Information and higher things in life: Addressing the pleasurable and the profound in information science

Abstract

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...

A Modular Approach to Promote Creativity and Inspiration in Search

“…Our research expands on this by illustrating the diversity and complexity of such processes based on our micro-strategies. Our findings confirm that book explorations cover a range of purposes beyond well-defined information needs, as indicated in previous research on exploratory search and everyday life information seeking [8,22,35,39,53]. Specifically, we identify four search purposes that go beyond finding a known book: finding books within constrained criteria, discovery of new topics, knowledge and understanding, and a rewarding, inspirational exploration experience.…”

“…Professional search is conducted by domain experts and knowledge workers [1,6,40], while leisure search is characterized by personal goals such as pleasure or mastery [22,30,39,42]. A range of literature has investigated professional search behaviours and processes [1,2,6,9,11,14,17,25,26,31,32], e.g., bibliographic and reference search [1], search in digital libraries and on the internet [6,37,48], video search [55], and search in creative professions such as architecture [32].…”

“…Research has also considered search as part of creative processes [24,32,46] as well as a creative process in itself [28,29]. Furthermore, exploratory search [35,53] and search for pleasure (e.g., [22]) have been discussed, alongside design considerations for versatile interfaces that go beyond targeted search [21,46,32,51,53,56].…”

Introduction: Pleasurable Pursuits: Leisure and LIS Research

“…As well as associating information with leisure, researchers are examining leisure involvement from the perspective of pleasure. In the past LIS research has tended to focus on work and other serious concerns, such as health and family (e.g., Fulton, 2006;Kari and Hartel, 2007). Additionally, leisure crosses socioeconomic boundaries, such as age and culture.…”

Organs of the human brain, created by the human hand?

“…(Roberts, 1976, p.251) At a later date and from a concern with the influence of technology on consciousness, it was urged that information science should 'broaden its academic remit to include serious consideration of the 'information society' and how it interlocks with the total social situation' (Brown, 1987, p.113). More extensive conceptions of information science, both in social and historical scope, have since begun to develop within the journal and monographic literature of information science (Kari and Hartel, 2007).…”