The questions formed by the individual may range from a subconscious intuition that

some sort of information is needed, to a clear question that that may be answered by a formal

source. Taylor (1964) described four levels of questions in his study of library users: level 1, a

visceral need that cannot be expressed in words; level 2, a conscious need formulated in the

mind; level 3, a formalized statement of need; level 4, a question that can be presented to the

information system. The questions in this model are based on that range, but in the LE model,

questions may receive answers at any level of the question type. Serendipity may simply be a

case of a persons intuition recognizing the answer to a question the individual had not quite

become consciously aware of. During discussions within a social network, information to

questions that are only beginning to be defined can be found as issues are deliberated through

discourse. Many types of questions can receive many types of answers, and as humans are

constantly in contact with the knowledge universe around them, they process information both

consciously and subconsciously.


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is necessary to take into account their individual situation and characteristics. This is both the

challenge and fascination of research about the information seeking needs and behavior ofpeople.

Conclusion

The Life Exploration model of information seeking is an attempt to describe, in general,

the flow of information into and through a persons life. Based on information seeking theories

such as sense-making and everyday life information seeking, this model takes into account the

whole scope of a persons life, since it is the context of a persons life that underlies every need,

question and decision of an individual. Many variables influence the interaction of concepts

within this model, but it is precisely these variables that make a person who they are and

determines what shape the information they search for, find, and finally integrate, will take.

About the Author

Grace Wadholm is an MLS student at the School of Library and Information Science at

Indiana University, Bloomington.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Wayne Buente for his excellent instruction and guidance on this research

project.


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Life Exploration Model of Information Seeking

Life Activities

Daily Life

Spiritual

Responsibilities

Hobbies/Interests

Crisis situations

Information Resources

Information search

Need recognition

Life Context Factors

?

Formal

Vague

Formal search

Browsing

Serendipity

Formal sources

Social networks

Serendipity

Time Health Economics Geography Demographics Previous experience Attitude and motivation

Documents

Life Exploration Model of Information Seeking