Article #1

Kuhlthau, C.C. (1991) Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42, 361-371.

Summary: Kuhlthau discusses the results of a series of studies focusing on the mental and emotion perspective of information-seeking users. She identifies the various stages of the information search process, and how the user's mental state affects it.

Analysis:
A lot of familiar names are mentioned here: Belkin, Taylor, etc. Kuhlthau discusses their research on the cognitive viewpoint of information seeking behavior. While these prior theories help to form the basis for her research, Kuhlthau fits her model of information seeking into Dervin's sense-making model, using it as a context. Once you keep the sense-making model in mind while reading this, it is a little easier to understand Kuhlthau's work.

I was most intrigued by Kuhlthau's discussion of emotions, and how they play a role in the information search process. In retrospect, it seems quite obvious: frustration can impair logical thinking and problem solving skills, etc. But Kuhlthau claims that anxiety, frustration, and so forth are a natural and integral part of information seeking. I also found her correlation between increase in user confidence and search results to be very interesting. From personal searching experience, I know that when I feel confident in my ability to obtain information, I am able to think more clearly and logically. Although I do wonder that she didn't address user overconfidence; being smugly pleased or cocky in one's abilities can cause you to reject or blind you to options ("I'm doing great with this, I can find anything I want, so why try this method?")

Discussion Questions:
Kuhlthau states that she did not use the data from "low achieving" students in her fourth study because it was incomplete, and focused on middle to high achieving students instead. I find it hard to believe that she would simply throw the data out without seeking to re-obtain new data, especially considering that there may possibly be an appreciable difference between the results of high and low achievers. It seems mildly irresponsible to not even try to find new participants for that area of the study. The research seems half-done as a consequence.

I wonder about Kuhlthau's claim that uncertainty is a "natural and necessary" part of the early stages of the information seeking process. What if you already know where to look and what to do? What if you are looking for information for fun and with no real goal or consequences in mind? I can hardly imagine anxiety and frustration taking place.

Implications: It's important to take the user's emotional state into account when aiding with the search process; frustration and anxiety may impair the user's judgment or problem-solving skills. Reassurement is just as important as showing them how to search effectively.


Article #2:

Talja, S. (1997). Constituting "information" and "user" as research objects: a theory of knowledge formations as an alternative to the information man-theory. In P. Vakkari, R. Savolainen, and B. Dervin (eds.), Information Seeking in Context (pp. 67-80). London: Taylor-Graham.

Summary: Pointing out several weaknesses in the cognitive viewpoint (here also called the "information man-theory"), Talja offers an alternative called the "theory of knowledge formations."

Analysis:

Talja critiques the cognitive viewpoint for failing to include or address the socio-cultural context of users and/or information systems. She states, "It is widely recognized that both individual information needs and institutional information access are socially conditioned." However, the cognitive viewpoint only studies how individuals process information, not how their environment influences them. Talja points out that language and culture combine to create different knowledge formations in individuals. This causes a myriad of viewpoints that may not all translate well together.

I found Talja's argument (while very difficult to read through) to be very unique and interesting. In my readings for this class, I've gone from systems-oriented research to user-oriented research, with the argument "user-focused, cognitive studies are better" emphasized repeatedly. So, to encounter a criticism of the viewpoint is interesting. But Talja's point is extemely valid. Our environment (culture, society, etc.) does influence the way we think and view the world around us. Because of this, different individuals view the world differently, and think of information in different terms. Not all users will think of information the same way, or have the same ideas about how to obtain information. We all build our own bases of knowledge differently, so as she notes, it's hard to create systems that have multiple viewpoints incorporated in it.

Discussion Question: Talja claims that since librarians and users "...share language and culture with others, and since they have made us what we are, we have common ground on which to act and communicate." How does this common ground account for differences in culture and language, which are often viewed as barriers?

Implications:

Talja points out that information needs "arise more from selected interests and cultural expertise than from lack of knowledge." It seems that so much of our work as librarians is built around the assumption that people are trying to find information to solve problems. However, a lot of information searching is also done for just interest. Sometimes, it's important to keep that dichotomy in mind, because it influences how we approach these situations.