Beyond Everyday Life: Information Seeking Behavior in Deeply Meaningful and Profoundly Personal Contexts

摘要

Information seeking behavior research is traditionallyrnpartitioned into two realms of life experiences: 1) work orrnjob related; 2) everyday life information seekingrn(Savolainen, 2010). These two spheres encompass arnsignificant share if not majority of life’s time and effort atrnthe universal level. This paper examines informationrnseeking behavior within two specific contexts far outsidernthe realm of everyday life. Characterized as deeplyrnmeaningful and intensely personal with life-long impacts,rnthese contexts may not easily fit within existing informationrnseeking behavior framework. We use examples from livedrnexperiences in two deeply meaningful contexts to explorernthe scope of everyday life information seeking (ELIS),rnthrough women who relinquished a child for adoption andrnfrom sperm donor offspring who have tried to uncover thernidentity of their donor. Situations like these have profoundrnimpact on the focal person; perceived information needsrnand search strategies directly affect processes of decisionrnmaking, coping, and understanding of one’s self.rnContinuing the shift toward a more person centric approach,rnwe suggest information seeking behavior within somerncontexts should be explored as a third facet of lifernexperience: the deeply meaningful and profoundlyrnpersonal.