IS 561 Use and Users of Information
Explores information needs and uses at a general level, addressing formal and informal information channels, barriers to information, issues of value, and impacts of technology. Examines information seeking practices of particular communities and within various environments, introducing recent approaches to user-centered system design and digital library development. Provides an overview of methods that can be used to study information needs, information seeking behavior, and related phenomena.
Learning objectives
- Understand the contexts of human information behavior - institutional, organizational, and social.
- Understand various users and uses of information, and related information seeking processes.
- Understand the relation between studies of human information behavior and professional practice.
- Survey foundational and current research on information use and users and assess its application to the development of information systems and services.
- Gain an understanding of the factors that impact the transfer and exchange of information and the differences among various user groups, including researchers, professionals, the general public, and children.
- Learn about methods for studying information needs and information seeking behavior