Sociospatial context and information behavior: Social exclusion and the influence of mobile information technology

Abstract

The concepts of place and the social have been put forward as significant intertwined explanatory contexts for information behavior. Much of the research that approaches information behavior from this perspective, however, has focused on static contexts or virtual contexts and has not addressed the influence of technology in physical spaces. In this article, we explore the influence of mobile technologies in two settings. The first is a site where a social space was augmented by the introduction of technology with the potential to provide information with the belief that information behavior, use, and services would evolve. The second is where intermediaries and information systems were designed and introduced into existing social spaces (an individual's home, community center, or street) with the explicit intention of providing information. The intention of both implementations was to reduce social exclusion. This exploratory research used activity theory as a theoretical lens to explore end‐user reaction. The findings of the research illustrate how information and service needs are now addressed through a combination of mobile information and communication technologies and human intermediary knowledge.

Re‐situating information poverty: Information marginalization and parents of individuals with disabilities

“…Trust among parents and professionals was often low. When participants mistrusted the intentions or priorities of their service providers, they often did not trust the information itself, rendering it “theoretically close, but inaccessible in practice” (Mervyn & Allen, , p. 1128).…”

The effects of distraction on task completion scores in a natural environment test setting

“…Whereas library and information science scholars have historically played a marginal role in the field of distraction studies, a larger quantity of research on users' contexts exists. Mervyn and Allen () describe it “as a persistent and thorny problem in the field of information behavior” (p. 1125). Calls for context research have increased in recent years, such as Snow et al.…”

“…In recent years, several studies focused more on mobile technologies and its influence on information behavior in natural environments. Sun, Sharples, and Makri () conducted a mobile diary study to capture serendipity in users' natural habitats to examine the role of context in the way people experience serendipity and Mervyn and Allen () investigated information behavior within the context of mobile technology in sociospatial environments. An important work for this research is the dissertation by Kelly (, ), who used a naturalistic approach to collect data “about information seeking context and behavior in natural information seeking environments [in order] to identify which aspects of context should be considered when studying information seeking” (Kelly, , p. 1730).…”

Information sharing and trust during major incidents: Findings from the oil industry

“…Between 2007 and 2010 a study was conducted to illuminate information practices in responding to major disasters on oil rigs and therefore enable more effective responses to such incidents (e.g., oil releases or fires). It was conducted within the context of a larger research program into information practices in organizational contexts undertaken by the AIMTech Research Group at the University of Leeds (Allen, ; Allen, Karanasios, & Slavova, ; Mervyn & Allen, ). The main focus of this particular study was on the crucial (Kowalski‐Trakofler, Vaught, Brnich, & Jansky, ) initial response to the incident.…”