LIS 510 Oct. 22, 2009

1. Information Needs LIS 510Oct. 22, 2009

2. What is Information? Discussed in first class • What did you learn from Case? (May be on midterm…)

3. Thinking of Needs… • What comes first? Info needs or info systems? • Can you have an info system without info needs?

4. Some of the Larger Qs • How are info needs created? • What motivates people to seek info? • Why do people sometimes avoid info? • How do people express info needs? • How is relevance considered? • How should info be organized & managed to best respond & anticipate people’s needs? • How should we organize and plan for the expression of info need?

5. Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation

6. Categorization of Human Needsby Psychologists • Physiological needs – need for food, water, shelter, etc. • Affective needs – need for attainment, domination, etc. • Cognitive needs – need to plan, learn, etc.

7. Aspects Central to Understanding Info Need (1) Need is necessarily instrumental (2) Needs are usually contestable (3) Need has strong relationship with necessity (4) No necessary psychological element in a need

8. Historical Evolution of Info Need Research • 1930s: most studies concerned with “demands” rather than “needs” • 1940/50s: researchers began studying how info used in relation to work, focusing on science & technology • 1960s/70s: research focused on social/community issues • 1980s: switch from system-oriented paradigm to new user-centered or alternative approach that emphasizes constructive, active users, subjective info, situationality, holistic views of experience, internal cognition, and systematic individuality • 1990+: “context” more deeply considered in all aspects of info behavior

9. 3 Examples of User-Centered Scholarship • Taylor’s Value-Added Approach • Dervin’s Sense-Making approach • Belkin et al., Anomalous-States-of-Knowledge (ASK) ** More about this in later classes…

10. Info Needs – Some Definitions • Conceptual incongruity in which person's cognitive structure is not adequate to a task (Ford, 1980) • When a person recognizes something wrong in his/her state of knowledge (Belkin, 1978; ASK) • When the state of possessed knowledge is less than needed (Krikelas, 1983) • When internal sense runs out (Dervin, 1977, 1980)

11. Info NeedsChen & Hernon (1982) • “Arise whenever individuals find themselves in a situation requiring knowledge to deal with the situation as they see fit. • In all aspects of everyday life: the home, the office, in relations with family or friends or the insurance company, out of idle curiosity, or as a requirement of work”

12. Information Needs Three key distinctions: • Information demand • Information want • Information need What are the differences ????????

13. Information Needs • Info demand • A request for info, whether given to a person or an info system. A term used to distinguish between an action taken in response to an info need and the concept of info need itself. • Information want • One’s desire to attain info regardless of rational need for it • Information need • A hypothesized state brought about when an individual realizes that they are not comfortable when their current state of knowledge

14. Information needs: l’affaire Spud Spud is signing up for next year’s courses. He’s hoping that his instructors are good. He asks his advisor if he knows anything about Dr. Smith in the history department and then asks for a list of courses he teaches.

15. Scenario 1 Spud has a 1.8 GPA. If he doesn’t pull it up, his parents are going to kick him out of home and make him go back to work in the fry pit at Greasy Burger • Information demand: What classes does Dr. Smith teach? • Information want: Is Dr. Smith a good prof? • Information need: Is he an easy grader?

16. Scenario 2 • Spud is an overachiever hellbent on going to grad school. He was so bored with his classes last quarter he contemplated dropping out. • Information demand: What classes does Dr. Smith teach? • Information want: Is Dr. Smith a good prof? • Information need: Is Dr. Smith going to be a demanding yet inspiring teacher and mentor?

17. Information Paradigms & Models • The "information transfer" model (the physical view) • Traditional approach to serving capacity, delivering objects, meeting demand • The "constructivist" model (the cognitive view) • Based on people’s knowledge structures • Examples: Taylor, Dervin • The "constructionist" model (the social view) • Effects of others and contextual factors in shaping/construing info needs; Wilson’s Type II info needs; Savolainen’s ELIS, Fisher’s info grounds

18. Taylor’s Stages of Development (1968) • Researched Q negotiation in reference interviews • Examines psychological state that motivates person to engage in IB • Hinges on an internal, inexpressible psychological state * * * * 1) Visceral (unconscious, actual but unexpressed need for info) 2) Conscious (ill-defined area of indecision, conscious, within-brain) 3) Formalized (describes area in concrete terms, but not thinking within context or constraints of system) 4) Compromised(Q as presented to system)

19. Dervin’s Sense-MakingTriangle

20. Characteristics of Info Needs • Stage of Development (in Taylor’s sense) • Generated (self vs external vs LIMB) • Importance (immediate vs deferred) • Frequency (recurring vs new) • Predictability (anticipated vs unexpected) • Complexity (easily resolved vs difficult) • Other ??

21. Promising Research Directions • Research conducted on everyday info needs • Research on non-purposive info seeking as expressed as serendipity & info encountering • Role of lay mediaries in info seeking & others realize their info needs through such phenomena as imposed queries & gate-keeping • Research on influence of process of knowledge structure transformation on info need development