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Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand how teenagers use Internet forums to search for information. The activities of asking for and providing information in a forum were explored, and a set of messages extracted from a French forum targeting adolescents was analyzed. Results show that the messages initiating the threads are often requests for information. Teenagers mainly ask for peers' opinions on personal matters and specific verifiable information. The discussions following these requests take the form of an exchange of advice (question/answer) or a coconstruction of the final answer between the participants (with assessments of participants' responses, requests for explanations, etc.). The results suggest that discussion forums present different advantages for adolescents' information-seeking activities. The first is that this social medium allows finding specialized information on topics specific to this age group. The second is that the collaborative aspect of information seeking in a forum allows these adolescents to overcome difficulties commonly associated with the search process (making a precise request, evaluating a result).