A comparison of information behavior studies in United States and India: Number of publications, authorship, journals, theories, research populations, and methods

This study compares attributes (authors, journals, populations, theories, methods) of information seeking behavior studies based in the United States and India, based on a search of published articles from 2011 to 2020 in relevant information science databases. The findings indicate major differences in information behavior research among the two countries. Information behavior research in the United States tends to focus more on health and medicine-related research populations, employ greater use of information behavior theories, and use a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods (as well as mixed methods). Information behavior research in India tends to focus more on general populations, use less theory, and rely heavily on quantitative research methods—particularly questionnaires (88% of studies). These findings suggest a healthy and intellectually-diverse information behavior research area in the United States and ample room for growth of the research area within India.

Exploring “Planned Serendipity” and On-site Information Behavior on Smartphones

The paper explores tourists’ smartphone-related information behavior on site in light of the concept of “planned serendipity”. The ability to gather information at anytime and anywhere can deeply influence tourists’ behavior, their information needs and the outcomes of their travel plans. In this study, the concept of planned serendipity is used to suggest that the outcome of travel information behavior on site is not entirely planned nor entirely serendipitous. The study employs the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) in combination with qualitative interviews, which allow the researcher to gather data both during the participants’ trip and afterwards. The thematic analysis resulted in four main themes related to information search connected to smartphone use: flexible plans; orientation in time and space; specificity of the query; aiming for optimization. Such conditions result in planned serendipity. The study thus contributes to the conceptualization of planned serendipity as an outcome of smartphone use during travel for information purposes.

PERILAKU PENCARIAN INFORMASI SISWA DALAM MODEL PEMBELAJARAN JARAK JAUH DI MASA PANDEMI COVID-19

The pandemic Covid-19 has impact most of human activities, one of them is education. The implementation of distance learning has influence for the parents, teachers, and students who are the main subjects in education, as though increased stress, less of competency development, or technical learning problems related to fulfill information needs. In case the problems abandoned, it will hinder the students-development, the development of sustainable education, and the progress of the nation. This research aims to determine the information behavior of students of SMAN 1 Cicalengka in overcome learning constraints during the pandemic Covid-19. This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive methods. Data collection techniques is using triangulation data, through observation/surveys, interviews, and literature study. The population were all students of SMAN 1 Cicalengka with 5 informants. It uses the Ohotshi-Gottschalg-Duque information-behavior model as conceptual framework. The results showed that: First, students information needs were at the concious, visceral, and adapted levels; Second, information needs are mostly related with learning materials, motivation, health, hobbies, college even job vacancies; Third, students information behavior based on habits and intuitions, most of students do not understand the process of extracting because they do not recognize the domain of the information need. The implication that learning based on library is necessity at the level of educational unit that collaborates between teachers and school librarians.

Beyond thought:

The following is a remixed excerpt from a book-length manuscript titled My Life as an Artificial Creative Intelligence. The book is constructed as a theoretical fiction composed by the “author” Mark Amerika in collaboration with a GPT-2 language model. The book was written as an improvisational call-and-response writing performance with an AI text generator and is arranged as a series of intellectual provocations that investigate the creative process across the human-nonhuman spectrum. Critically reflecting on whether or not creativity itself is, at root, a nonhuman information behavior that emerges from an onto-operational presence experiencing an otherworldly aesthetic sensibility, the author playfully engages with his cyberpunk imagination to simultaneously embrace and problematize human-machine collaborations. Contrary to most contemporary AI research that attempts to build AI systems that perform more like humans, Amerika flips the script and, in My Life as an Artificial Creative Intelligence, questions how his own “psychic automatism” is itself a nonhuman function strategically designed to reveal the poetic attributes of programmable worlds still unimagined.

Analisis Perilaku Informasi Mahasiswa Universitas Lampung: Suatu Kajian pada Proses Penelusuran Koleksi Karya Ilmiah dan Koleksi Sirkulasi

Information and communication technology in its development has an effect on human life covering social, economic, cultural aspects, including libraries.Libraries are required to provide up to date information and in diverse forms. There are differences in information behavior of University Students of Lampung on searching collections of scientific paper and circulation collections. The aims of this research are to find out the information behavior of students of Lampung University in the process of tracing collections of scientific works and circulation collections, and mention the similarities and regulations of information behavior in the search of collections of scientific works and searches of circulation collections. This research methode uses qualitative descriptive with data collection techniques through observation, documentation data and literature study. The results obtained are : information behavior University Student of Lampung on searching collections of scientific papers are: most students of Lampung University on searching collection of scientific papers using a laptop to access on the link: digilib.unila.ac.id., log in, search the faculty, study programs, published years and titles of scientific paper, do the citation, and save cited to file work. Information behavior University Students of Lampung on searching circulation collections are: most University Student of Lampung on searching circulation collections using the computer library provided, access on the link: opac.unila.ac.id (online catalog), write down the name of the author or the title of book, record the call number of the circulation collections of interest, to the circulation collection shelves, take circulation collections to read or borrow to take home. But there are also similarities in the behavior of information in the process of disseminating the collection of scientific works and tracing the circulation collection, namely both the search process is done online and search for information by writing the title of the work both books and scientific works.Keywords: information behavior, University Student of Lampung, scientific paper collections, circulation collections, University Library of Lampung

To track or not to track: examining perceptions of online tracking for information behavior research

PurposeThis study investigates perceptions of the use of online tracking, a passive data collection method relying on the automated recording of participant actions on desktop and mobile devices, for studying information behavior. It scrutinizes folk theories of tracking, the concerns tracking raises among the potential participants and design mechanisms that can be used to alleviate these concerns.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses focus groups composed of university students (n = 13) to conduct an in-depth investigation of tracking perceptions in the context of information behavior research. Each focus group addresses three thematic blocks: (1) views on online tracking as a research technique, (2) concerns that influence participants' willingness to be tracked and (3) design mechanisms via which tracking-related concerns can be alleviated. To facilitate the discussion, each focus group combines open questions with card-sorting tasks. The results are analyzed using a combination of deductive content analysis and constant comparison analysis, with the main coding categories corresponding to the thematic blocks listed above.FindingsThe study finds that perceptions of tracking are influenced by recent data-related scandals (e.g. Cambridge Analytica), which have amplified negative attitudes toward tracking, which is viewed as a surveillance tool used by corporations and governments. This study also confirms the contextual nature of tracking-related concerns, which vary depending on the activities and content that are tracked. In terms of mechanisms used to address these concerns, this study highlights the importance of transparency-based mechanisms, particularly explanations dealing with the aims and methods of data collection, followed by privacy- and control-based mechanisms.Originality/valueThe study conducts a detailed examination of tracking perceptions and discusses how this research method can be used to increase engagement and empower participants involved in information behavior research.

Studying adolescent information behavior in the context of making everyday life decisions: Methodological approach, main concerns and lessons learned

This paper presents the main methodological issues met with during the research on adolescent everyday life information behavior in the context of making informed decisions, which was carried out in Croatia from 2018 to 2020. It does not focus on the research results, but rather on the methodological issues and concerns that had occurred stemming from the specific life period of the population being investigated, and on the ways the researchers delt with them. They are offered as potentially useful for consideration to those who will investigate adolescent information behavior in other contexts. Six main methodological dilemmas arose while planning the design of research methodology coming out from six questions: what would be the appropriate research approach and design to investigate adolescent information behavior in the context of making informed everyday life decisions, what would be the developmentally appropriate way to investigate the phenomena, how to gain access to the potential adolescent research participants, how to negotiate an adult researcher’s position when interacting with adolescents, how to get adolescent participants’ trust needed to collect rich data and what ethical issues need to be considered. We offer an overview of the dilemmas and concerns, as well as the ways they were dealt with, acknowledging the contribution of those scholars who had responded to similar challenges in the past.