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1 – 10 of 203
Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

Reijo Savolainen

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the picture of strategies for information searching and seeking by reviewing the conceptualizations on this topic in the field of library…

2956

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the picture of strategies for information searching and seeking by reviewing the conceptualizations on this topic in the field of library and information science (LIS).

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on Henry Mintzberg’s idea of strategy as plan and strategy as pattern in a stream of actions. Conceptual analysis of 57 LIS investigations was conducted to find out how researchers have approached the above aspects in the characterizations of information search and seeking strategies.

Findings

In the conceptualizations of information search and information seeking strategies, the aspect of strategy as plan is explicated most clearly in text-book approaches describing the steps of rational web searching. Most conceptualizations focus on the aspect of strategy as pattern in a stream of actions. This approach places the main emphasis on realized strategies, either deliberate or emergent. Deliberate strategies indicate how information search or information seeking processes were oriented by intentions that existed previously. Emergent strategies indicate how patterns in information seeking and seeking developed in the absence of intentions, or despite them.

Research limitations/implications

The conceptualizations of the shifts in information seeking and searching strategies were excluded from the study. Similarly, conceptualizations of information search or information retrieval tactics were not examined.

Originality/value

The study pioneers by providing an in-depth analysis of the ways in which the key aspects of strategy are conceptualized in the classifications and typologies of information seeking and searching strategies. The findings contribute to the elaboration of the conceptual space of information behaviour research.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 72 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 September 2014

Xiaojun (Jenny) Yuan and Nicholas J. Belkin

People often engage in different information-seeking strategies (ISSs) within a single information-seeking episode. A critical concern for the design of information retrieval (IR…

1096

Abstract

Purpose

People often engage in different information-seeking strategies (ISSs) within a single information-seeking episode. A critical concern for the design of information retrieval (IR) systems is how to provide support for these different behaviors in a manner which searchers can easily understand, navigate and use, as they move from one ISS to another. The purpose of this paper is to describe a dialogue structure that was implemented in an experimental IR system, in order to address this concern.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a user-centered experiment to evaluate the IR systems. Participants were asked to search for information on two different task types, with four different topics per task, in both the experimental system and a baseline system emulating state-of-the-art IR systems. The authors report here the results related explicitly to the use of the experimental system's dialogue structure.

Findings

For one of the task types, most participants followed the search steps as predicted in the dialogue structures, and those who did so completed the task in fewer moves. For the other task type, predicted order of moves was often not followed, but participants again used fewer moves when following the predicted order. Results demonstrate that the dialogue structures the authors designed indeed support effective human information behavior patterns in a variety of ways, and that searchers can effectively use a system which changes to support different ISSs.

Originality/value

This study shows that it is both possible and beneficial, to design an IR system which can support multiple ISSs, and that such a system can be understood and used successfully.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 70 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 April 2018

Reijo Savolainen

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the conceptual issues of information behaviour research by reviewing the approaches to information interaction in the context of…

8002

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the conceptual issues of information behaviour research by reviewing the approaches to information interaction in the context of information seeking and retrieval (IS&R).

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses the conceptual analysis focussing on four pioneering models for interactive IS&R proposed by Belkin, Ingwersen and Ingwersen and Järvelin.

Findings

A main characteristic of models for information interaction is the tripartite setting identifying information resources accessible through information systems, intermediary/interface and user. Dialogue is a fundamental constituent of information interaction. Early models proposed by Belkin and Ingwersen focussed on the dialogue occurring in user-intermediary interaction, while more recent frameworks developed by Ingwersen and Järvelin devote more attention to dialogue constitutive of user-information system interaction.

Research limitations/implications

As the study focusses on four models developed within the period of 1984-2005, the findings cannot be generalised to depict the phenomena of information interaction as a whole. Further research is needed to model the specific features of information interaction occurring in the networked information environments in particular.

Originality/value

The study pioneers by providing an in-depth analysis of the ways in which pioneering researchers have conceptualised the phenomena of interaction in the context of IS&R. The findings contribute to the elaboration of the conceptual space of information behaviour research.

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 March 2001

32

Abstract

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 March 2000

Dr Peter A. Corning

61

Abstract

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1977

Mats G. Lindquist

Analyses of the on‐line search market have been subject to several serious misconceptions concerning the service retailers, i.e. the information search services (ISS). One of the…

Abstract

Analyses of the on‐line search market have been subject to several serious misconceptions concerning the service retailers, i.e. the information search services (ISS). One of the consequences of this is that the ISS growth potential has been overestimated. The paper points out that, even if there is an overall growth in on‐line searching, the individual ISSs will typically show a stagnation after just over two years. Since the average operative age of an ISS is about two years, it is possible that even the aggregate growth in the next few years will be less than the present. This decline in growth rate is not inevitable but likely.

Details

Online Review, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-314X

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 March 2001

14

Abstract

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Article
Publication date: 17 April 2007

Efthimios Tambouris, Nikos Manouselis and Constantina Costopoulou

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a process for developing a metadata element set that will describe e‐government resources in digital collections. The outcome of the…

2316

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a process for developing a metadata element set that will describe e‐government resources in digital collections. The outcome of the process is a metadata schema that reuses as many elements as possible from existing specifications and standards (termed as an e‐government metadata application profile). The use of e‐government metadata is to facilitate the electronic categorization and storage of governmental resources, as well as to enhance users' electronic interactions with the public sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper extends an initial process presented in the context of the European Standardization Committee CEN/ISSS, proposing four steps for developing the application profile: determine the resources to be described by the metadata, identify the stakeholder groups who will use the metadata, determine the use of metadata for each stakeholder group, and specify the metadata elements corresponding to each use.

Findings

The steps of the proposed process are followed in order to develop an e‐government metadata application profile for a particular digital collection: a one‐stop governmental Web portal that enables discovery and access to e‐government services and documents residing at the Web sites of geographically dispersed public authorities.

Originality/value

The combination of existing metadata schemas, in order to create an e‐government application profile, requires a well‐defined process for identifying the context requirements. This paper presents such a process and reports its engagement in a real case study. It may serve as a roadmap for other interested researchers, managers or implementers of digital collections of e‐government resources.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2016

Carol Sabbar and Iris Xie

The purpose of this paper is to specifically investigate information seeking strategies that are used by scholars in the USA conducting research in languages other than English…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to specifically investigate information seeking strategies that are used by scholars in the USA conducting research in languages other than English and the types of shifts that scholars make between strategies in planned, disruptive, and problematic situations.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews and research diaries were employed to gather information from 16 subjects using seven different languages across seven disciplines. Grounded theory and the constant comparative method were used to analyze types of strategies and types of shifts between strategies.

Findings

This study identified four formal system strategies, seven informal resource strategies, four interactive human strategies, and one hybrid strategy. Subjects in the study selected informal resource and interactive human strategies more often as initial strategies while informal resource strategies are used as final strategies. Moreover, the findings presented a variety of shifts between strategies in planned, disruptive, and problematic situations.

Research limitations/implications

Theoretically, this study introduces a new conceptual model – the information triangle – which facilitates the classification of strategies used by scholars throughout an information seeking task as well as the characterization of the shifts between strategies. Practically, this paper discusses implications for system designers, publishers, and support providers to better meet the needs of this specific group. A primary limitation is related to isolating the variables of language, culture, and geography from other possible factors such as domain knowledge, system knowledge, or limitations of the systems being used.

Originality/value

This study fills a gap in current research in relation to how language plays a role in the selection of and shifts between information seeking strategies used by scholars who rely on sources that are not in English.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 72 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 July 2017

Yiwei Wang and Chirag Shah

People face barriers and failures in various kinds of information seeking experiences. These are often attributed to either the information seeker or the system/service they use…

1066

Abstract

Purpose

People face barriers and failures in various kinds of information seeking experiences. These are often attributed to either the information seeker or the system/service they use. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why individuals fail to fulfill their information needs in all contexts and situations. It addresses the limitations of existing studies in examining the context of the task and information seeker’s strategy and seeks to gain a holistic understanding of information seeking barriers and failures.

Design/methodology/approach

The primary method used for this investigation is a qualitative survey, in which 63 participants provided 208 real life examples of failures in information seeking. After analyzing the survey data, ten semi-structured interviews with another group of participants were conducted to further examine the survey findings. Data were analyzed using various theoretical frameworks of tasks, strategies, and barriers.

Findings

A careful examination of aspects of tasks, barriers, and strategies identified from the examples revealed that a wide range of external and internal factors caused people’s failures. These factors were also caused or affected by multiple aspects of information seekers’ tasks and strategies. People’s information needs were often too contextual and specific to be fulfilled by the information retrieved. Other barriers, such as time constraint and institutional restrictions, also intensified the problem.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the importance of considering the information seeking episodes in which individuals fail to fulfill their needs in a holistic approach by analyzing their tasks, information needs, strategies, and obstacles. The modified theoretical frameworks and the coding methods used could also be instrumental for future research.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 69 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

1 – 10 of 203