Understanding Information and Human Behavior

1. INLS 151 monday, august 24

2. agenda / learning outcomes • First-day “quiz” follow-up • Putting a $ on information • Case reading • how might we define information? • starting to thing about human information behavior • dubious assumptions about info seeking • “Google effect” brief – your reactions

3. What would you like to learn?

4. UNC Libraries Resources

5. UNC Libraries Resources

6. What do you estimate a university-wide subscription to Science costs per year? $ 10 $ 35,000 $ 500,000

7. Average 2015 Price by Discipline Brain approximately $25K/year SOURCE: LJ PERIODICALS PRICE SURVEY 2015

10. Donald Case reading Introductory chapter on current research perspectives on information seeking, information needs and information behavior

11. human information interaction • people interact with information routinely • seekers • targeted audience • “innocent bystanders” • prospectors • interactions are influenced by situational variables • information as a personal construct

12. Carefully craft one sentence to answer: WHAT IS INFORMATION?

13. information as Thing Something that is evidence that: • we can study • has meaning • can pass from one person to another Tangible physical objects, items, and entities are examples. Knowledge and ideas must be represented – and representations are “things”

14. information as Thing Information appears to us in a material form … and can be described in a language of physical things. As material objects, [information] can then be collected, organized, and retrieved for use. Raber, 2003 *Western view/perspective

15. information as Process Involves learning, it is the act of informing – as you learn, you change Information as a “verb” – transfer of information, communication.

16. information as Knowledge When information is internalized – it becomes part of you Intangible ideas, etc. are examples

17. more definitions of information • Marchionini • Anything that changes one’s understanding • Shannon & Weaver • Uncertainty reduction

18. Data= “are sets of symbols not necessarily understood by, found meaningful by, or causing a change of state in the destination.” (e.g. hieroglyphics) Information= “if a message is understood, found meaningful, or changes the state, then it is properly called information.”“….it gets through to the recipient’s mind (or mechanical equivalent).” Knowledge= when information is used to make a decision, take an action, to understand future messages… “…knowledge is seen as the …integration of information received by any given entity”

25. …but he actually makes his shots in only a few select areas Kevin Durant’s closely guarded attempts happen all over the court

26. Information Interactions Caveat • We interact with information constantly • Our interactions are related to our past experiences, our current situation, and our goals (among other things) • We do not have the same reactions to the same piece of information • We do not notice the same things • Designing interaction is a complex problem

29. Quick overview of a study that explored the cognitive consequences of having information at our fingertips and effect on memory • when people expect to have future access to information, they have lower rates of recall of the information itself and enhanced recall instead for where to access it. • the Internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.

30. Your comments, thoughts, reactions?

31. 10 dubious assumptions • In small groups discuss one or two of the ten myths surrounding information seeking asdescribed by Case/Dervin • Do you agree / disagree with the “myth” label? How strongly? • Identify a real-world example that supports the label of myth • Identify a real-world example that contradicts the label of myth handout