Information Seeking Behavior of Users

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Introduction

People need information for various purposes. To accomplish this, information is organized in way that it can be easily recalled and retrieving the information fulfills a user’s information need. An information need evolves from awareness something is missing. In order to create better systems to facilitate the user interaction, the reasons and methods users employ to seek out their information needs must be understood.

This briefing enables the reader to understand the definition and importance of information seeking behavior, assumptions and factors affecting information seeking behavior, and current models of information seeking behavior.

Definition

Users develop information needs that are a gap in the current knowledge of the user. Information needs have also been described as anomalous state of knowledge which must be refined (Belik, Oddy, & Brooks 1982) and an incompleteness in the user’s picture of the world (Taylor 1968, p.181) These needs are the root of the problem for information seeking behavior. The concept of a need is mental process which exists only in the mind of the user.

Information seeking is a fundamental human activity in the pattern of collecting information and satisfying the users’ information needs. Information seeking behavior (ISB) can be defined how a user proceeds in gathering information from the recognizing a lack of knowledge to fulfillment of understanding.

Seeking information is not a straight-forward action. While attempting to find information, users can be described as in the information search process (ISP). How they go about this search process can be called an information seeking strategy.

Purpose and implications

It is necessary to identify and un...

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