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Urquhart, C., Light, A., Thomas, R., Barker, A., Yeoman, A., Cooper, J., Armstrong, C., Fenton, R., Lonsdale, R. & Spink, S. (2003). Critical incident technique and explicitation interviewing in studies of information behavior. Library and Information Science Research, 25(1), 63-88. Sponsorship: JISC (for JUSTEIS element)This article discusses two related techniques, critical incident technique and explicitation, used in a variety of social science research settings, and critically reviews their application to studies of information behavior. The current application of both techniques is compared to Flanagan?s early guidelines on the critical incident technique and is discussed in relation to recent experience in the use of (1) the critical incident technique in the JUSTEIS and VIVOS projects, and (2) explicitation in projects concerned with text entering on interactive Web sites. JUSTEIS is identifying trends, and reasons for those trends, in the uptake and use of electronic information services in higher education in the UK, and the article examines experience gained over the first two cycles, 1999/2000, and 2000/2001. VIVOS evaluated virtual health library services. Comparison of the experiences gained on the various projects suggests that critical incident methods could usefully be extended and enriched by some explicitation methods, to elicit the degree of evocation required for current and future studies of Internet use.Peer reviewe

The Bsharing economy^has promised more sustainable use of the world's finite resources, exploiting latency and promoting renting rather than ownership through digital networks. But do the digital brokers that use networks at global scale offer the same care for the planet as more traditional forms of sharing? We contrast the sustainability of managing idle capacity with the merits of collective local agency bred by caring-based sharing in a locality. Drawing on two studies of neighbourhood sharing in London and analysis of the meshing of local sharing initiatives, we ask how 'relational assets' form and build up over time in a neighbourhood, and how a platform of platforms might act as local socio-technical infrastructure to sustain alternative economies and different models of trust to those found in the scaling sharing economy. We close by proposing digital networks of support for local solidarity and resourcefulness, showing how CSCW knowledge on coordination and collaboration has a role in achieving these ends.