Information Seeking Theories And Models

LIS 60001 – Access to Information

Information Seeking Models

& Theories

This Week’s Readings

INFORMATION SEEKING

“…a conscious effort to acquire information in response to a need or gap in your knowledge.”

Case, Looking for Information

(2007), 5.

Information Behavior (IB)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOR (IB)

“…encompasses information seeking as well as the totality of other unintentional or passive behaviors (such as glimpsing or encountering information), as well as purposive behaviors that do not involve seeking, such as avoiding information.”

Case, Looking for Information(2007), 5

IB RELATED CONCEPTS

REDUCING UNCERTAINTY Problem Solving

Identifying issuesSetting goalsDesigning suitable courses of action

Decision MakingEvaluatingChoosing among alternatives

IB RELATED CONCEPTS

BrowsingInformal, unplannedAimless vs. goal-relatedScanningSerendipity

IB RELATED CONCEPTS

RelevanceRequires context‘Aboutness’ (i.e., on the topic)

vs. non-topicalityPertinent – connected to a need

SalienceUnexpected, notable, prominentSelective exposure

IB RELATED CONCEPTS

Avoiding informationSelective exposure (filtering)Rejection of ideasReluctance to be distractedUnused information

IB RELATED CONCEPTS

Information povertyKnowledge gapsBarriers to knowledge

• Cultural patterns• Lack of processing skills (e.g.,

reading, language, hearing, sight)

IB RELATED CONCEPTS

OmissionErrorQueuingFiltering

ApproximationMultiple

ChannelsEscaping

“We can seek knowledge in order to reduce anxiety and we can avoid knowing in order to reduce anxiety.”

Maslow

Information overload and anxiety

EXERCISE:Common

Information Behaviors

COMMON INFORMATION BEHAVIORS

Buying a product Visiting a library Locating a law Betting on a race horse “I want to know more about cancer…”

Needs? Actions? Search strategies? Challenges and barriers? Sources?


Buying a product


Visiting a library


Locating a law


Betting on a race horse


“I want to know more about cancer…”

Information Seeking Models

INFORMATION SEEKING MODELS

Describe and (attempt to) explain circumstances that predict actions by people seeking to find information


Flow-charts and diagrams Suggest sequences of events Specific, often defined in relation

to theories

See Handout


Wilson (2 models) (1981, 1999) Krieklas (1983) Leckie, Pettigrew and Sylvain

(1996) Bystrom and Jarvelin Savolaienen (1995) Johnson (1997)

Wilson’s (1981) Model

Information gathering

Information giving

Need-creatingevent/environment

Needs(deferred)

Needs(immediate)

Source preference

Internal External

Memory Direct(structured)observations

Direct (interper-

sonal) Contact

Recorded (literature)Personal

files

Krikelas Model (everyday behavior)

Leckie, Pettigrew & Sylvain Model

Bystrom & Jarvelin Model

Johnson Model

Information Seeking Theories

INFORMATION SEEKING THEORIES

George Zipf – Principle of Least Effort (1949) Each individual will adopt a

course of action that will involve the expenditure of the probable least average of his work


Principle of Least Effort Language usage

E.g., word distributions1930 census – city

populations ‘Harmonic distributions’

A plot of word frequency in Wikipedia (November 27, 2006). x is rank of a word in the frequency table; y is the total number of the word’s occurrences. Most popular words are “the”, “of” and “and”, as expected.


Principle of Least Effort 80/20 or 70/30 rule

Library collections Internet websitesDorsch and Pifalo study (1997)

– medical journal circ.


Principle of Least Effort Professional asks nearest

coworker Artists use nearest tools Consulting older (closer) resource

instead of a more current one


Principle of Least Effort Using interpersonal sources vs.

authoritative sources Dervin: relying on close friends

and relatives Other examples?


Principle of Least Effort Cost-benefit paradigm - the

trade-off between the effort required to employ a strategy and the quality of the resulting action


Cost-Benefit Paradigm Applied to IB Seekers will minimize the effort

required to obtain information, even if it means accepting a lower quality or quantity of information.

Case, Looking for Information (2007), 154.


Uses and Gratification (Mass Media) Audience plays an active role (not

passive) in selecting sources The person uses the medium, not

the other way around


Uses and Gratification (Mass Media) Media are only a portion of a range

of options for fulfilling needs Use can be studied by asking

people directly


Uses and Gratification in LIS Chatman – studied working-class poor

(janitors)How the poor define/deal with

problemsReasons for non-active information

seeking


Play Theory and Entertainment Theory Are information and

entertainment two different things?


Play Theory and Entertainment Theory Stephenson (1967) – humans

manipulate their intake of entertainment and information to serve their emotional needsPleasure principle


Play Theory and Entertainment Theory Humans tend to:

Seek pleasure and avoid painMix work with play

E.g., reading the news

See You Next Week!

Education

Information Seeking Theories And Models