NUNES, Jefferson Veras; ALMEIDA JÚNIOR, Oswaldo Francisco de. Vivência em rede: uma etnografia das práticas sociais de informação dos usuários de redes sociais na internet. 2014. 307 f. Tese (Doutorado) - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação, 2014. / Submitted by Lidya Silva (nagylla.lidya@gmail.com) on 2016-07-21T19:31:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_tese_jfnunes.pdf: 2068575 bytes, checksum: 0f18d6d26a7597639dda84007ee209b5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-08-10T16:44:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_tese_jfnunes.pdf: 2068575 bytes, checksum: 0f18d6d26a7597639dda84007ee209b5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T16:44:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_tese_jfnunes.pdf: 2068575 bytes, checksum: 0f18d6d26a7597639dda84007ee209b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Treat about how the phenomenon of social networking sites affects the contemporary informational scenario, transforming everyday practices and experiences of individuals with regard to the production, consumption and sharing of information in digital space. Problematizes how the expression society of information has been referenced to characterize a form of social organization based on the information technology paradigm. Then discusses the current structure of the media system, focusing since the formation of a mass society, to the ubiquity of digital information in urban areas, with the aim of demonstrating that socio-cultural scene is marked by an increasingly converging means, as well as languages. Accordingly, discusses the internet as a kind of media marked by computer-mediated communication, in which different forms of media are articulated, giving rise to system based on network interconnection. Through the notion of network underscores the fact that the social context of networking sites consists of complex associations between humans and technologies, aiming to empirical research attend more to the hybrid nature of these relationships, and less for their infrastructural aspect. For empirical verification, purposes qualitative research, using ethnographic method, with the intention of supporting the argument that social media has the ability to affect the everyday experiences of individuals, changing informational scenario. As empirical field elects Facebook, choosing because it is characterized as the social network site most used in Brazil and in several other countries. Conducts interviews with twelve users of Facebook, still using the participant observation, examinee the interactions among netizens as well as the ways in which they relate to the information and the site through the available tools. Accordingly, concludes that each one of the informational practices observed point aspects of how information is and is at the same time, the actual constituent. The perception that users have of the real involves both physical dimensions, such as digital, implying direct consequences in the construction of their experiences. Through Facebook, individuals have the opportunity to define for themselves and for Other they perceive as information, wish to have access, and especially what they think need to be highlighted or ignored in their daily experiences on the internet. Thus, it was possible to see the Internet not only as media technology, but mainly as an element of culture, where living online and offline complement. The user participates actively of informational process that develops in their wefts, using their tools to grasp senses and give meaning to information circulated on the site. / Trata sobre como o fenômeno das redes sociais na internet afeta o cenário informacional contemporâneo, transformando as práticas e experiências cotidianas dos indivíduos no tocante à produção, consumo e compartilhamento da informação no espaço digital. Problematiza como a expressão sociedade da informação tem sido referenciada para caracterizar um formato de organização social baseado no paradigma tecnológico da informação. Em seguida, aborda a composição contemporânea do sistema de mídia, discutindo desde a formação de uma sociedade de massa, até a ubiquidade da informação digital no espaço urbano, com o objetivo de demonstrar que a cena sociocultural é marcada cada vez mais por uma convergência de meios, assim como de linguagens. Nesse sentido, discute a internet como um tipo de mídia marcada pelo despontar da comunicação mediada por computador, no qual diferentes meios de informação e comunicação se articulam, dando origem a um sistema baseado na interligação em rede. Através da noção de rede ressalta o fato de que o contexto das redes sociais na internet é formado por complexas associações entre humanos e tecnologias, almejando com a pesquisa empírica atentar mais para o caráter híbrido dessas relações, e menos para o seu aspecto infraestrutural. Como estratégia metodológica, realiza uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo, recorrendo ao método etnográfico, com a intenção de confirmar a tese de que as redes sociais na internet têm a capacidade de afetar as experiências cotidianas dos indivíduos, reconfigurando o cenário informacional contemporâneo. Como campo empírico adota o Facebook, escolhendo-o por se caracterizar como o site de redes sociais mais utilizado no Brasil, bem como em vários outros países. Assim, além de entrevistas realizadas com doze usuários do Facebook, recorre, ainda, à observação participante, atentando às interações entre os internautas, bem como às maneiras como estes se relacionam com as informações e com o site por meio das ferramentas disponibilizadas. Conclui que cada umas das práticas informacionais observadas apontam aspectos de como a informação constitui e é, ao mesmo tempo, constituinte do real. A percepção que os usuários têm do real envolve tanto dimensões físicas, como digitais, implicando em consequências diretas na construção de suas experiências. Através do Facebook, os indivíduos têm a oportunidade de definirem para si e para o Outro o que consideram como informação, o que desejam ter acesso e, sobretudo, o que julgam necessário ser destacado ou ignorado em suas vivências cotidianas na internet. Assim, foi possível perceber a internet não só como tecnologia midiática, mas, principalmente, enquanto elemento da cultura, onde vida on-line e off-line se complementam. Os usuários do Facebook participam ativamente do processo informacional que se desenvolve em suas teias, fazendo uso de suas ferramentas para apreender sentidos e conferir significados à informação que circula no site.

Submitted by FABIANA DA SILVA FRANÇA (fabiana21franca@gmail.com) on 2017-11-23T16:59:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotal.pdf: 4506265 bytes, checksum: 5e23e3df8d3af65049c9291add06c26c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-23T16:59:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotal.pdf: 4506265 bytes, checksum: 5e23e3df8d3af65049c9291add06c26c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-29 / Information literacy, a research topic of interest for Information Science that was firstly developed in academic library context, is extended to other life situations. In doing so, the information process, usually focused on problem-solving process in formal contexts (academic and professional realms), and often represented as some information abilities by the current information literacy standards, is contrasted with other other informational realities, especially those that demonstrate other information natures like the affective and/or emotional, a informational dimension that needs more attention of information practice studies. With a holistic and complementary purpose, and grounded on the sociocognitive theoretical framework of information, this participatory research explores the social world of competitive bodybuilders – understood as a positive context – which is explored by the lights of The Serious Leisure Perspective. Therefore, the amateur competitive bodybuilding is deeply analyzed, showing a fresh perspective for the traditional cognitive information literacy conception. "Problem" and "need" is replaced by "pleasure" and "profound" in the understanding of information engagements (and learning) in information seeking process. Beside the notion of traditional, methodical and abstract learning, this study highlights other (not so defined) ways of knowing and being informed, in which the information use depends on the knowledge adquired put in practice. Through this perspective, the information accuracy is not defined exclusively by the cognitive authority or credibility of information, but also by physical, emotional, affective, socio-cultural aspects of information, and ultimately, by the singularity of participants’ bodies. This study concludes that the positive information point of view, especially in leisure, should be part of the information studies research agenda, since it allows the understanding of other information realities of human life, and how information (and information literacy) contributes to the development of happier and healthier communities, and, at the same time, it helps groups (and practices) to be socially known. / As competências em informação, tópico de pesquisa da Ciência da Informação, nascido no âmbito biblioteconômico do Ensino Superior, é ampliado para outras situações da vida. Para tanto, processos de informação bem-definidos, orientados para a solução de problemas das contexturas formais (acadêmico e profissionais), frequentemente sistematizados em modelos que mapeiam habilidades cognitivas, são contrastados com outras realidades informacionais, especialmente as caracterizadas por outras naturezas de informação, como a afetiva e/ou emocional, a qual carece de interesse da pesquisa das práticas de informação. Com intento holístico e complementar, e munidos de arcabouço teórico sociocognitivo da informação, é realizada pesquisa participante no mundo social dos fisiculturistas competitivos, contexto que é, por natureza, positivo, estabelecido a partir da The Serious Leisure Perspective. Desta feita, o fisculturismo competitivo na modalidade amadora é analisado em profundidade, oferecendo olhar renovado para a visão tradicional das competências em informação. Fatores como “problema” e a “necessidade” cedem espaço para o “prazer” e o “profundo” no entendimento dos engajamentos de busca por informação. Junto ao aprendizado formal, metódico e abstrato, são observados outros meios de estar informado não tão bem definidos, em que o uso da informação depende da aplicação prática do conhecimento adquirido. Por esta visão prática, destaca-se que a precisão da informação não depende exclusivamente da autoridade cognitiva da informação, mas também de aspectos físicos, emocionais, afetivos e socioculturais e, em última instância, da singularidade dos corpos dos participantes. Este estudo conclui que abordagem positiva da informação, especialmente no lazer, deve fazer parte da agenda de pesquisa do campo da informação, já que ela permite a compreensão de outras realidades de informação que compõem a vida humana, e como a informação (e as competências em informação) pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento de comunidades mais felizes e saudáveis, ao mesmo tempo em que, no caso do fisiculturismo competitivo, esta perspectiva pode auxiliar no reconhecimento de grupos (e praticas) socialmente desconhecidos.

A presença constante das imagens fotográficas, na contemporaneidade, evidencia-se em um cotidiano marcado pelo intenso uso da imagem fotográfica, levando a um olhar naturalizado e que, em princípio, não impacta a vida dos sujeitos. A partir da aliança entre o smartphone e o acesso à internet banda larga, nasce a fotografia conectada, da qual é difícil evadir, pois, em todos os momentos do cotidiano, podemos nos expor e nos comunicarmos numa fusão de fala e de imagem. Nos atuais estudos sobre comportamento informacional e práticas informacionais, falta compreensão de como os sujeitos fazem uso das imagens. Neste contexto, do ponto de vista do sujeito, cabe a questão - podemos identificar efeitos positivos ou negativos no uso de imagens fotográficas, na perspectiva da Ciência da Informação? O objetivo geral consistiu em analisar estudos sobre o uso da imagem na Ciência da Informação e, com base em critérios da Ontopsicologia, agregar valor aos estudos das práticas e comportamentos informacionais dos sujeitos frente a imagens fotográficas contemporâneas. O objeto de estudo comportou o uso dessas imagens fotográficas. A pesquisa, de abordagem qualitativa e de natureza interpretativa, baseou-se em três fases: a) identificação de distintas formas de uso das imagens fotográficas, resultando em cinco práticas de uso: I. Imagem conectada; II. Imagem híbrida e reapropriada; III. Imagem e autorretrato; IV. Imagem efêmera; V. Imagem e os valores sociais. Uma vez identificados os usos, propomos: b) a identificação de funcionalidades (positivas ou negativas) no uso das imagens fotográficas. Após essas duas fases, com auxílio da Ontopsicologia, entendemos que o uso de imagens fotográficas e a funcionalidade desses usos devem estar associados à percepção visceral (organísmica) e desenvolvemos: c) um experimento. Neste, utilizamos 09 imagens fotográficas, analisadas por 20 adolescentes, em que objetivamos compreender o uso da percepção visceral com atenção voltada às variações emotivas. Ao analisarmos o uso da imagem fotográfica, concluímos que não podemos enfatizar apenas quais usos os sujeitos fazem da imagem, mas, sim, observar também o que a imagem ocasiona aos sujeitos, sugerindo, nesta pesquisa, portanto, que é a imagem que dá a funcionalidade (positiva ou negativa), e não o uso, isto é, a funcionalidade ou não funcionalidade, antes de tudo, dá-se pela imagem. Para conhecermos a funcionalidade, substancialmente, adicionamos o critério organísmico (visceral) ao critério lógico-racional. Por fim, é importante ainda salientar que o uso da imagem fotográfica conectada traz a característica do uso interativo, isto é, o sujeito se crê ativo na interação por meio das imagens fotográficas, mas é passivo diante da ação dos complexos. / The constant presence of photographic images nowadays is seen in a routine marked by an intense use of photographic images, accounting for a naturalized view upon images and giving the impression that they do not cause any impact on subjects. Since the alliance between the smartphone and broadband internet access, the connected photography comes to be, from which it is difficult to escape because at any moment in our daily life, we may expose ourselves and communicate with each other in a fusion between speech and image. In contemporary researches about information behaviour and information practices, such studies lack the comprehension of how subjects make use of images. In this context, from the subject\'s point of view, a question arises: can we identify the positive or negative effects in the use of photographic images according to Information Science? The main objective consisted in analyzing studies about the use of image in Science Information and according to the criteria of Ontopsychology, aggregating value to the studies about information behavior and information practices of subjects before contemporary photographic images. This research is of qualitative approach and of interpretative nature, focusing in three stages: a) identification of distinct ways of photographic image use, resulting in five practices of image use: I. Connected image; II. Hybrid reappropriated image; III. Image and selfie; IV. Ephemeral image; V. Image and social values. Once the uses were identified, carried out the b) identification of functionalities (positive and negative) in the use of photographic images. After these two stages, with the support of Ontopsychology, it was identified that the uses of photographic images and their functionalities must be associated with visceral perception (organismic perception) and developed c) an experiment. In this experiment, we used 09 photographic images were analyzed by 20 adolescents in which the aim was to comprehend the use of visceral perception with a focus on emotive variations. In analyzing the use of photographic image, rather it was concluded that one cannot emphasize only what uses such subjects make use but as well as to observe what the image causes in the subject hence suggesting, in this research, that it is the image that provides the functionality (positive or negative) and not the use itself, that is, the functionality or the non-functionality comes to be through the image. In order to know substantially the functionality, one must add the organismic (visceral) criterium to the logical and rational criterium. Lastly, it is important to highlight that the use of connected photographic image brings the characteristic of interactive use; the subject sees himself in the interaction through photographic images but becomes passive before the action of complexes.

Public libraries of today consist of both physical and digitalized elements. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how a group of users, senior citizens, relates to the digital parts of the library. An interview study was conducted with nine persons between 67 and 78 years of age, with the aim to better understand their experiences and thoughts on the subject. A more holistic scope is necessary to fully grasp the prerequisites that the senior citizens had to be able to use the digital library. Therefore, the access and use of information- and communication technology (ICT) in everyday life was approached.  The material from the interviews was analyzed through a thematic analysis of the content. The theoretical framework evolved around two models concerning the concepts of information, that is a model of information practices by Pamela J. McKenzie (2003) and a typology of information limits by Marzena Świgoń (2011).  The study concludes that the senior citizens had access to adequate digital equipment at their own disposal. Though the sample consisted of people with varied interest and time spent on ICT, they can all be regarded as participants in the digital arena. When the interviewees searched for digital content of interest, they described mostly active methods in searching and scanning the internet.  In relation to the digital library, reserving books in the digital catalogue and borrowing digital media was the functions most frequently used. For some, these where new practices that they had developed during the pandemic of covid-19. They often turned to other sources to seek digital support or develop digital skills. Information about the library was to a higher extent sought of using traditional sources and methods.  Overall, though perceived as useful in facilitating reading, the digital library appeared to play a peripheral role in the senior citizens’ information practices in their everyday life. However there seems to be a potential in further marketing the existing digital functions to the target group. In doing so hopefully the digital library can benefit senior citizens, both the digital active and beginners, to a higher extent.  This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Introduction. The aim of this thesis is to examine information practices among erotic minorities in Sweden in 1975–1995. These minorities include among others sadomasochists, fetishists and transvestites. The survey moves within the subculture that existed around deviating sexual practices. The center of the survey is the association Club Sunrise who organized erotic minorities, where the majority of the members had a mainly heterosexual orientation.  Method. Sixteen semi-structured interviews have been carried out with people active in the Swedish subculture during the studied period. The empirical data also consists of the Club Sunrise member magazine SMART. The author also had access to material from other media, in which the members participated. Analysis. The material has been analyzed based on J. Tuomas Harvianien’s concept of embodied information literacy and Elfreda A. Chatman’s four critical concepts that serve as the basis for defining an impoverished life-world: risk-taking, secrecy, deception and situational relevance.  Results. People belonging to various erotic minorities have used all four of Chatman’s critical concepts, with an emphasis on secrecy and deception. They also obtained information through embodied literacy. In addition to these results, the investigation also resulted in a mapping of various associations and venues that existed in Sweden before 1995. Conclusion. Erotic minorities in Sweden 1975–1995 were in a state of information poverty. However, they have not suffered from any information poverty in their lives as a whole, but it has been expressed in their belonging to an erotic minority. To get in touch with like-minded, without revealing their secrets to outsiders, they used different concepts of secrecy and deception. They also found and identified each other through secret signs and symbols, special clothing or ways of behaving. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Given increased immigration rates in recent years and the rapid rate technology has become part of daily life, understanding the role of technology in the immigration process is important. Smartphones, in particular, are now commonplace, yet little is known about their role in immigration, still less from an information perspective. This study explores how immigrants to Sweden engage with information, with a particular focus on the function of smartphones and smartphone applications as intermediary tools between their adopted Swedish society and their countries of origin. A framework consisting of two theoretical lenses is employed: a practice approach, specifically information practices and transnational practices, and theories of belonging. Adopting a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 12 participants. This study finds that smartphones can serve as a space through which immigrants can develop an understanding of the new information landscape and maintain a connection to the home country, primarily through contact with social networks. However, some form of prior knowledge, often from a third party, is commonly needed to use smartphones effectively in the new landscape. By facilitating an understanding of the new information landscape, and maintaining a connection to the home country, smartphones can be seen as involved in the development of a sense of belonging in the new environment. This study creates new insights into how immigrants engage with information, especially through smartphones, however, further research in this area is encouraged.

This thesis aims to explore and gain an understanding of the current AI landscape within Swedish Cultural Heritage using purposive interviews with five cultural heritage institutions with ongoing AI projects. This study fills a knowledge gap in the practical implementation of AI at Swedish institutions in addition to the sustainable use of technologies for cultural heritage. The overarching discussion further includes related topics of ethical AI and long-term sustainability, framing it from a perspective of Information Practices and a socio-material entanglement. Findings show that AI technologies can play an important part in cultural heritage, with a range of practical applications if certain issues are overcome. Moreover, the utilisation of AI will increase. The study also indicates a need for regulations, digitisation efforts, and increased investments in resources to adopt the technologies into current practices sustainably. The conclusion highlights a need for the cultural heritage sector to converge and find collectively applicable solutions for implementing AI.

This thesis is a user study within library and information science on participatory practices of a professional group in work activity. This has been investigated only to a minor extent in previous library and information science research. The qualitative empirical focus alternates between physicians‟ engagements in work practice and workplace learning within patient care. The overall research problem was to learn how people in workplaces interacted with information that was embedded, intricately intertwined, and tightly bound to the ongoing routines of their everyday work. This thesis aims at understanding information practices of professionals in occupational settings as exemplified by a team of physicians in a Nigerian teaching hospital. In this thesis, the focus was on the collective work activity, and the specific goals identified include how physicians interact and make meaning in the context of the social activities in the workplace, how professionals individually or collectively gather, understand, produce, share and use information, and how workplace learning influences information practices. Information practices are viewed as sociocultural practices that occur inside other practices. The thesis focuses on a nuanced, contextualized understanding of the interplay between the participating actors in activity, the activity per se, and the intermediary role of tools and artefacts. The epistemological point of departure is the sociocultural perspective that emphasizes the dynamic interdependence of the individual with the social and collective development focusing on mediation through tools and artefacts in cultural, institutional, and historical situations. I have chosen cultural-historical activity theory and the practice theories to analyse the dynamic processes in the context of patient care. Their underlying principles guided the empirical study, facilitating extrapolations and illustrations in the analysis. The cultural-historical activity theory was used to understand contextual issues that influence information practices in work activity: the object and subject of activity, division of labour, rules and norms, community, tools and artefacts, as well as the activity system itself and the hierarchical structure of the activity. Theories and concepts employed from a practice perspective on learning were considered useful for understanding the participatory modes in workplace and the influence of social learning communities on diverse information processes. In so doing, the study strives to provide a holistic understanding of information practices, workplace learning, and the relationships between them.The empirical data was gathered through a qualitative case study that lasted over a period of two years. Direct observation was the dominant data collection technique 5 used throughout the preliminary and main empirical studies to capture physicians‟ information practices and experiences. The observation focused on the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CPT) team‟s encounters with patients; the interactions they had amongst themselves, and events and situations surrounding patient care. During the main study, other data collection techniques were employed alongside the observation method. In-depth open-ended interviews were conducted with 17 physicians and 9 non-physicians who were selected to provide rich and varied descriptions of the phenomena under study. The interview time totalled at 1,535 minutes. Physical artefacts were another data collection technique employed: 30 patients‟ medical records were assessed during the empirical study. Finally, informal interactions in the research setting were an additional data collection technique used continuously throughout the two empirical periods. The results were analyzed through a combination of inductive and deductive methods of analysis. There are four parts to the empirical results in this thesis. In the first, contextual elements that showed how work environment can be an influencing factor in the information practices of a professional group are described from the perspective of cultural historical activity theory. In the second part, the nature of information access in the real-world information environment was portrayed. It was found that information sources and strategies contributed to the overarching goal of restoring patient health to normalcy. The information sources and strategies were also found useful for mediating the information environment both subjectively and intersubjectively. An equally important result concerns the authority issues related to information sources and strategies. In the third part, available tools and artefacts were presented as useful information aids that also played a mediating role. Tools were categorised into physical tools and language. Language was categorized according to the social situations or classes of speakers. The case notes were seen as useful artefact and occupied a central niche in the studied work activity. These tools and artefacts enabled affordances around which social practices were built on in the work activities. In the last part of the results, various information practices that mirror the participatory practices rather than those of isolated individuals are highlighted. Six dimensions made up and covered the most vital spectrum of the information processing: information gathering, meaning making, information sharing, information use, reading, and documentation. Furthermore, the study revealed that learning took place simultaneously with the work activity and that it influenced information practices at the same time. / <p>Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science at the University of Borås to be publicly defended on Friday 19 October 2012 at 13.00 in lecture room D 211, University of Borås, Allégatan 1, Borås.</p>

The aim with this master’s thesis is to examine the information practices and information literacies among social workers in the field of the social services and in the work with child welfare investigations. This is in this study related to their ambition to fulfill the requirements of an evidence-based practice. On a theoretical level, the study is based on three theories grounded in the idea of situated learning and of human activities based in a social context. These are the sociocultural theory, the theory of communities of practices and the theory of information practices. On a methodological level the survey is carried out, and the empirical material is extracted, by using semi-structured interviews with five social workers in two different social offices. The result of the analysis shows that the social workers see the need of, search, share, evaluate and use several sources of information. They include information from the social workers own working experience and expertise, information from the clients and their social network, colleagues and professionals in institutions and agencies external to the social offices. The survey also shows that scientific research information is searched, used and evaluated by the social workers to a low degree. This is connected to the information barriers found in the empirical material, including lack of time and lack of access to digital databases. The main conclusion is that the social workers see the need of scientific research and the academic information literacy related to this, and that the information barriers at the same time force them to evolve an information literacy fitted to the practical work situation. For an evidence-based practice, the social workers see the need to incorporate more of the academic information literacy and practices with the information literacy and practices of the workplace. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Comprendre, décrire et documenter les comportements informationnels des juristes béninois tant dans le champ académique que professionnel. C’est le principal objectif de cette thèse qui a choisi le positionnement des pratiques informationnelles en sciences de l’information notamment dans l’étude des usagers en contexte. Ce travail a mobilisé à la fois des études théoriques qu’empiriques. Quatre études théoriques ont été menées pour comprendre le contexte du droit et de la justice au Bénin, les évolutions induites par les technologies de l’information et de la communication (Tic) dans le secteur juridique et judiciaire, les pratiques informationnelles en termes de modèles et les théories spécifiques dans le champ du droit. Ces approches théoriques ont été confrontées à quatre études empiriques dont deux quantitatives et deux qualitatives. En ce qui concerne l’approche quantitative, 375 étudiants et 60 enseignants-chercheurs des facultés de droit des universités du Bénin ont été interrogés. Quant aux études qualitatives, elles sont faites d’entretiens semi-directifs à l’endroit de 35 magistrats des tribunaux et cours de la partie méridionale du pays et 15 avocats à Cotonou. Au terme de ces études, il est clair que les juristes béninois dans le cadre de leurs activités professionnelles recourent à l’information. Ils le font pour régler des problèmes juridiques. Ils se réfèrent en premier lieu aux sources imprimées que sont les livres et ouvrages juridiques ; ensuite aux sources électroniques en l’occurrence Internet et enfin consultent leurs collègues, confères ou camarades. Les critères qui gouvernent ces sources d’information sont d’abord l’accessibilité-disponibilité de l’information, la pertinence-utilité de l’information et le contenu de l’information. L’ensemble des juristes interrogés partagent l’information mais font face à plusieurs obstacles pour accéder à l’information. Au nombre de ces obstacles, on peut citer : le coût excessif de certains ouvrages juridiques, l’instabilité de l’énergie électrique, la coupure de la connexion à Internet, la vétusté de certains documents. / Understand, describe and document the information behavior of beninese lawyers in both the academic and professional fields. It is the main objective of this thesis that has chosen the positioning of informational practices in the information sciences especially in the study of users in context. This work has mobilized both theoretical and empirical studies. Four theoretical studies have been conducted to understand the legal and justice context in Benin, developments in information and communication technologies (TIC) in the legal and judicial sector, information practices in terms of models and the specific theories in the field of law. These theoretical approaches were confronted with four empirical studies, two quantitative and two qualitative. Regarding the quantitative approach, 375 students and 60 teacher-researchers from the law faculties of the universities of Benin were interviewed. As for qualitative studies, they are made up of semi-directive interviews with 35 magistrates of courts and courts in the southern part of the country and 15 lawyers in Cotonou. At the end of these studies, it is clear that Beninese lawyers in the course of their professional activities make use of information. They do it to solve legal problems. They refer in the first place to printed sources, namely books and legal works; Then to electronic sources, in this case the Internet, and finally consult their colleagues, confreres or comrades. The criteria governing these sources of information are primarily the accessibility-availability of information, the relevance-usefulness of information and the content of information. All lawyers surveyed share information but face several barriers to accessing information. Examples of such obstacles include the excessive cost of certain legal works, the instability of electric power, the breakdown of the Internet connection, the obsolete nature of certain documents.