Finding Problems Versus Solving Them: Inquiry in Information Seeking

Bruce, Bertram C.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/16557 Copy

Description

Title

Finding Problems Versus Solving Them: Inquiry in Information Seeking

Author(s)

Bruce, Bertram C.

Issue Date

2006-06

Keyword(s)

• Information seeking
• problem solving
• Inquiry
• Inquiry Page
• Ethnography of the University Initiative
• Information literacy
• information seeking behavior
• Learning science

Abstract

Finding information, especially accurate, timely, and relevant information, is increasingly important in nearly all human endeavors. Accordingly, numerous studies have examined the processes information seekers employ, as well as the strategies information providers use to meet their needs. Most models emphasize satisfaction or closure as the criterion for successful completion of an information search; thus the emphasis is on solving a specific problem. But often, information seeking is part of some larger process, which is invisible to the information provider and often unclear even to the seeker. Successful search may lead not so much to eliminating an existing, well-defined problem, as to delineating a new problem within a complex, ill-defined space. This paper examines information seeking from an inquiry, or problem-based perspective, and argues that the fields of information seeking and problem-based learning can benefit from closer dialogue.

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16557

Owning Collections