The article explains why the concept of the user in Library and Information Science (LIS) user studies and information seeking behavior is theoretically inadequate and it proposes a reconceptualization of subjects, objects, and their relations according to a model of ‘double mediation.’ Formal causation (affordances) is suggested as a substitute for mechanistic causation. The notion of ‘affecti...

* 0-7803-7952-7/03/$17.00  2003 IEEE. Abstract Groups in risky, time-constrained situations may be confronted with problems that cannot be solved by following predefined procedures. This study explores the impact of various factors on group informationseeking behavior in such situations. A simulated experiment in emergency scenarios was conducted with both expert and novice groups with or with...

Sexuality on the Internet takes many forms and channels, including chat rooms discussions, accessing Websites or searching Web search engines for sexual materials. The study of Web sexual queries provides insight into sexual-related information-seeking behavior, of value to Web users and providers alike. We qualitatively analyzed 58,027 queries from a log of 1,025,910 Excite Web user queries fr...

This paper evaluates the e-book usage and information seeking and reading behaviour of thousands of business and management students. Comparisons are made with students in other subjects. The data largely come from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded National e-Books Observatory (NeBO) project as well as the JISC User Behaviour Observational Study. The main sources of data wer...

This article explores the relationship between the concept of uncertainty in information seeking, within a model of the problem-solving process proposed by Wilson (1999a) and variables derived from other models and from the work of Ellis and Kuhlthau. The research has involved longitudinal data collection in the United States and United Kingdom employing three interview schedules (incorporating...

This case study explores the information seeking behaviour of digital camera consumers based on Assael’s consumer information acquisition and processing model. 135 responses were received from potential target group who had purchased or was planning to purchase digital cameras. Findings show that respondents who had not purchased digital camera before tended to seek for related information and ...

This study explores the extent to which the information seeking behaviour of researchers active in the field of English Literature in the universities of the UK and the wider world has changed as a result of the developing electronic information revolution. It deals with the researchers’ attitudes towards the Internet and examines their position with regard to utilizing the Internet as a public...

The medical students of Obafemi Awolowo University were assessed for general use of library and for their information seeking behavior. The objectives of the study were to evaluate students’ perception of the demands for locating clinical information; to determine if they sought current information and sources most often used for their current information. Five hundred medical students comprisi...

The rise on the Internet of blogging, the creation of journal-like web page logs, has created a highly dynamic subset of the World Wide Web that evolves and responds to real-world events. Indeed, blogs (or weblogs) have recently emerged as a new grassroots publishing medium. The so-called blogosphere (the collection of blogs on the Internet) opens up several new interesting research areas. Blog...

Purpose – To examine what search capabilities are desirable in web-based scholarly e-book systems. Design/methodology/approach – To present the author’s opinion and interpretation about what search capabilities are desirable in web-based scholarly e-book systems through investigating studies of information seeking behavior and exploring current multimedia and hypertext techniques. Findings – Th...