Search (2 results, page 1 of 1)

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Abstract

While surprisingly little has been written about context at a meaningful level, context is central to most theoretical approaches to information seeking. In this essay I explore in more detail three senses of context. First, I look at context as equivalent to the situation in which a process is immersed. Second, I discuss contingency approaches that detail active ingredients of the situation that have specific, predictable effects. Third, I examine major frameworks for meaning systems. Then, I discuss how a deeper appreciation of context can enhance our understanding of the process of information seeking by examining two vastly different contexts in which it occurs: organizational and cancer-related, an exemplar of everyday life information seeking. This essay concludes with a discussion of the value that can be added to information seeking research and theory as a result of a deeper appreciation of context, particularly in terms of our current multi-contextual environment and individuals taking an active role in contextualizing.

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Abstract

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in human information behavior in part attributable to the rapid development of the Internet and associated information technologies. Concomitantly there has been substantial growth in theoretic frames, research, and substantive models. However, these approaches have often been fragmentary, dependent on the goals of disparate disciplines that are interested in differing aspects of information behavior. They often have been rooted in the most rational of contexts, libraries, where individuals come with a defined problem, or information technology systems, that have their own inherent logic. Attempts to extend this work to everyday life contexts often run into disquieting findings related to the benefits of ignorance and the seeming irrationality of human information behavior. A broader view of our social world leads us to richer policy implications for our work. We live in exciting times, in an increasingly flattened world, where the ability for people to assimilate information they find into coherent personal strategies is perhaps the critical modern survival skill.