Information encountering re-encountered

Abstract

Citation: Erdelez, S. and Makri, S. ORCID: 0000-0002-5817-4893 (2020). Information encountering re-encountered: A conceptual re-examination of serendipity in the context of information acquisition. Journal of Documentation, This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/23843/ Link to published version: http://dx. AbstractPurpose: In order to understand the totality, diversity and richness of Human Information Behavior, increasing research attention has been paid to examining serendipity in the context of information acquisition. However, several issues have arisen as this research subfield has tried to find its feet; we have used different, inconsistent terminology to define this phenomenon (e.g., Information Encountering, Accidental Information Discovery, Incidental Information Acquisition), we have not clearly defined the scope of the phenomenon and we have not fully understood or fleshed-out its nature.Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, we propose information encountering (IE) as the preferred term for serendipity in the context of information acquisition. Findings:We present a re-conceptualized definition and scope of IE, a temporal model of IE and a refined model of IE that integrates the IE process with contextual factors and extends previous models of IE to include additional information acquisition activities pre-and post-encounter. Originality/value: By providing a more precise definition, clearer scope and richer theoretical description of the nature of IE, we hope to make the phenomenon of serendipity in the context of information acquisition more accessible, encouraging future research consistency and thereby promoting deeper, more unified theoretical development.

Aha! Librarians’ predisposition for information encountering and serendipity in the workplace

“…From this study, we can conclude two things: 1) there are people who are predisposed to encountering information by chance, and recognizing when they do sothose who can be termed 'super-encounterers' (as found in previous studies e.g., Erdelez, 1995;Erdelez & Makri, 2020); 2) these people are able to continue this trait/behavior in their organizational work setting as well. However, what still needs to be determined is what are the organizational implications of this transfer of IE to work situations.…”

“…Information encountering (IE), coined by Erdelez (1997), refers to serendipity in information behavior and finding information by chance or accident when you are not looking for it, looking for some other information, or not looking at all, often leading to an 'aha!' moment (Erdelez, 1997;Agarwal, 2015;Erdelez & Makri, 2020). Serendipity can help organizations be more creative and innovative (Cunha, 2010).…”

Capítulo 5. Los usos y las preferencias informativas de los públicos: evasión informativa y exposición incidental; itinerarios, participación y redes sociales; radio, audio y podcast; publicidad y bloqueo de anuncios (ad-blocking)

“…Esto se debe a la creciente percepción entre los usuarios de que «la información está ahí fuera» y si la noticia es suficientemente importante, ésta les encontrará a ellos, sin necesidad de buscarla (Toff y Nielsen, 2018;Bergström y Jervelycke Belfrage, 2018). La exposición incidental a noticias online puede considerarse como un tipo de serendipia informativa o recuperación fortuita de información (Erdelez, 2005).…”

Serendipity in the Field. Facilitating serendipity in design-driven field studies on ship bridges

“…However, the empirical underpinnings of how to identify a practical construct that could be useful for designers' needs are still poor (Makri, Blandford, Woods, Sharples, & Maxwell, 2014). Scholars exploring serendipity have attempted to capture the concept of serendipity in different ways, including serendipity models (Makri & Blandford, 2012), frameworks (Erdelez, 2005), drivers (McCay-Peet & Toms, 2017), experiences (Makri et al, 2014) or the nature of the phenomenon (Sun, Sharples, & Makri, 2011). Nevertheless, the body of work aiming to understand and conceptualise what contributes to serendipity is still in its infancy (McCay-Peet & Toms, 2017).…”