The article discusses lower and higher contexts for information phenomena, and argues that there is clearly a need for a more concerted research effort in the latter sphere. The discipline of information science has traditionally favored lower contexts-like everyday life and problem solving-that are neutral or even negative by nature. In contrast, the neglected higher things in life are pleasurable or profound phenomena, experiences, or activities that transcend the daily grind. A literature sample of the scarce information research related to higher things indicates that beyond the spotlight of mainstream research, information processes often seem different and there may be significant dimensions of information phenomena that have been overlooked. Therefore, the article outlines a contextual research area in information studies to address higher things from the perspective of information. It is concluded that optimal functioning requires bringing the lower and higher sides to balance in information science. This would offer a rare chance to promote holism and interdisciplinarity in the field, and to make the discipline more relevant to the human being. IntroductionIt is now commonly agreed upon that information activities are inextricably interwoven with context. In this article, we adopt Talja and colleagues ' (1999) general definition according to which context can be seen as any background for information phenomena. Because context is such a pivotal factor, consciously selecting and theorizing about context should be one of information scholars' top concerns. This is a critical (in both senses of the word) but constructive writing about research areas in information science, somewhat in the vein of Dervin and Nilan's (1986) seminal piece, which focused on the tug-of-war between the system and individual perspectives in information seeking research, and advocated the users' point of view. In turn, this article discusses lower and higher contexts in information studies or information science, as our discipline is variously called (cf. Zhang, 1988), and argues that a programmatic research effort concerning the higher sphere is sorely needed.We believe that the time is now ripe for information science to address big questions like, "What makes life worth living?" (see Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 5). To this end, this article: displays the deficiency of the lower slant, examines what higher things in life are, why they should be studied, what earlier information studies have found out about them, as well as how they can be conceptualized and incorporated into analysis in information research. Basically, the article aims at theoretical development by using earlier literature and creative thinking. Information behavior and context are the areas to which the current article relates most, but it also has a lot to say to the whole field of information studies. Lower and Higher Things Lower ThingsThe following account sounds so familiar from at least the angle of information seeking research as to be almost u...

PurposeThis paper aims to describe the way participants in the hobby of gourmet cooking in the USA manage culinary information in their homes.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilizes domain analysis and serious leisure as a conceptual framework and employs an ethnographic approach. In total 20 gourmet cooks in the USA were interviewed at home and then their culinary information collections were documented through a guided tour and photographic inventory. The resulting ethnographic record was analyzed using grounded theory and NVivo software.FindingsThe findings introduce the personal culinary library (PCL): a constellation of cooking‐related information resources and information structures in the home of the gourmet cook, and an associated set of upkeep activities that increase with the collection's size. PCLs are shown to vary in content, scale, distribution in space, and their role in the hobby. The personal libraries are characterized as small, medium or large and case studies of each extreme are presented. Larger PCLs are cast as a bibliographic pyramid distributed throughout the home in the form of a mother lode, zone, recipe collection, and binder.Practical implicationsInsights are provided into three areas: scientific ethnography as a methodology; a theory of documents in the hobby; and the changing role of information professionals given the increasing prevalence of home‐based information collections.Originality/valueThis project provides an original conceptual framework and research method for the study of information in personal spaces such as the home, and describes information phenomena in a popular, serious leisure, hobby setting.

What every body knows: Embodied information in serious leisure AbstractPurpose: The aim of this conceptual paper is to reconsider the role of the body in information in serious leisure by reviewing the potential to theorise the role of the body in information behaviour within serious leisure by drawing on practice theory, phenomenology, sensory studies and embodied cognitionexisting work in information behaviour that theorises the role of the body, and by drawing selectively on literature from beyond information studies to extend our understanding.Approach: After finding a lack of attention to the body in most influential works on information behaviour, the paper identifies two a number of important authors who do offer an initial theorisations. It then explores what can be learnt by examining some studies of embodied information in the hobbies of running, music, and the liberal arts, largely frompublished outside the discipline. Findings:Auto-ethnographic studies influenced by phenomenology show that embodied information is central to the hobby of running, both through the diverse sensory information the runner uses and through the dissemination of information by the body as a sign. Studies of music drawing on the theory of embodied cognition, similarly suggest that it is a key part of amateur music information behaviour. Even when considering the liberal arts hobby the core activity, reading, is itself in has been shown to be in significant ways embodied. The examples reveal how it is not only in more obviously embodied leisure activities such as sports, in which the body must be considered. Research implications:There is a significant gap in the theorisation of information behaviour around the role of the body Embodied information refers to how we receive information from the senses and the way the body is a sign that can be read by others. To fully understand this more empirical and theoretical work is needed to reconcile influencesights from practice theory, phenomenology, embodied cognition and sensory studies.Originality/value: The paper demonstrates how and why the body has been neglected in information behaviour research, reviews current work and identifies perspectives from other disciplines that can begin to fill theis gap.

There are untold conceptions of information in information science, and yet the nature of information remains obscure and contested. This article contributes something new to the conversation as the first arts-informed, visual, empirical study of information utilizing the drawand-write technique. To approach the concept of information afresh, graduate students at a North American iSchool were asked to respond to the question "What is information?" by drawing on a 4-by 4-inch piece of paper, called an iSquare. One hundred thirty-seven iSquares were produced and then analyzed using compositional interpretation combined with a theoretical framework of graphic representations. The findings indicate how students visualize information, what was drawn, and associations between the iSquares and prior renderings of information based on words. In the iSquares, information appears most often as pictures of people, artifacts, landscapes, and patterns. There are also many link diagrams, grouping diagrams, symbols, and written text, each with distinct qualities. Methodological reflections address the relationship between visual and textual data, and the sample for the study is critiqued. A discussion presents new directions for theory and research on information, namely, the iSquares as a thinking tool, visual stories of information, and the contradictions of information. Ideas are also provided on the use of arts-informed, visual methods and the draw-and-write technique in the classroom.

This methods-oriented paper introduces visual methods and specifically photography to study immediate information space (Lee, 2003); that is, information-rich settings such as offices or homes. It draws upon the authors' firsthand ethnographic field experiences, a review of relevant theoretical and methodological literature, and an analysis of cases within information studies that have made use of visual and photographic techniques. To begin, the traditions of visual research within anthropology and sociology are traced and major epistemological, methodological, and disciplinary debates associated with visual scholarship are presented. Then, investigations of immediate information space that utilize photography are analyzed, including examples from the areas of personal information management, health informatics, information behavior, and computer-supported cooperative work. Moreover, a section entitled "Applying Photographic Techniques. . ." supplies guidelines for employing photography in a research design, as well as a question-based research framework and tips for photographing information phenomena.