Online Information-Seeking Behaviour

This research aimed to explore the actual situation of information accessibility for university students with visual impairment at higher academic institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. This research adopted a qualitative research design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to investigate the proposed phenomenon. The participants were recruited with purposive sampling from higher academic institutions for data collection. Face to face interview of 15 visually impaired students was conducted using an interview guide. The participants were debriefed for data authentication and verification at the end. Each interview was transcribed and analyzed carefully using IPA. The results indicated that these students utilized interpersonal relationships as the primary source of their academic information. The other available facilities for information access included the internet, disability resources center (if available at the institution), and the university library. The major barr...

يحاول هذا الفصل التعرف على نظرية البحث الفطري الغريزي عن المعلومات، والأساس النظري أو الوجهة العلمية التي تنتمي إليها، وهل هي مجرد نظرية أم نموذج نظري أساسي Paradigm؟ كما يحدد الفصل موقعها في البناء الفكري العلمي، ويستعرض خصائص الإنتاج الفكري وسماته عن طريق دراسة ببليومترية موجزة.

Masyarakat telah banyak didedahkan dengan konsep kepimpinan. Malah, mereka masih tercari-cari maklumat mengenai kaedah untuk menjadi seorang pemimpin yang lebih berkesan. Masyarakat mempercayai bahawa kepimpinan merupakan satu kaedah untuk memperbaiki diri kerana masyarakat akan menilai apa yang dilihat terhadap pemimpin. Justeru, bidang korporat inginkan individu yang berupaya untuk meningkatkan produktiviti organisasinya. Begitu juga dengan bidang pendidikan, pemimpin yang berkesan diperlukan bagi meningkatkan pencapaian sekolah. Namun, penilaian tersebut hanya berdasarkan aspek luaran tanpa melihat faktor dalaman diri pemimpin. Ini disebabkan diri individu amat dipengaruhi oleh persekitaran. Bass dan Steidlmeier (1999) serta Mohd Ali (2000) menyokong kenyataan tersebut dengan berpendapat sikap, nilai dan kepercayaan seseorang individu akan berubah menjadi negatif sekiranya mereka berada dalam persekitaran yang menggalakkan mereka ke arah sikap tersebut. Implikasinya, walaupun kerajaan menitikberatkan nilai-nilai murni atau beretika ketika menjalankan tugas masih terdapat pemimpin yang mengabaikan tugas mereka dan melibatkan diri mereka dalam amalan rasuah (Abdullah, 1998; Mukherjee, 1998). Kenyataan di atas di sokong lagi dengan laporan Bahagian Audit Sekolah (2001) yang mengemukakan bahawa antara kelemahan pengurusan kewangan di sekolah adalah sikap pengetua yang sambil lewa, pengetahuan dan kemahiran mereka yang kurang mendalam mengenai pengurusan kewangan serta penyelewengan wang sekolah. Malah, laporan tersebut turut menjelaskan bahawa sejumlah RM1.24 juta yang melibatkan sebanyak 73 buah sekolah telah hilang tanpa sistem merekodkan yang sistematik dalam penyata kewangan sekolah tersebut. Kehilangan tersebut berpunca daripada sikap pengetua yang tidak jujur dan bayaran yang tidak menepati kehendak peraturan seperti bayaran melebihi had peruntukan dan bayaran yang tidak sistematik. Justeru, pihak polis telah mengkategorikan kes tersebut sebagai jenayah kecurian. Bertepatan dengan fenomena di atas, dirumuskan bahawa sebahagian pemimpin tidak lagi menjadikan nilai-nilai murni dan amalan beretika ketika menjalankan tugas sebagai panduan untuk melaksanakan tanggung jawab mereka. Dalam perkataan lain, pengetua yang berperanan sebagai faktor penyumbang utama untuk mencapai keberkesanan sekolah tidak boleh dijadikan sebagai role model kepada warga sekolah yang lain. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan untuk memperkenalkan satu corak kepimpinan yang harus diamalkan oleh pengetua iaitu Kepimpinan Moral.

The literature on information seeking behavior has been, and remains, a hot topic for
research within various disciplines, but has been limited to review in this article to the field
of library and information science, which is where many of the key articles are to be found. Emphasis has been placed on the literature
review of library resources, services and information seeking behavior w.r.t ICT
environment. This literature review article helps to library, information science and
behavioural science professionals.

Artikkeli esittelee disnormatiivisen ja normetiivisen informaation käsitteet. Disnormatiivisella informaatiolla tarkoitetaan arvojen, normien ja lainsäädännön vastaista informaatiota. Normatiivinen informaatio puolestaan on yhteiskunnassa yleisesti hyväksyttyjä arvoja, normeja ja sen lainsäädäntöä tukevaa informaatiota.

Tutkimus käsittelee toiseuden kokemuksen vaikutusta tiedontarpeisiin ja tiedon jakamiseen Internetin keskustelupalstalla. Tavoitteena on ollut lisätä ymmärrystä siitä, kuinka sosiaalinen vetäytyminen, ts. pidättäytyminen sosiaalisista kontakteista, vaikuttaa ihmisen informaatiokäyttäytymiseen.

Tutkimuksessa etsittiin vastausta siihen, millaisisia tiedontarpeita tutkittavana olleeseessa Hikikomero-keskusteluryhmässä esiintyi ja kuinka sosiaalinen vetäytyminen näkyi niissä? Lisäksi selvitettiin minkä tyyppistä tietoa Hikikomero keskusteluryhmästä etsittiin ja mikä oli keskusteluryhmästä saatavan vertaistuen merkitys? Tutkimuksessa pyrittiin havaitsemaan myös millaisia yhteisöllisen tiedon jakamisen piirteitä keskusteluryhmässä esiintyi.

Tutkimus osoitti, että vertaistuki on yksi keskeinen asia, mitä keskusteluryhmästä etsittiin. Samanlaisen elämäntilanteen ja samalaisten kokemusten jakaminen lisäsi myös tiedon luotettavuutta tutkimuksen mukaan: ne henkilöt, joilla oli yhteneviä kokemuksia ja joiden antama informaatio perustui omakohtaiseen kokemukseen, koettiin luotettavina tiedonlähteinä. Tutkimus vahvistaa käsitystä siitä, että samanlaisen toiseuden kokemuksen jakaminen lisää luottamusta ryhmän muilta jäseniltä saatavaan informaatioon.

Tutkimuksessa havaittiin myös, että keskusteluryhmästä etsittiin yhteiskunnan arvojen ja normien vastaista informaatiota, jota ei ole juuri mahdollista saada muualta. Tätä informaation lajia kutsutaan tutkimuksessa disnormatiiviseksi informaatioksi. Esimerkiksi ohjeet siitä, kuinka käyttää huumausaineita, ovat esimerkki tämän tyyppisestä informaatiosta.

Tutkimus osoitti, että toiseuden kokemus ja yksilön elämäntapa ovat keskinäisessä vuorovaikutussuhteessa ja vaikuttavat yksilön informaatiokäyttäytymiseen, ts. tapoihin joilla tiedontarpeita ilmaistaan ja kuinka tietoa jaetaan keskusteluryhmässä.

Tutkimuksen kohteena ollut Hikikomero-keskusteluryhmä muodostikin eräänlaisen virtuaalisen “pienen maailman”, jonka yhteisenä nimittäjänä oli samanlaisen toiseuden yhteinen kokemus.

Tutkimusstrategia perustui konstruktionismin metateoriaan ja hermeneuttiseen lähestymistapaan. Analyysimenetelminä tutkimuksessa on käytetty sekä kvantitatiivista että kvalitatiivista sisällönanalyysiä. Tutkimusta varten analysoitiin yhteensä 6910 keskusteluryhmäviestiä Ylilauta.org-palvelun Hikikomero-keskusteluryhmästä.

Libraries are adding new
electronic information resources and bringing services for the benefit of users.
Developments in ICT have made drastic changes in the way the information collected,
stored, and distributed by libraries and accessed by users. Progress in information technology has offered today’s information seekers
different opportunities to access the information resources in variety of formats. This has affected information seeking behaviour.

This paper seeks to contribute to an understanding of the changing nature of support and information-seeking practices for women in the transition to first-time motherhood. In the context of increasing digitalisation, the significance of new virtual spaces for parenting is discussed. The paper demonstrates how women seek out alternative forms of expertise (specifically, non-medical expertise) and social support. The author argues for the importance of ‘intimate mothering publics’ through which women gather experiential information and practical support. These publics can act as a space for women to ‘test’ or legitimise their new identity as a mother. Intimate mothering publics are particularly useful for thinking about the meaning-making practices and learning
experiences that occur during intimate online and face-to-face interactions. A variety of types of online support may be used during pregnancy. Surreptitious support in particular involves users invisibly receiving advice, information and reassurance that might otherwise be lacking. Access to intimate mothering publics is motivated by a number of factors, including feelings of community or acceptance, the desire to be a good mother or parent, emotional support and the need for practical and experiential advice.

Despite a heightened focus on information literacy, students and adults alike struggle to assess online information. In this article, the authors argue that the K–12 information literacy curriculum needs to focus on supporting stu- dents to develop identities as expert information seekers to address complex and mutable modern literacy needs. The authors explore commonalities and themes within three different expert information-seeking professions: aca- demic librarians, journalists, and nonfiction children’s book authors. From semistructured interviews emerged distinct themes of doing, knowing, and being that expert information seekers employed when encountering informa- tion. The authors believe that these identity practices could form the basis of an information-seeking curriculum that can help address the challenges of the current online information environment.

This research aimed to explore the actual situation of information accessibility for university students with visual impairment at higher academic institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. This research adopted a qualitative research design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to investigate the proposed phenomenon. The participants were recruited with purposive sampling from higher academic institutions for data collection. Face to face interview of 15 visually impaired students was conducted using an interview guide. The participants were debriefed for data authentication and verification at the end. Each interview was transcribed and analyzed carefully using IPA. The results indicated that these students utilized interpersonal relationships as the primary source of their academic information. The other available facilities for information access included the internet, disability resources center (if available at the institution), and the university library. The major barr...

This research studies why and how users search for Islamic and Quranic information on the Web. It is to understand the information needs and search behaviour of online users seeking for this particular type of information. Thirty one interviews were given to various groups of online users regarding their reasons for searching on the Web and their search processes when acquiring Islamic, particularly those of Quranic-related, information on the Web. Interview data were transcribed and then analysed inductively to identify emergent themes using inductive content analysis. The data analysis focused on extracting common themes, patterns and concepts from the transcripts that were coded by categories that emerged as the process continued. The participants interviewed believe that the Web offers quick, free and easy access to their Islamic and Quranic information needs, as additional resource and/or alternative to printed resources, access to latest updates and publications, and to correct information on the Web. The main use of the information found on the Web was mainly for personal use, study/work use, and for sharing with others. The main search medium used was using favourite links, Google and other search engines, and also forums. The languages used to search are combinations of English, Arabic and other languages although English results were more common than other languages. There were easy and hard to find topics with Hadith as one of the common topics to search when it comes to Quranic search. The findings provide important insights on user’s search experiences when seeking for Islamic and Quranic information. It can serve to give Web designers and content providers on what the users are actually searching for to better adjust their services according to the needs of end users.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Culture has established a policy for implementing face-to-face schools. Regarding this policy, students’ parents become a key point in order to make decisions to allow children to attend face-to-face schooling. Before decision making, parents must first reduce uncertainties and lack of information related to the policy. This study discusses the information-seeking behavior of parents related to face-to-face school policies and the decision-making. The method used is descriptive survey. Data collected through online surveys and interviews. The results showed that parents did the active and passive behavior on information seeking. The school (teachers, homeroom teachers, principals, etc.) is the most frequently referred source of information by parents and is considered the most trusted source of information. The most important information needed by parents is regarding the readiness of the school in the implementation of face-to-face learning d...

هدفت الدراسة إلى التعريف بنظرية البحث الغريزي عن المعلومات، والمفاهيم المرتبطة بها، فضلا عن استكشاف واقع تطبيقات النظرية على عينة مختارة من مواقع المكتبات بمختلف أنواعها وإبراز مناحي القوة ومواطن الضعف فيها.
ولعل من أهم ما هدفت إليه الدراسة التوعية بضرورة تبني التطبيقات والمبادئ التصميمية التي تنادي بها النظرية بشكل خاص، ومبادئ التصميم المراعي للمستفيد User Centered Design UCD بشكل عام؛ لما لذلك من أثر إيجابي في تمكين المستفيدين من الوصول إلى المعلومات، وتحقيق ما ينشدونه من أهداف والقيام بما يريدونه من مهام بأقل جهد وفي أسرع وقت.

[Title:Information Seeking-Behavior in the Effort to Fulfill Information Needs in Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community] The purpose of this study is to find out how information tracing behavior in an effort to meet the information needs of writers in the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community. In addition, this research aims to find out what are the information needs of members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community. The research method used was qualitative research design with a type of case study research. The subjects in this study are individuals who are members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community who are still actively carrying out community activities and or have poetry works in the form of printed publications. Then the object of this research is the behavior of information retrieval as fulfilling the information needs of members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community. The results of this study indicate that the information needs of members of the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community like, the subject needed is their field of study that is about the development of the world of literature and poetry. Sources of information needed in the form of documents in the form of books and internet sources. Whereas non-document sources are in the form of discussion results in activities held by the Semarang Kumandang Sastra Community.

This study examines the information seeking behaviours of university students and explores students’ preferences between the university library and the Google search engine with their reasons. The research questionnaire was applied to 250 Near East University, Faculty of Engineering students. According to the results of the study; even students have enough knowledge to use the university library, they prefer to use Google and Internet resources for various purposes because they think that this is the fastest and easiest way to reach information. Even students obtain information via the Internet; they give importance to indicate the source in their assignments and projects. Findings also showed that there are some significant differences between departments’ information seeking behaviours. Keywords: Information seeking behaviours, Internet, Google, engineering education, university libraries.

This study conducted a cross-sectional online survey (N = 865) to determine whether self-ratings of depression and anxiety, perceived peer support, and perceived health benefits of social media predicted mental health-related information seeking and sharing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hierarchical regression models showed only depression self-ratings, anxiety self-ratings, and perceived health benefits predicted information seeking, whereas depression self-ratings, anxiety self-ratings, perceived peer support, and perceived health benefits all predicted information sharing. There was a statistically significant positive interaction of anxiety self-ratings and perceived peer support on information sharing. Participants' experience of COVID-19 predicted both information seeking and sharing. Mental health-related information seeking and sharing differed across social media platforms, with YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram used most for information seeking and Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter used most for information sharing. Findings suggest social media mental health-related seeking and sharing behaviors have the potential to facilitate coping surrounding mental health.

This research aimed to explore the actual situation of information accessibility for university students with visual impairment at higher academic institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. This research adopted a qualitative research design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to investigate the proposed phenomenon. The participants were recruited with purposive sampling from higher academic institutions for data collection. Face to face interview of 15 visually impaired students was conducted using an interview guide. The participants were debriefed for data authentication and verification at the end. Each interview was transcribed and analyzed carefully using IPA. The results indicated that these students utilized interpersonal relationships as the primary source of their academic information. The other available facilities for information access included the internet, disability resources center (if available at the institution), and the university library. The major barriers in accessing needed information included: format barriers, navigational barriers, technical barriers, ICTs illiteracy, and financial barriers. The university administration, especially libraries, should consider students with various disabilities while designing information infrastructure for its community. This research can be used as a guide by library staff in designing need-based information services for students with visual imprisonment. This  research would be a worthy contribution to the existing literature as only a few studies were conducted in Pakistan.

1. INTRODUCTION The review of relevant literature is nearly always a standard chapter of a thesis or dissertation. The review forms an important chapter in a thesis where its purpose is to provide the background to and justification for the research undertaken. It is not a chronological catalog of all of the sources, but an evaluation, integrating the previous research together, and also explaining how it integrates into the proposed research program. Literature reviews help us to see the full picture and uncovering new evidence on relevant topic. It encourages objective thinking, and systematic approach to the research undertaken. A good literature review requires the ability to conduct exhaustive bibliographic searches, ability to organise the collected data meaningfully, describe, critique and relate each source to the subject, and present the organised review logically, and lastly also very important, to correctly cite all sources mentioned. 2. WHY LITERATURE REVIEW? Many studen...

This research carried out a systematic review of the evidence of reliability and validity of scales available in studies reporting surveys of individuals to measure anxiety associated with information related tasks such as library anxiety, information seeking anxiety, and information anxiety. A systematic search using keywords ‘library anxiety’, ‘information anxiety’, 'information seeking anxiety', and 'information seeking' AND 'anxiety' was carried in Web of Science, Scopus, LISA, and LISTA to identify the relevant literature. This review included those studies reporting the use of any scale measuring information related anxiety published in the English language and included all type of documents (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, theses/dissertations, research reports). The two-phase screening process, title/abstract screening, and full-text screening resulted in 85 eligible studies which were reviewed in this paper. The data extracted from each study included author names, year of publication, scale title, type of construct assessed, number of items in the scale, sample characteristics, types of reliability and validity reported. The results revealed that most of the empirical studies did not report the reliability and validity of scales used for data collection. Nine instruments assessing information related anxieties were identified. These scales were heterogeneous in the number of statements and subscales and homogenous in the type of scale options. An internal consistency coefficient, such as Cronbach's alpha was the widely used reliability measure. Face validity, content validity, and construct validity either through exploratory factor analysis or confirmatory factor analysis were the most used validity measures. These results had quite serious implications on the inferences drawn by the practitioners and researchers based on the results of existing studies. The use of good-quality measures for assessing information related anxieties need to be promoted not only by the academicians but also by the journal referees and editors. This review would be a worthy contribution in the existing research on information related anxieties as no such study appears so far in this area.

When studying how ordinary Web users interact with Web search engines, researchers tend to either treat the users as a homogeneous group or group them according to search experience. Neither approach is sufficient, we argue,to capture the variety in behavior that is known to exist among searchers. By applying automatic clustering technique based on self-organizing maps to search engine log files from a corporate intranet,we show that users can be usefully separated into distinguishable segments based on their actual search behavior. Based on these segments,future tools for information seeking and retrieval can be targeted to specific segments rather than just made to fit the “the average user.” The exact number of clusters,and to some extent their characteristics, can be expected to vary between intranets, but our results indicate that some more generic groups may exist. In our study,a large group of users appeared to be “fact seekers” who would benefit from higher precision, a smaller group of users were more holistically oriented and would likely benefit from higher recall,and a third category of users seemed to constitute the knowledgeable users.These three groups may raise different design implications for search-tool developers.

Objective: Changes perceived as both positive (eg, posttraumatic growth [PTG]) and negative (eg, posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS]) have been associated with intensive Internet use among breast cancer survivors. In this multicenter study, we analyzed the role of PTG and PTSS on the amount of time spent looking for online cancer information, its content, and its psychological impact. Methods: Posttraumatic stress symptoms and PTG were assessed in 182 breast cancer survivors by using the Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist and Post‐trau-matic Growth Inventory questionnaires. Subjects also completed a questionnaire about their behavior when looking for online illness‐related information (ie, time spent, type of contents, and psychological impact). Results: Posttraumatic stress symptoms positively correlated with the amount of time spent looking for cancer‐related information, including both medical and psycho-social content. By contrast, PTG showed no relationships with the amo...

Online Health Communities have become an increasingly popular information resource. Participants use them to seek health information, to seek support and to source advice regarding health challenges. The resulting lack of dependency on traditional health information channels has not only changed the way in which people source health information, but more importantly, the health information that they choose to trust and consequently act upon. Despite this fact, the factors that predict or inhibit users' trust in online health communities remain unclear. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of the factors that influence individuals trust in such communities. Data were collected from 410 Brazilian participants of several online health communities on Facebook. The research model was tested using partial least squares, and the results show support for two new predictors of trust in online health communities: Online Community Responsiveness and Community Support. Also, we found that Information Credibility and Propensity to Trust positively influence individual's trust responses. These findings contribute both to the trust literature and to social media research knowledge. From a practitioner perspective, these findings can also serve as a guide for moderators and managers who wish to improve participants' trust in their online health communities.

Medical students, the future Doctors of our country are an important part of the society. When they will enter into the professional world it would be very difficult to approach them and get time for conversation. If they can be approached in the virtual world it would be a unique opportunity for numerous business houses for line of work. This study aims to throw some light on the online behavior of medical students. We can learn about the websites they visit, what motivates them to use internet? What information do they seek? and on what topics they discuss? For the research different social networking websites and blogs involving medical students were studied. From this their topics of discussion were analyzed. To get more insights a questionnaire was formed and medical students in Kolkata were interviewed. It was seen that medical students used internet for various reasons. They use internet for sharing class notes, watching videos of surgery, finding books and looking for internship and socializing. Their internet usage pattern was analyzed and a trend was found.

This research aimed to explore the actual situation of information accessibility for university students with visual impairment at higher academic institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. This research adopted a qualitative research design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to investigate the proposed phenomenon. The participants were recruited with purposive sampling from higher academic institutions for data collection. Face to face interview of 15 visually impaired students was conducted using an interview guide. The participants were debriefed for data authentication and verification at the end. Each interview was transcribed and analyzed carefully using IPA. The results indicated that these students utilized interpersonal relationships as the primary source of their academic information. The other available facilities for information access included the internet, disability resources center (if available at the institution), and the university library. The major barr...

تناول الفصل الأول الإطار النظري وسمات الإنتاج الفكري الخاص بنظرية البحث الفطري الغريزي عن المعلومات، وخلص إلى أن النظرية قد تلقتها الأوساط العلمية بالقبول، وتم تناولها من جانب قطاع عريض من الموضوعات، خصوصا المرتبطة بعلوم الحاسب والهندسة والعلوم الاجتماعية. ويتناول هذه الفصل الإطار المنهجي للدراسة، من حيث المنهج المستخدم وفقا لطبيعة الدراسة، والإجراءات البحثية التي تم اتباعها، وأدوات جمع البيانات، وعينة الدراسة.

Abstract: As part of a larger study into the information behaviour of grade-three students the use of books and the Internet as information sources was investigated. During class time books and other printed sources were used more often than the Internet. This paper looks at possible reasons why.

Affordances of Internet sites and Internet-based applications make personal information about romantic partners, friends, family members, and strangers easy to obtain. People use various techniques to find information about others, capitalizing on online affordances by using search engines to find relevant websites and databases; scouring the target's social media or social networking site presence; accessing information about the target via their links or network association with others on social media; or asking questions or crowdsourcing information through online channels. Researchers have coined an assortment of terms to describe online social information seeking behaviors, such as interpersonal electronic surveillance, social surveillance, monitoring, patient-targeted Googling, cybervetting, websleuthing, human flesh search, lateral surveillance, Facebook surveillance, and Facebook stalking. Although considerable research has examined these behaviors, there has been little effort to clarify the concepts themselves. As a result, the literature is currently full of inconsistent and overlapping conceptualizations. To synthesize these concepts for future research, this review examines 73 online social information seeking concepts extracted from 186 articles. Specifically, the concepts are reviewed in light of their scope; the information seeker or target of information seeking (e.g., romantic partners, parents, children, employees, criminals); motives for information seeking (e.g., uncertainty, threat, curiosity); and the intensity of the behavior. Recommendations are provided for future research, such as employing clear conceptualizations and incorporating affordances. Finally, we offer a decision tree that researchers can use to help select appropriate terms to use in their work moving forward.

The main objective of this study is to find out the using pattern of internet and e-resources by the Eastern University (EU) students and faculty members. A printed version of the questionnaire was distributed in the respective students and faculty members of EU. To analyze the influence of demographic information on overall satisfaction on internet and e-resources simple frequency were carried out. The results showed that students and faculty members are generally satisfied with the current level of internet and e-resources. They identified limited number of titles, difficulty in finding information, limited access to computers and slow download speed as major constraints. These constraints do affect internet and e-resources use in a private university. However, these constraints are mainly related to the poor IT infrastructure and limited access to internet and e-resources, which may also lead to other constraints such as an unwillingness to use the internet and e-resources regula...

Belakangan ini Kemdikbud telah menetapkan kebijakan pelaksanaan sekolah tatap muka. Selain akademisi, orang tua menjadi pihak krusial dalam hal ini terutama berkaitan dengan pengambilan keputusan untuk mengizinkan anak mengikuti pelaksanaan sekolah tatap muka. Sebelum  mengambil keputusan terlebih dahulu orang tua harus mereduksi berbagai ketidakpastian dan kurangnya informasi terkait kebijakan tersebut. Penelitian ini membahas mengenai perilaku pencarian informasi yang dilakukan orang tua terkait kebijakan sekolah tatap muka hingga proses pengambilan keputusan. Metode yang digunakan adalah survei deskriptif dengan teknik pengumpulan data melalui survei dan wawancara. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa orang tua melakukan pencarian informasi secara aktif dan pasif. Pihak sekolah (guru, wali kelas, kepala sekolah, dsb) menjadi sumber informasi yang paling sering dirujuk oleh orang tua siswa sekaligus dianggap sebagai sumber informasi yang paling terpercaya. Informasi yang dianggap paling penting oleh orang tua siswa adalah mengenai kesiapan sekolah dalam pelaksanaan pembelajaran tatap muka di masa pandemi. Adapun dalam pengambilan keputusan orang tua seringkali memanfaatkan sumber informasi melalui media daring dan diskusi bersama orang tua siswa lainnya. Mayoritas orang tua akan menunda pengambilan keputusan jika informasi yang didapatkan dirasa belum cukup, sementara di sisi lain orang tua juga dapat mengalami kegagalan pengambilan keputusan karena paparan informasi yang terlalu berlebihan.

Currently there are many groups of Indonesian faculty members on social media. This research aims to find out the information behavior of Indonesian faculty members on social media, especially on Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp. The focus of this research is in-depth understanding of the needs, search, organization, and use of information by Indonesian faculty members on social media. This research is qualitative research using a virtual ethnographic approach. The research data was obtained through participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and a literature review. The selection of informants was done by purposive sampling, while triangulation was done by data sources and theories triangulation. The results showed that the information behavior of Indonesian faculty members on social media began with the need for information, choosing social media, choosing and entering into one or several groups, sharing information, and discussing in a group. Some faculty members keep the information, and some choose to ask when they need the information, even though the information has been discussed. The information obtained is used when they need it, and they usually share their experiences with other group members.

Keywords: information behavior, information needs, information seeking behavior, social media, information organizing behavior, information use behavior

https://acoms.kisti.re.kr/notReviewEpaper/epaper.do

Women play a critical role in food security. They are the backbone of the world's agricultural labour force. Nearly half of the food grown all over the world is produced by women. In Zambia, women account for over sixty-five percent of labour in agricultural production. All tasks associated with food production, harvesting, processing, preparation, provision of water and fuel wood, food storage, transport, marketing, hoeing and weeding are largely performed by women. Taking into account all of women's agricultural work, one can arguably claim that women's contribution to food production increases spectacularly and generally surpasses men's contribution. Yet women in general experience greater difficulty than men in securing essential resources and basic resources such as health, nutritional services, education, physical and financial capital and land. Above all, women lack information and knowledge which is critical to enhance their contributions in food security. In addition, they remain the silent majority with limited access to economic decision making bodies that impact on their lives and the lives of their families. Given the opportunity, women's contributions to ensuring food security could increase substantially. Given increasing food insecurity especially in rural areas of Zambia, it was imperative to investigate whether women in Luangeni, Chipata District have information and knowledge on food security issues. The study was both qualitative and quantitative in nature. 135 women farmers participated in the study. The findings are presented and include an assessment of whether women farmers had information and knowledge on land rights and tenure, modern cost effective agricultural equipment, acquisition of agricultural inputs, market and nutritional value of locally produced food. The study further investigated the agricultural information and knowledge needs of women farmers, sources of agricultural information and knowledge of women farmers and the challenges faced to access agricultural information and knowledge.

Undergraduates have to get-up to date, quickly and accurate information mixing with digital/online tools to fulfill their information gap. The aim of this research was to find which factors affect to undergraduate online/digital information seeking behavior of Sri Lanka. The study is compiled with data gathered from questionnaires of 150 undergraduate from three Universities. Research mainly, focused on the models of Information seeking behavior and technology acceptance. Ease of use of technology, Usefulness of technology, Information need and information use were considered as independent variable and all of them are positively correlated and are identified as significant with the behavior of online information seeking. The relationship between Information need and information seeking behavior on digital/online environment shows the highest positive correlation coefficient. Undergraduates seek more information on line information on digital/ online environment. Therefore, traditional universities should provide more online facilities for undergraduates to improve their knowledge and skills.

Collaborative  Information  Seeking  (CIS)  is  common  in  many  professional  contexts.  This chapter  discusses  CIS  from  four  different  perspectives  –  education,  healthcare,  science research and patent research. We first introduce the CIS context, focusing on Evans and Chi’s proposed model of social search. We highlight the ways contextual factors relate to the search process, in particular noting the role of communication in CIS processes.  The four example professional contexts are discussed with reference to the ‘medium’ of collaboration, the ways CIS  is  conducted,  the  tools  used  and  physical  setting  of  CIS,  and  the  ‘context’  of CIS,  the purposes  for  which  an  instance  of  CIS  occurs  in  that  discipline.  We  suggest  that  these contextual factors can be aligned with, but are additional to, the existing Evans and Chi model of social search, and that their addition in a ‘pre- and post-model’ extension could provide a shared framework for researching contextual features of CIS. In highlighting commonalities and contrasts across the disciplinary contexts we suggest that a developed model, and further research,  is  needed  to  understand  the  relationship  between  motivations  in  these  different disciplines  and  the  evaluation  of  CIS  episodes,  and  the  role  of  processes,  particularly communication,  in  those  episodes.  In  order  to  evaluate  CIS  in  different  disciplines  future research  should  focus  on  the  between,  and  within  discipline  differences  in  the  purposes  of CIS.  Characteristics  of  success  in  different  disciplinary  contexts  may  relate  both  to  the consideration  of  the  collaborative  context,  and  the  information  need;  developing  deeper understanding of this point.

This research carried out a systematic review of the evidence of reliability and validity of scales available in studies reporting surveys of individuals to measure anxiety associated with information related tasks such as library anxiety, information seeking anxiety, and information anxiety. A systematic search using keywords ‘library anxiety’, ‘information anxiety’, 'information seeking anxiety', and 'information seeking' AND 'anxiety' was carried in Web of Science, Scopus, LISA, and LISTA to identify the relevant literature. This review included those studies reporting the use of any scale measuring information related anxiety published in the English language and included all type of documents (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, theses/dissertations, research reports). The two-phase screening process, title/abstract screening, and full-text screening resulted in 85 eligible studies which were reviewed in this paper. The data extracted from each study included author names, year of publication, scale title, type of construct assessed, number of items in the scale, sample characteristics, types of reliability and validity reported. The results revealed that most of the empirical studies did not report the reliability and validity of scales used for data collection. Nine instruments assessing information related anxieties were identified. These scales were heterogeneous in the number of statements and subscales and homogenous in the type of scale options. An internal consistency coefficient, such as Cronbach's alpha was the widely used reliability measure. Face validity, content validity, and construct validity either through exploratory factor analysis or confirmatory factor analysis were the most used validity measures. These results had quite serious implications on the inferences drawn by the practitioners and researchers based on the results of existing studies. The use of good-quality measures for assessing information related anxieties need to be promoted not only by the academicians but also by the journal referees and editors. This review would be a worthy contribution in the existing research on information related anxieties as no such study appears so far in this area.

Abstract: Young adults (N = 357) were surveyed following the suicide of celebrity Robin Williams to better understand how involvement with the actor and emotional responses to his death influenced searches for information concerning depression, suicide, and mental health. Emotional distress following the actor’s death mediated the relationship between involvement and certain types of information searches. Most respondents sought information about the celebrity’s career, suicide, and depression using portable devices such as smartphones and laptop computers to access news websites for information. Those respondents who sought information about the suicide reported changes in their thoughts about suicide, most often dealing with the difficulty in spotting warning signs and the idea that “it can happen to anyone.” Findings suggest placement of health messages within existing material about celebrity announcements on online websites and social media to drive more traffic toward general informational outlets. Messages that acknowledge emotional distress might be best placed within content specific to the celebrity’s tragedy, rather than specific to the celebrity’s career or performances.
Citation: Dillman Carpentier, F. R., & Parrott, M. S. (2016). Young adults' information seeking following celebrity suicide: Considering emotional distress and involvement with the celebrity in health communication strategies. Health Communication, 11, 1334-1344.