Information is documented as data value in planning, decision making and evaluation of any programme, therefore any informed decision would be based on the kind of information that the decision maker has. Information seeking behaviour can be described as an individual’s manner of gathering and sourcing information for personal use, knowledge update and development. In the light of this Information, this study examined the information seeking behaviour of postgraduate students at the University of Fort Hare and Rhodes University. The study went further to understand the impact the introduction of new technology has on postgraduate students’ information seeking behaviour. The study was limited to postgraduate students in the faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education at the University of Fort Hare and Rhodes University. These disciplines were selected because of Whitemire (2002:637)’s opinion that students studying humanities, social sciences and education carry out more information seeking activities than students studying hard sciences such as Mathematics and other Natural Sciences. The aim of the study was to establish how postgraduate students seek and gather information for academic use. The objectives of the study were as follows: to find out information sources that postgraduate students value the most and determine where they find such resources; to identify the activities postgraduate students engage in when seeking for information; to establish the factors which influence postgraduate students information seeking behaviour and to determine methods that postgraduate students use to obtain relevant information. Both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were employed in a survey. The main research instrument was a questionnaire supported by focus groups and face to face interviews. The results showed that postgraduate students utilised different sources of information when seeking information for academic use. Internet usage however was established as the information source that postgraduate students valued and relied on most. Few respondents indicated that they still visited the library and browsed the shelves and found information that met their needs in books. Reports on consulting librarians for help were low. Although the study was not on information seeking behaviour and age, the researcher noticed that mature students did not make use of information technologies effectively and also called themselves “Born Before Technology” generation. The study also established that postgraduate student’s preferred or conveniently accessed Internet and other electronic sources of information in the libraries, even though the two Universities have postgraduate computer laboratories and students could also access electronic sources of information at their residences through wireless connection. The researcher also noted that postgraduate students relied more on lecturers and supervisors for the choice of information sources, rather than independently searching to find the most appropriate documents to use. Postgraduate students used keywords to obtain relevant information when searching electronic sources. The respondents strongly agreed that they felt frustrated, confused, disappointed and demotivated if they did not find relevant information for their searches. This validates Kuhlthau (1991)’s Information Seeking Process model (ISP) as it not only focuses on the information seeking process, but also on emotions, thoughts and expressions of the user when searching information. The study recommends the following: optional computer literacy programmes for postgraduate students, extended library orientation for postgraduate students, mentorship programmes, extended information literacy programmes, appointment of research and subject librarians as well as more faculty librarians and improvement in library marketing.

Visual process models are meant to facilitate comprehension of business processes. However, in practice, process models can be difficult to understand. The main goal of this article is to clarify the sources of cognitive effort in comprehending process models. The article undertakes a comprehensive descriptive review of empirical and theoretical work in order to categorize and summarize systematically existing findings on the factors that influence comprehension of visual process models. Methodologically, the article builds on a review of forty empirical studies that measure objective comprehension of process models, seven studies that measure subjective comprehension and user preferences, and thirty-two articles that discuss the factors that influence the comprehension of process models. The article provides information systems researchers with an overview of the empirical state of the art of process model comprehension and provides recommendations for new research questions to be addressed and methods to be used in future experiments.

The test scores of spatial ability for women lag behind those of men in many spatial tests. On the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), a significant gender gap has existed for over 20 years and continues to exist. High spatial ability has been linked to efficiencies in typical computing tasks including Web and database searching, text editing, and computer programming. The relationships between the components of visuospatial ability and performance are complex. However, research strongly indicates that a connection exists, and further research is necessary to determine the interactions between the variables of environment, genetics, and spatial training. Spatial experience can enhance spatial skills. However, to what extent spatial skills can be enhanced in female adolescents through a spatial curriculum to reduce the gap in scores has not been fully researched, nor has the impact of spatial skill on information seeking. This research project investigated spatial skill in adolescent females by examining (1) the extent to which the intervention of teaching a spatial curriculum in a single-sex setting could improve mental rotation test scores, and (2) the impact of spatial skills on an information seeking task in a single-sex setting. The extent to which a spatial visualization curriculum can improve MRT scores from a pretest to a posttest for girls was the first factor examined using a spatial visualization curriculum. The information seeking task used 4 tasks from a doctoral study and utilized the scholarly journal database JSTOR® (JSTOR, Ann Arbor, MI, www.jstor.org).

Orientador: Helen de Castro Silva Casarin / Resumo: Estuda o comportamento informacional de adolescentes em seu cotidiano e identifica como eles buscam, acessam, usam e compartilham informação, proveniente ou não da Internet. Analisa a veracidade da hipótese de que esta geração é dependente da conectividade providenciada pela Internet tem fundamento. Utiliza como ferramenta metodológica survey online, com amostragem por snowball sampling para recrutamento de participantes, e uso da técnica do incidente crítico. Os resultados demonstram que os adolescentes preferem buscar informação na Internet, e que a maioria deles tem conhecimento de técnicas apropriadas para recuperar informação, sendo que a forma mais utilizada de acesso à Internet foi o computador, com o telefone celular em seguida. Entende que os adolescentes usam informação em seu cotidiano para resolver lacunas pontuais em seu conhecimento, mas não como parte de um processo contínuo de aperfeiçoamento deste, ou para tomada de decisões. O tema da maior parte das buscas se refere ao consumo cultural. Não confirma a hipótese de que os adolescentes utilizam significativamente outras pessoas como fonte de informação. Encontra que adolescentes têm em sua maioria opiniões bastante positivas sobre bibliotecas, apesar de muitos as considerarem obsoletas ou ultrapassadas perante a existência da Internet e dos meios de acesso digitais à informação. Confirma que os adolescentes não utilizam suficientemente a Internet como fonte de informação em Educação Sexual, possivelmente preju... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The everyday life information behaviour of teenagers is studied, and it is identified how they seek, access, use and share information, either from the Internet or not. The idea that this generation relies on the connectivity provided by the Internet to seek information is tested to assess to what extent this is well-founded. The methodological approach combines the use of an online survey, using snowball sampling for participant recruitment and the critical incident technique. The study finds that teenagers do, indeed, prefer to seek information on the Internet, and that most of them have knowledge of appropriate information retrieval techniques, with computers being the most commonly used mode of access to the Internet, followed by smartphones. The study understands that teenagers use information in their everyday lives to address specific gaps in their knowledge, but not as part of a continuous process of building knowledge, or for decision making. It finds that the majority of searches regards cultural consumption. The hypothesis that teenagers significantly use other people as information sources was not confirmed. It was found that teenagers have mostly very positive opinions about libraries, although many think of them as obsolete or outdated given the existence of the Internet and the digital means of access to information. The study confirms that teenagers do not use the Internet enough as a Sexual Education information source, possibly hindering efforts in this dire... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Helen de Castro Silva Casarin / Banca: Virgínia Bentes Pinto / Banca: Ariadne Chloe Mary Furnival / Resumo: A busca por informações voltadas para a saúde, quer seja a respeito de tratamentos de saúde mais sofisticados, ou em relação a novos medicamentos ou até mesmo sobre novos problemas de saúde despertam o interesse de profissionais, pacientes e seus familiares e gestores. Além de informações necessárias para a condução das terapias, os profissionais podem ser questionados por pais e responsáveis pelos pacientes que podem trazer dúvidas ou convicções errôneas sobre a situação do paciente e, portanto, o profissional deve estar preparado para responder essas questões. A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo de caso no Centro de Estudados da Educação e da Saúde da UNESP. Buscou-se identificar as o comportamento de busca de informação dos membros da equipe multiprofissional e dos estagiários do Centro de Estudos da Educação e da Saúde (CEES) da UNESP, em suas ações de cuidados do paciente e nas orientações de seus familiares e/ou acompanhantes. A coleta de dados foi realizada através de aplicação de questionário aos estagiários e profissionais que atuam nesta instituição, para a caracterização do comportamento de busca dos sujeitos e entrevista com secretária da instituição para verificação do fluxo do encaminhamento dos pacientes e organização dos atendimentos. Participaram da pesquisa 32 sujeitos, sendo 26 estagiários e seis profissionais. Observou-se que ambos os grupos apresentam um comportamento informacional semelhante. Em relação às necessidades informacionais dos membros da... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present research tried to identify which are the features related to the information search behavior of health multi professional staff and of the trainees from Education and Health Study Center of UNESP, in their care actions of the patient and in their families/ caregivers' instructions. The search for information related to health, either about more sophisticated health treatments or even about new medications or even so about new health problems interest professionals, patients and their families and managers. Besides the necessary information to the therapies conduction, several times the professionals can be questioned by the parents and responsible for patients who can bring doubts or mistakes about the patients' situation and therefore the professional might be prepared to answer those questions. The present research consists in a study of a case at the Education and Health Study Center of UNESP. The data collection was carried out though a questionnaire for the trainees and professionals who act out at this institution, interview with secretary to verify the flow of the patients and organization in serving them. 32 subjects participated of the research, being 26 trainees and six professionals. It was observed that both groups present a similar informational behavior. In relation to the informational necessities of the members of the multi professional staff, it was identified the necessity of guiding parents about some kind of conduct referring to some type of si... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Functional ontology construction (FOC) is an approach for modeling the relationships between a user and the informing environment by means of analysis of the user's behavior and the elements of the environment that have behavioral function. The FOC approach is an application of behavior analytic techniques and concepts to problems within information science. The FOC approach is both an alternative and a compliment to the cognitive viewpoint commonly found in models of behavior in information science. The basis for the synthesis of behavior analysis and information science is a shared tradition of pragmatism between the fields. The application of behavior analytic concepts brings with it the notion of selection by consequence. Selection is examined on the biological, behavioral, and cultural levels. Two perspicuous examples of the application of the FOC modeling approach are included. The first example looks at the document functioning as a reinforcer in a human operant experimental setting. The second example is an examination of the verbal behavior of expert film analyst, Raymond Bellour, the structure of a film he analyzed, and the elements of the film's structure that had behavioral function for Bellour. The FOC approach is examined within the ontological space of information science.

Makerspaces are a popular, new concept being implemented in public, academic, and school libraries, and as stand-alone spaces. The literature reflects the newness of the topic with a limited number of articles and studies and even less about the users of makerspaces themselves. This study explored information sharing behaviors in the Dallas Makerspace as an informal learning environment and described their preferred method of information transfer from one member to another. It employed a mixed methods methodology using surveys, interviews and observations. The study identified how the rules and policies in place at the makerspace influence the information seeking process and how the Dallas Makerspace exchanges information effectively. Dallas Makerspace is one of the largest non-profit work groups in its size, and this research study answers how information is exchanged in an informal environment.

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This exploratory research is the first one among occupational information seeking behavior studies that focuses on information seeking behaviors of the crime scene investigators. The data used in this dissertation were gathered via a self-administrated survey instrument from 29 cities in Turkey. Findings obtained from the data analyses show that there is a strongly positive relationship between the experience of the crime scene investigators and the use of personal knowledge and experience as a primary information source (experience is operationalized with age, service years in policing, and service years in crime scene investigation units). The findings also suggest that increasing of the level of education is negatively related to relying on immediate colleagues as an information source among the crime scene investigators. These findings are consistent with related literature and theory. The data analysis shows that crime scene investigators work in cities with higher population rates have more complaint scores than those who work in cities with lower population rates across Turkey. The findings from the data analysis may suggest valuable implications to defeat the barriers between crime scene investigators and information sources. The researcher drew a proposed theoretical framework of an information behavior concept in the context of crime scene investigation that may help those who are interested in the phenomenon and its applications to other contexts.

Although dominant effects of tasks on individuals' information-seeking behavior is accepted by many scholars, a limited number of studies has been conducted to reveal the nature of the relationship between tasks and information-seeking behavior. In their studies, some earlier researchers categorized tasks according to their complexity while others did the same according to the specifications of tasks. Two of the groundbreaking researchers in this area are Katriina Byström and Kalervo Järvelin who contributed to the understanding of the relationship between task complexity and information-seeking behavior. However, their findings also need empirical support for theory growth. In response to this need, this study attempts to test Byström and Järvelin's findings through a research using different research methods and applied in a police work environment. Other than providing empirical support for theory growth, this research is also expected to contribute to the understudied area of police information-seeking behavior. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the participants who came from traffic, homicide, and anti-terrorism divisions of Ankara, Eskisehir, and Kirikkale Police Departments in Turkey. The participants identified terrorism cases as the most complex cases to solve, followed by homicide and traffic accident cases. Differences in the information-seeking behavior of three groups of police officers were examined through qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Oneway ANOVA technique and post hoc comparisons were used to analyze the quantitative data. In addition to shedding light on information-seeking behavior of police officers investigating related cases in Turkey, the results provided support for Byström and Järvelin's findings. For instance, the officers investigating more complex tasks used significantly more information sources than the others, while the use of external information sources was significantly higher in more complex cases.