Chapter 1 Introduction: New Directions in Information Behaviour

Abstract

Ever since our cognitive make-up allowed it, human beings have used their information behaviour abilities to help them survive. Information behaviour evolved in response to the need by early humans to benefit from information that could not be immediately accessible in the nearby environment or obtained through communication. Humans developed an information behaviour ability, including processes of information sense making, foraging, seeking, organising and using. Information behaviour brought several benefits to early humans, including greater influence and control over their environment, and the degree in which they could use the environment for their own gain and survival. Information behaviour thus brought several advantages for the survival of early humans, and consequently emerged as a genetically favoured trait (Spink, 2010).

Citation

Spink, A. and Heinström, J. (2011), "Chapter 1 Introduction: New Directions in Information Behaviour", Spink, A. and Heinström, J. (Ed.) New Directions in Information Behaviour (Library and Information Science, Vol. 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 3-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1876-0562(2011)002011a004