Social media information behavior is increasingly critical, impacting not only individuals and groups but the beliefs, values, and direction of society and culture. The purpose of this study was to investigate how persistent observation by members of the online network influences social media users' information behavior, resulting in the phenomenon of social noise. Data analytics, including LDA, LSA, and clustering methodologies, were performed but could not provide information about the users' motivations. Using an ethnographic approach, participant observations and interviews were conducted with Facebook users as they interacted with informational posts, and the data collected was coded using a recursive method. Four key constructs of social noise were identified, and sub-codes were assigned within each construct as patterns emerged, providing insight into the different facets of social noise. Additionally, in most instances more than one of the four constructs were present, layering their influence on the information behavior. Based on these findings, social media users are not always interacting with information based on true personal beliefs or desires; instead, concerns surrounding their personal image, relationships with others, core beliefs, and online conflict are influencing their observable information behavior. The results of this exploratory study provide a basis to further develop the social noise model. Qualitative data provides insight into the thinking and motivations behind social media users' observable information behavior, specifically in the areas of cultural agency, relationship management, image curation, and conflict engagement.

An increasing number of libraries and information centers are using content management (CM) applications to develop, redesign, and maintain their websites. the purpose of this research was to provide understanding of attitudes of academic librarians about how their utilization of CM technology influences the information services they provide at the academic library’s website and to examine their perceptions of how using CM affects the creation of the web content. This research applied a qualitative research design (electronic survey and in-depth semi-structured interviews of academic subject librarians) with elements of a quantitative approach. the study discussed the concept of web authorship and supplied fundamentals for future theoretical research about authorship in web content development at academic libraries. the study provided an overview of CM at academic libraries and explored characteristics of dynamic content and semantic web applications at their websites. It discussed librarians’ opinions about issues of migration to the new content management system (CMS), factors affecting its efficient employment, and roles of librarians in web content management. Results of this study will serve to future research on management behavior of academic librarians authoring web content with the help of CM. the findings about the difficulties observed in the use of CMS and solutions, influence of training and learning, importance of cooperation and communication, adjustment of the CMS to the users’ needs, qualifications and skills needed in application of CM, distribution of responsibilities in the use of CMS, features of the CMS, and requirements to its functionality will have implications for academic and other libraries applying CM.

Introduction. Crises of faith are major cognitive gaps. This investigation discerns the function of information use in responding to crises of faith in addition to exploring the information-related context of the LDS church. Mormons are thought to have an especially difficult time disaffiliating from their religion yet depend heavily on information seeking and use for their decision to do so. Method. Narrative analysis of 34 episodes of the Mormon Stories podcast that delineate church members’ crises of faith. Episodes were transcribed and coded for analysis. Analysis. Qualitative analysis was performed on the data to uncover the applicability of Chatman’s theories of small worlds and information poverty to the LDS church as well as to reveal the sense-making process involved in a faith crisis. Results. It was possible to see elements of small worlds and information poverty in Mormonism. Information was found to be used in response to faith crises. Conclusion. The LDS church operates an extremely closed information environment which hinders members’ information seeking on church matters. Ex-Mormons use information in response to crisis by factising new knowledge in addition to deciding to disaffiliate from the faith or from religion in general. This is a two years Master’s thesis in Library and Information Science. / Introduktion. Individers tvivel om deras religiösa identitet är svåröverkomliga kognitiva klyftor. Den här uppsatsen utreder informationsanvändningens roll i bemötandet av tvivel. Ytterliga utforskas Mormonkyrkans informationskontext. Mormoner anses ha det speciellt svårt att lämna sin religion men är högst beroende av informationssökning- och användning inför deras beslut. Metod. Narrativ analys av 34 avsnitt av podcasten Mormon Stories som behandlar medlemmars tvivel om sin tro. Avsnitt transkriberades samt kodades inför analysen. Analys. Källmaterialet analyserades med kvalitativa metoder för att skönja om Chatmans teorier om small worlds och information poverty kan appliceras till Mormonkyrkan. Utöver detta analyserades tvivlens gång med Dervins teori om sense-making. Resultat. Aspekter av small worlds och information poverty kunde urskiljas inom Mormonkyrkan. Medlemmarna använde information för att både bemöta och lösa frågor kring tvivel. Slutsats. Mormonkyrkan företar sig en extremt konservativ syn på information vilket som hindrar medlemmars informationssökning. Före detta mormoner använder information för att hantera sin kris genom att skapa nya fakta om världen samt genom att ta beslutet att avsäga sig medlemskap eller religiositet i allmänhet.

In this doctoral dissertation, I broadly study the impact of information on economies from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Specifically, I study how strategic agents in a heterogeneous interacting network make decisions under incomplete information and how their actions are affected by the parameters that define the incompleteness of the information, with an emphasis on the social value of information. I then estimate the impact of information disclosure on the stock market by studying the specific example of the annual CCAR and DFAST bank stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve. This dissertation consists of two chapters. In the first chapter, I study a game of heterogeneous strategic interactions under incomplete information. I characterize the equilibrium actions and compare them to the benchmark constrained-efficient allocation. I parameterize the available information in terms of pairwise information commonality and accuracy and study how changing the said commonality and accuracy affects the social welfare. I also study how the structure of interactions between players affects the social value of information. I find that the extent of the inefficiency of the economy dictates the social value of information. I provide a complete characterization of the comparative statics of the social welfare with respect to commonality and accuracy for completely efficient economies. I find that when interactions are heterogenous, it is possible for social welfare to be non-monotonic with respect to information commonality, a behavior unseen in economies with homogeneous interactions. For inefficient economies, I provide sufficient conditions under which the social welfare exhibits monotonic behavior. In the second chapter, I study the predictability of the results of the annual Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test (DFAST) conducted by the Federal Reserve. I find that these results are highly predictable on year-to-year basis. I also find a high degree of predictability within the adverse scenario and the severely adverse scenario results within a given year. I find that that these predictable trends hold over time, from 2012 to 2020. I also try to ascertain the impact of the announcement of these results on the stock market and find no statistically significant effect. Lastly, I study the fixed effect impact of the disclosure events on the stock and options market. I find that while there are individual instances of significant impact, there is no significant impact across the years. I discuss potential implications of these patterns for the further development and application of stress testing.

The first part is an introduction to the history of the internet and its connection to the information society. The next part is a theoretical introduction of the information behavior and online information behavior. The following chapter is then about Czech internet user surveys with emphasis on kids' online behavior. The last part presents the specifics of online surveys.

Writing has a peculiar place within higher art education. Students in all three cycles are required to produce written thesis work alongside their artistic work in order to receive a diploma. However, there is no established style or methodological approach to the written thesis work and the information practices of art students are not well researched.  This thesis attempts to discover and explain the information practices of art students by studying master’s theses from two Swedish universities using a mixed method. A quantitative study provides data on the types and subject of the references of interest to art students. While a qualitative study of a smaller number of theses is conducted in order to better understand the reference practices in the context of the art field. Results are analysed using a theoretical framework composed of Richard Whitley’s theories on the social and intellectual organization of the scientific fields and Björn Hammarfelt’s writing on reference practices within the humanities.  Findings confirm the previously documented importance of non-art material and print books, but also highlight the importance of various digital sources to students. It was also discovered that art students are unlikely to strictly follow established references styles in their theses. Instead, reference practices are highly individualized and related to variables such as degree of specialization within the individual program and the stylistic construction theses.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Research has repeatedly shown that when groups whose members have varying expertise are combined to make a decision, they tend to discuss common information at a higher rate than unique information, hindering their ability to make the best decision. In response to these findings and the fact that organizations are increasingly using groups rather than individuals to make important decisions, a new intervention was developed based on past research to help groups make better decisions and discuss more unique information. The intervention was developed through three phases to determine which techniques were most powerful. The formal evaluation of the intervention was tested on a total of 228 undergraduate students (44 groups of four and 52 individuals). Groups were randomized into an experimental condition, receiving the intervention, or a control condition. Groups participated in a hidden profile business simulation acting as the top management team of a fictional Hollywood movie studio. Information was distributed so that there was common and unique information for each group. Groups given the intervention made significantly better decisions, shared more unique information, and performed significantly better than individuals. Unique information sharing was positively related to performance and the unique information given to one group member mediated the relationship between the condition and performance. In addition, this study revealed that within the inventory of unique information, different types of information may be more critical in reaching the best possible decision than others. Future research aims and implications are discussed.

Technological advances such as mobile technology, big data, and machine learning allow businesses to associate advertisements with consumer behaviors to maximize sales. Thus, information about consumer behavior became the central resource of businesses. Recent discussions and concerns about the emerging economic order centered around capturing consumers' data suggest that more research efforts be allocated to address new challenges in different domains, such as health, education, smart cities, and communication. Research on individual cybersecurity behavior is relatively new and requires more attention in academic research. This study has proposed and validated a cybersecurity behavioral model to enrich our understanding of users' behavioral intention (BI) to use cybersecurity controls. An online survey was used to collect information from University of North Texas (UNT) students to explore various technology usage determinants and specific computer security practices. The instrument measured the actual cybersecurity controls behaviors (ACB) by incorporating technical and social factors. Accordingly, the construct of ACB was created and validated to test how it relates to the participants' behavioral intentions. The findings confirm a large number of the proposed relationships. Additionally, the results show that the model explained a significant amount of variance in the proposed dependent variables BI and ACB. Within the context of information control behavior, the relationships between the study's constructs suggest adequate generalizability and robustness of the study's theoretical framework.

In this multivariate correlational study, the researcher examined the course culture of an online graduate course whose environment exhibited characteristics of a Community of practice (CoP). An online survey captured data used to explore the relationships among variables shown to describe a CoP in field environments and among student perceptions of their experience in the course culture. A canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and commonality analysis (CA) were conducted using five predictor variables and three criterion variables to evaluate the degree and direction of the relationships. The CCA revealed that the full model was significant, explaining approximately 74% of the variance among the two synthetic variates. Impact, faculty leadership, and connection were the largest contributors to the predictor variate. The criterion variate was primarily explained by value and perceived CoP, with exposure to the profession providing a smaller contribution. The CA confirmed these findings. Results from this study indicate that a CoP could be fostered in an online graduate course. The overall significance of the model indicates teachers can nurture an environment wherein graduate students will take the initiative to work with others to create and acquire knowledge that creates a sense of professional connection with each other and with the profession overall. The results of this study suggest further empirical research in implementing and assessing CoPs in online graduate courses is warranted.

This qualitative case study utilized interviews with community college students enrolled in at least one developmental course to describe how students accessed college information and used this information to solidify or adjust their educational aspirations. College information sources included relatives, friends, classmates, professors, advisors, and other college personnel. Bourdieu's cultural capital and Tinto's integration frameworks were used as guiding theories. This study utilized semi-structured interviews with 15 first-time, full-time, remedial students at a suburban community college in the northeastern United States. Interviews conducted in the fall and spring semesters explored students' perceptions of college information sources in order to gain insight into how students viewed information and its implications over time. This study identified four categories that broadly characterize students' information seeking and application behavior: students were classified as dreamers, drifters, passengers, or planners. Students classified as dreamers had difficulty aligning their career and educational goals. While college information was an issue for dreamers, they required more intensive guidance about their larger educational picture before information about intermediary steps would be meaningful for them. Drifters had informed educational goals, but possessed incomplete information or had difficulty applying strategies to reach these goals. Passengers and planners were well-informed and had specific strategies to accomplish their educational aspirations. Planners actively sought out information. Passengers benefited from a guide, such as a dedicated advisor or mentor, who helped them to interpret and apply the information. This study suggests that just presenting students with information is insufficient; to get students on surer footing, colleges should explore both decreasing the need for information in the first place and providing students assistance with applying information to their unique situations. / Educational Administration