M. Eisenberg 2013

Information Behavior

Donald Case Looking for Information

Karen Fisher Information Grounds

Chris Anderson The Long Tail

© Eisenberg 2013

Goals of Today’s Class Session

• To reflect on your own information problem-solving

behavior and identify possible ways to improve.

• To be able to analyze and describe information situations

using Case’s information behavior variables.

• To understand and use Fisher’s concept of “information

grounds.”

• To grasp the nature and implications of the “long tail”

• To be able to make recommendations for improving

human information experiences (in terms of performance

and satisfaction) based on information behavior analysis.

© Eisenberg 2013

Information Seeking

Active

• Decision-making

– Buying a car

• Task completion

– Creating a website

• Broad background

– Environmental scanning

Passive

• Information encountering

• Information grounds

© Eisenberg 2013

Some Key Terms

• Users

• Human actors

• Information need

• Information

seeking

• Information

behavior

• Cognition

• Behavior

• Development

• Design &

Development

• Evaluation

M. Eisenberg 2013

Donald Case

© Eisenberg 2013

Information Behavior Variables

1. Seeker

2. Situation

3. Main Motivation

4. Sources of Information

5. Time Pressure

6. Degree of Thoroughness

From Case, Table 2.3

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Case – The Human Perspective

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Case

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Example

Setting:

1. Seeker

2. Situation

3. Motivation

4. Sources of information

5. Time pressure

6. Degree of Thoroughness

© Eisenberg 2013

Example

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Brenda Dervin (in D. Case)

• Sensemaking

• Champion of the user

• Information “gap” – users seek to resolve

gaps in their knowledge.

• Question: “Is the user always right?”

– Can a “system” (e.g., an intermediary) ever know better

what the user needs or the answer for a user than the

user does?

© Eisenberg 2013

Dervin (in Case)

10 Myths

1. Only objective information is

valuable.

2. More information is better.

3. Objective information can be

transmitted out of context.

4. Information can only be

acquired through formal

sources.

5. There is relevant information

for every need.

6. Every need has a solution.

7. It is always possible to make

information available or

accessible.

8. Function units of information

(books, tv) always fit the needs

of individuals.

9. Time and space – individual

situations – can be ignored in

addressing information seeking

and use.

10. People make easy, conflict free

connections between external

information and their internal

reality.

© Eisenberg 2013

D. Case Summary Points

• Study of information behavior involves

– Situation

– People

– Information

• Information behavior can be analyzed through a

series of identified variables.

• Human information behavior is more complex

than it might initially seem.

• There are many misconceptions/myths about

information, and information seeking and use.

© Eisenberg 2013

M. Eisenberg 2013

Karen Fisher

Information Grounds

© Eisenberg 2013

Fisher

• Information behavior in everyday contexts

• Information grounds

– What are some common information settings?

– Where do you go to seek information?

– What search systems do you use?

– What is your source of first and last resort?

• Checklists

– Information Behavior Observation Checklist

– Information Grounds Interview/Survey Instrument

Handout

© Eisenberg 2013

Information Grounds

• Have you ever gone somewhere for a particular

reason but wind up sharing information just

because other people are there and you start

talking?

• That’s an information ground.

• People seek out “information grounds” even

though their purpose in participating is not

primarily information-focused.

© Eisenberg 2013

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Fisher - Trichotomy of Variables

M. Eisenberg 2013

Information Behavior

Anderson

The Long Tail

© Eisenberg 2013

Long Tail

• Describes a new economic model for the media

and entertainment industries. And…likely to be

applicable in many other situations as well.

• “If the 20th- century entertainment industry was

about hits, the 21st will be equally about misses.”

• The move away from mass marketing and sales

to more individualized and customized.

© Eisenberg 2007

© Eisenberg 2013

Long Tail

• Freed from the “tyranny” of the physical world (for

us and products).

• From “hit” driven economics (based on scarcity)

– CDs, DVDs, games, TV channels to an online

world based on abundance.

© Eisenberg 2007

M. Eisenberg 2013

Chris Anderson videos

Long Tail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yk

u0GTrcuw

Four business models:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SX

2SyvLjvE&feature=PlayList&p=D4F93A

433969C8A8&index=0

© Eisenberg 2013

Traditional Use Patterns

• 80-20 rule (Pareto’s principle) - A power

law; “yield”

• 20% of what is produced will be used

(read, listened to, viewed) by 80% of the

users.

• 20% of websites will be visited by most

(80%) of users.

• 20% of library collections will be borrowed

by 80% of users.

© Eisenberg 2013

Long Tail Use Patterns

• “Misses” can make money too!

• The great 80% can now be made

available to all.

• 80% if available to all, will generate

reasonable use (even if only 20%)

• Better match to what users really want.

• “What's really amazing about the Long

Tail is the sheer size of it.”

http://cathexis.typepad.com/cathexis/images/longtailgeneric_1.png

webdesignstuff.co.uk

www.actionablebooks.com/summaries/the-long-tail/

www.surferzrule.com/z_artic_wired_long_tail2.html

Netflix

Wired, 9/24, 2009

http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2009/09/netflix-data-shows-shifting-demand-down-the-long-tail.html

Mobile Services

http://forums.juniper.net/t5/Industry-Solutions-and-Trends/The-journey-to-profitable-mobile-services/ba-p/138627

© Eisenberg 2013

3 New Rules for the Entertainment Economy

• Rule 1: Make everything available

• Rule 2: Cut the price in half. Now lower

it.

• Rule 3: Help me find it.

© Eisenberg 2013

So…

• Think about the long tail in terms of

various information behavior situations.

• What are the implications for –

– audiences/user groups

– products

– communications

– information services

– ??

© Eisenberg 2013

Summary Points • Study of information behavior involves

– Situation

– People

– Information

• Human information behavior is more complex than it might

seem.

• Information behavior can be analyzed through a series of

identified variables.

• People seek out “information grounds” even though their

purpose in participating is not primarily information-focused.

• The long tail is one example of how our behaviors and

habits are changing due to technology-enabled capabilities.

© Eisenberg 2013

M. Eisenberg 2013

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