Collaborative information seeking and expertise seeking: different discourses about similar issues

Abstract

Purpose-This study compares and contrasts research on collaborative information seeking (CIS) and expertise seeking (EXS) to identify focal themes, blind spots, and possibilities for cross-fertilization. Design/methodology/approach-Existing research was reviewed. The review consisted of a content analysis of 70 (CIS) and 72 (EXS) studies with respect to the context, scope, process, and setting of CIS and EXS, supplemented with a bibliometric analysis of the references in the reviewed studies. Findings-In CIS the context is a group of actors collaborating on a shared task. In EXS the information need is held by an individual but resolved by consulting other people. While the typical scope of EXS studies is source selection, CIS studies mostly concern the consultation of the sources and the use of the obtained information. CIS and EXS studies also attend differentially to the information-seeking process. Only 4% of the references in the reviewed studies are cited in both CIS and EXS research. We conclude that, at present, CIS and EXS are different discourses about similar issues. Research limitations/implications-Increased interaction between CIS and EXS will advance research in both areas and prevent duplication of effort. Topics for future research are identified. It should be noted that the findings are limited to the 142 studies reviewed. Originality/value-By analyzing CIS in the context of EXS, and vice versa, this study provides a fresh look at the information-seeking research that attends to collaboration.

A review of technologies for collaborative online information seeking: On the contribution of collaborative argumentation

“…In particular, research on seeking online information within social networks allows for assumptions about seekers’ active seeking strategies concerning how they seek information individually and collaboratively (e.g., Ramirez and Walther 2015 ; Zhao and Zhang 2017 ). Thus, this review’s integration of research on computer-supported collaborative learning and trust in individual information seeking may contribute to the understanding of general information seeking, as it may address transitions between the elements of seeking information individually and collaboratively (Hertzum 2017 ).…”

Subject structure of the research area on collaborative information behaviour

“…A separate group of publications referring to CIB as a research area consists of relatively sparse, more or less systematic analyses of the literature concerning only selected activities or aspects of CIB. An example is the analysis of the literature on collaborative information seeking in relation to the methodology used (Hertzum and Hansen, 2019) or another one discussing the comparison of collaborative information seeking with expertise seeking (Hertzum, 2017). Yet another example is an article by Foster (2006) focussed on collaborative information seeking and retrieval, and restricted to a time span of 2000-2004.…”

Who you gonna call? seeking information and expertise for decision making in local government

“…For CIS research to be more generalizable and to allow the better analysis of reasons, experiences and outcomes desired by Hertzum and Hansen, it needs to take more account of how collaboration, in information activities as in many others, is part of every‐day life, and of the use of other people as information sources. Perhaps what is missing in CIS is, as Hertzum argues, the concerns with which expertise seeking research generally deals (Hertzum, ).…”

“…However, expertise seeking is generally characterized as a directed and purposive information activity enacted by an individual. It will be a richer field if it takes greater account of the social nature of the modern organization and, as Hertzum suggests, deals with the collaborative elements in expertise seeking and the information‐generating interplay between seeker and source (Hertzum, ).…”

“…How people work together in organizations to find information is consequently of much interest to information researchers. Two research areas devoted to information seeking in a group setting are collaborative information seeking (CIS) and expertise seeking (Hertzum, ). This paper takes a new approach to analyze the information seeking practices of local government decision makers with specific reference to these areas of research.…”