Search results
1 – 10 of 48Sarah Ahmed A. Albassam and Ian Ruthven
The purpose of this paper is to understand how typical users of YouTube judge the relevance of videos in leisure contexts; what are the reasons users give when judging video…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how typical users of YouTube judge the relevance of videos in leisure contexts; what are the reasons users give when judging video material as relevant or not relevant?
Design/methodology/approach
A naturalistic diary was performed in which 30 participants completed diaries providing details on their video relevance criteria. The analysis revealed 28 relevance criteria grouped into eight categories.
Findings
In total, 28 relevance criteria were identified through the analyses of the diaries’ content and they were grouped into eight categories. The findings revealed that criteria related to the content of the video are the most dominant group of criteria with topicality being the most dominant criterion. There is a considerable overlap between leisure relevance criteria and previous relevance criteria studies, but the importance of these criteria varies among different contexts. New criteria, e.g. habit emerged from the data which tend to be more related to leisure contexts.
Research limitations/implications
The decision to follow a naturalistic approach reduced the level of control on the study. A further limitation can be found in the participants’ sample used in this study, all the participants of the main study were university or college students.
Practical implications
This study attempted to enrich the current literature by investigating users’ video relevance criteria in leisure contexts. This investigation might have implications on the design of video search systems.
Originality/value
Previous relevance criteria studies focussed on work contexts and the information judged was mainly in text format. This paper outlines new insights by investigating video relevance criteria in leisure context.
Details
Keywords
More than eight in ten people worldwide identify with a religious group. In addition, people often engage with spiritual and religious content despite having no formal beliefs or…
Abstract
Purpose
More than eight in ten people worldwide identify with a religious group. In addition, people often engage with spiritual and religious content despite having no formal beliefs or affiliations. Spirituality remains a prominent feature of Western and Westernised information-based societies and cultures; however, people’s everyday interactions with spiritual and religious information have received disproportionate attention in information and library science research. Accordingly, this paper aims to understand how scholars have explored religion and spirituality in information research and identify current and emerging trends in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses 115 peer-reviewed articles, 44 book chapters, 24 theses and 17 unrefereed papers published between 1990 and 2022 to present a narrative review of how scholars have explored spirituality and religion in information research. The reviewed literature is first organised into spirituality-related and religion-related articles and thereafter analysed in Internet studies, information behaviour studies and galleries, libraries, archives and museums-related research groups.
Findings
Our analysis indicates scholars in Internet studies have researched both established and alternative religious interactions, and emerging research agendas seek to explore intersections between traditional religious authority and modern Internet-facilitated engagements. Information behaviour scholars have examined interactions in Christianity and Islam, focused primarily on Western contexts and conventional interactions, with emerging research aiming to explore diverse contextual and methodological combinations. Finally, GLAM researchers have investigated the practicality, suitability, and appropriateness of spirituality and religion-related service provisions; however, a clear research agenda is currently lacking in spirituality and religion information research more broadly.
Originality/value
This paper is the first review of the spirituality and religion-related information research spanning Internet studies, information behaviour studies and galleries, libraries, archives and museums research domains.
Details
Keywords
Mohamed Amine Belabbes, Ian Ruthven, Yashar Moshfeghi and Diane Rasmussen Pennington
With the shift to an information-based society and to the de-centralisation of information, information overload has attracted a growing interest in the computer and information…
Abstract
Purpose
With the shift to an information-based society and to the de-centralisation of information, information overload has attracted a growing interest in the computer and information science research communities. However, there is no clear understanding of the meaning of the term, and while there have been many proposed definitions, there is no consensus. The goal of this work was to define the concept of “information overload”. In order to do so, a concept analysis using Rodgers' approach was performed.
Design/methodology/approach
A concept analysis using Rodgers' approach based on a corpus of documents published between 2010 and September 2020 was conducted. One surrogate for “information overload”, which is “cognitive overload” was identified. The corpus of documents consisted of 151 documents for information overload and ten for cognitive overload. All documents were from the fields of computer science and information science, and were retrieved from three databases: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library, SCOPUS and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA).
Findings
The themes identified from the authors’ concept analysis allowed us to extract the triggers, manifestations and consequences of information overload. They found triggers related to information characteristics, information need, the working environment, the cognitive abilities of individuals and the information environment. In terms of manifestations, they found that information overload manifests itself both emotionally and cognitively. The consequences of information overload were both internal and external. These findings allowed them to provide a definition of information overload.
Originality/value
Through the authors’ concept analysis, they were able to clarify the components of information overload and provide a definition of the concept.
Details
Keywords
Keith Munro, Ian Ruthven and Perla Innocenti
This paper investigates the information behaviour of creative DJs, a group previously not considered from the perspective of information studies. The practice of DJing is a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the information behaviour of creative DJs, a group previously not considered from the perspective of information studies. The practice of DJing is a musically creative process, where a performance can draw on a vast range of music to create a unique listening and dancing experience. The authors study what are the information behaviour processes involved in creative DJing and what roles embodied information play in DJing practice.
Design/methodology/approach
From a set of semi-structured interviews with 12 experienced DJs in Scotland, UK, that were subjected to inductive thematic analysis, the authors present a model of how DJs undergo the process of planning, performing and evaluating a DJ performance.
Findings
From this study, a model of creative DJs’ information behaviour is presented. This three-stage model describes the information behaviours and critical factors that influence DJs’ planning, decision-making and verification during the pre-performance, performance and post-performance stages, with particular emphasis on DJs’ performances as a rich site of embodied information interactions.
Originality/value
This research provides insight into a new activity in information behaviour, particularly in the use of embodied information, and presents a model for the information behaviour of creative DJs. This opens the way for future studies to consider minorities within the activity, the audience as opposed to the performer, as well as other creative activities where physicality and performance are central.
Details
Keywords
Discussions in contemporary spirituality frequently highlight a phenomenon of spiritual seeking; moreover, people often describe their spiritual journeys in terms of a search…
Abstract
Purpose
Discussions in contemporary spirituality frequently highlight a phenomenon of spiritual seeking; moreover, people often describe their spiritual journeys in terms of a search. This paper takes a closer look at this metaphor by presenting a study that analysed spiritual seeking and its informational features in contemporary non-institutionalised settings.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with thirteen spiritual teachers and speakers who were asked questions about spiritual seeking in contemporary non-institutionalised spirituality.
Findings
The authors' participants explained that contemporary spiritual seekers sought spiritual information as a result of affective, developmental and metaphysical concerns. Moreover, their analysis indicated that spiritual information-seeking behaviour incorporated practices such as prayer, yoga and meditation, and contemporary spiritual information interactions were facilitated through spiritual retreats, meditation classes, yoga classes and online social platforms.
Research limitations/implications
Since the authors focused on spiritual seeking in contemporary non-institutionalised settings, their findings cannot exhaustively represent all spiritual pursuits in contemporary society. Their study (1) identifies the informational features of contemporary spiritual seeking, (2) explains spiritual seeking as an activity that may theoretically reside within a broader framework of profound information interactions and (3) helps theorise the concept of qualitative profundity in information science research.
Originality/value
This study provides an intuitive contextual approach for undertaking information research in under-explored domains such as contemplation and spirituality.
Details
Keywords
Juan-Antonio Martinez-Comeche and Ian Ruthven
The aim of this exploratory study is to analyze if the most used factors related to the engaging interaction and long-term engagement with online applications can be applied to…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this exploratory study is to analyze if the most used factors related to the engaging interaction and long-term engagement with online applications can be applied to WhatsApp in a context of everyday life in Madrid and to investigate what parameters would best describe the engagement with WhatsApp in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative method was employed to explore the cognitive, emotional and behavioral factors that mainly comprise the experience of a user with an online application, both at a point in time and over time. Data from 30 semi-structured interviews and questionnaires from six group chats were collected and analyzed. The sample was made up of people aged from 13 to 58 years old.
Findings
Findings suggest that the factors used in this study to evaluate long-term engagement and engaging interactions with WhatsApp are relevant, except for cognitive factors related to engaging interactions, indicating that the cognitive point of view is more difficult to apply in the engaging interaction analysis. Other attributes related to information retrieval are suggested, best suited to the informative use of this tool.
Originality/value
Long-term engagement studies are scarcer concerning Mobile Instant Messaging applications. Regarding engagement interaction, its analysis focusing on WhatsApp has not been approached. This study suggests the convenience of using parameters related to information to evaluate the engaging interaction, according to the informative use of the application.
Details
Keywords
Amy Madden, Ian Ruthven and David McMenemy
The video-sharing website YouTube encourages interaction between its users via the provision of a user comments facility. This was originally envisaged as a way for viewers to…
Abstract
Purpose
The video-sharing website YouTube encourages interaction between its users via the provision of a user comments facility. This was originally envisaged as a way for viewers to provide information about and reactions to videos, but is employed for other communicative purposes including sharing ideas, paying tributes, social networking, and question answering. This study seeks to examine and categorise the types of comments created by YouTube users to highlight the various ways in which this interactive feature has been employed as a means of communication and self-expression.
Design/methodology/approach
By conducting a content analysis of 66,637 user comments on YouTube videos the authors created a classification schema which may be used to categorise the types of comments users leave.
Findings
The schema reveals ten broad categories, and 58 subcategories which reflect the wide-ranging use of the YouTube comments facility.
Research limitations/implications
As YouTube continues to evolve, new types of comments that do not appear in the scheme outlined will appear. However, this schema will provide an initial structure upon which other investigations can build when analysing the ongoing use of the YouTube comments feature as a communication device.
Practical implications
This scheme may be used for researchers in a variety of disciplines who are interested in using user-generated content. The scheme will aid in the description and mining of this content and provides a way of structuring this content into categories representing user intent.
Social implications
This study highlights the variety of purposes to which the user commenting facility of YouTube is employed. These include purposes such as reminiscence, grieving, giving advice and communication.
Originality/value
This is the first detailed, content-based analysis of the types of comments created by YouTube users. The classification scheme facilitates the analysis of these comments for a variety of purposes, including marketing, communication studies and studies of information seeking.
Details
Keywords