We seek to understand the evolving needs of people who are faced with a life-changing medical diagnosis based on analyses of queries extracted from an anonymized search query log. Focusing on breast cancer, we manually tag a set of Web searchers as showing disruptive shifts in focus of attention and long-term patterns of search behavior consistent with the diagnosis and treatment of breast canc...

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for creative information seeking drawing upon Weisberg’s argument that creativity exists in everyone, and mapping the creative process described in the holistic model of creativity to the information seeking activities identified in the behavioural model of information seeking. Using scenarios of information seeking behaviour, mappings between the crea...

The ways in which people seek and process information are fundamentally epistemic in nature. Existing epistemic cognition research has tended towards characterizing this fundamental relationship as cognitive or belief-based in nature. This paper builds on recent calls for a shift towards activity-oriented perspectives on epistemic cognition and proposes a new theory of ‘epistemic commitments’. ...

This research set out to investigate the internet information seeking behavior of older users in New Zealand. The findings show that older internet users are diverse group with a wide range of skills and attitudes but that they do exhibit specific internet behaviors based on their information seeking behavior. A classification of how older New Zealanders use the Internet is presented based on a...

Many research-based models of information seeking behaviour are limited in their ability to describe everyday life information seeking. Such models tend to focus on active information seeking, to the neglect of less-directed practices. Models are often based on studies of scholars or professionals, and many have been developed using a cognitive approach to model building. This article reports o...

With the aim of improving human-centric risk communication, this research in progress paper argues for a social-cognitive perspective focusing on the interaction between laypeople and the information environment. A model is designed to predict laypeople’s environmental risk perception and information seeking behavior. Using data from a national online survey (N=1,032), our research is an effort...

This paper was commissioned by Professor Gernot Wersig of the Freie Universität, Berlin in 1980, as part of his Project, Methodeninstrumentarium zur Benutzforschung in Information und Dokumentation. It attempted to set out what was, for the time, a novel perspective on appropriate methodologies for the study of human information seeking behaviour, focusing on qualitative methods and action rese...