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In the presented thesis I study new media and their possible misuse in misinformation. In the first part I describe basics of misinformation theory, categorization and present real example of misinformation by using traditional and new media and warn against risks related to its anonymous using. A characteristic of concrete new media is complemented with specific user behavior patterns. On last part I suggest concrete prospective ways of creating misinformation campaign with minimal cost and risk.

O ensino universitário tem buscado cada vez mais formar profissionais com espírito crítico e reflexivo, aproximando-os da realidade desde seu estágio como estudante. A biblioteca universitária tem sido vista freqüentemente como ambiente de apoio às atividades de ensino, pesquisa e extensão na academia. Entretanto, é também sua função, contribuir para a inserção do estudante no universo da pesquisa acadêmica, desenvolvendo atividades de mediação junto ao usuário nos processos de busca da informação para que ele tenha condições de transformá-la em conhecimento. Considera-se a importância da Biblioteconomia e da Ciência da Informação dialogarem com outras áreas do conhecimento tais como a Educação, a Metodologia Científica e a Psicologia. Abordam-se os conceitos de informação e conhecimento, biblioteca universitária, estudos e educação de usuários. Objetiva-se discutir o papel do bibliotecário na educação de usuários, entendendo a biblioteca como espaço de aquisição do conhecimento. O estudo é baseado no processo construtivista de busca de informação (ISP) de Carol Kuhlthau. A pesquisa é de caráter exploratório com abordagem qualitativa através de entrevistas com alunos de graduação e pós-graduação de faculdades das três áreas do conhecimento, Humanas, Biológicas e Exatas da Universidade de São Paulo. Ao final da análise conclui-se que há necessidade e espaço para que e a biblioteca universitária possa tornar-se ambiente propício a colaborar na aprendizagem do estudante universitário. / The learning process at the university has been increasingly trying to develop reflexive and critical professionals, offering them a close contact with the reality since their intern period as students. The academic library has been seen frequently as an environment to support learning, research and additional studies activities at the academia. Nevertheless, it also has the role to contribute to the student immersion on the academic research, developing activities as a medium for its users to search for information so that they could transform it in knowledge. It is taken into consideration the importance of Librarianship and Information Science to dialogue with other areas as Education, Scientific Methodology and Psychology. This paper deals with the concepts of information and knowledge, academic library, users studies and learning. Its goal is to discuss the role of the librarian in relation to its users education, understanding the library as a place to acquire knowledge. The study is based on the constructive Information Search Process (ISP) from Carol Kuhlthau. The research has an exploratory character with qualitative approach through interviews with students from graduation and post graduation from three fields: Humanities, Biological and Exact Sciences from Universidade de São Paulo (Sao Paulo University). By the end of the analysis, it is concluded that there is a need and space for the university library to become an environment proper to collaborate on the knowledge of the university student.

Die Dissertation untersucht 1) welche Cues Kinder und Erwachsene in ihrer Cuebox haben, d.h. welche Cues für Inferenzen herangezogen wird, 2) wie Intuition über die Wichtigkeit von Cues die Informationssuche beeinflusst, und 3) wie das Framing eines Problems und das experimentelle Design die Intuition beeinflussen. Das erste Projekt untersucht den Effekt verschiedener Domänen und Objektrepräsentationen auf Erfragungsstrategien von Kindern und Erwachsenen in einer Kategorisierungsaufgabe. Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine Basis-Level-Repräsentation (z.B. Hund) das Generieren von höher geordneten Merkmalen, welche die Objekte innerhalb einer übergeordneten Kategorie unterscheiden, für Kinder erleichtern und dadurch benutzt werden können, um effektive Fragen zu stellen. Dieser Effekt wurde nicht gefunden, wenn Kinder nicht selbst solche Merkmale generierten, sondern aus einem vordefinierten Set auswählen mussten. Das zweite Projekt untersuchte Kinder und junge Erwachsene bezüglich zweier Inferenzprobleme. In einer Bedingung mussten Cues selbst generiert werden, in einer anderen wurde ein Set von Cues vorgegeben. Ergebnisse zeigen, dass nur, wenn Cue selbst generiert wurden, junge Kinder gleich gut oder besser als ältere Kinder oder Erwachsene abschnitten, da sie Cues generierten, die ebenso informativ waren wie die der anderen beiden Altersgruppen. In dem dritten Projekt wurde getestet, wie die Art, Anzahl und Qualität der Cues die Fähigkeit von Kindern und jungen Erwachsenen beeinflusst, die informativsten Cues zu generieren bzw. auszuwählen. Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Cuebox von Kindern mehr perzeptuelle Cues beinhaltet als jene junger Erwachsener. Dennoch war der Informationsgehalt der generierten Cues in beiden Gruppen gleich. Junge Erwachsene zeigten die Tendenz, nicht-perzeptuelle Cues systematisch als informativer zu erachten als perzeptuelle Cues. Kinder zeigten die gleiche Tendenz nur dann, wenn sie aus einem vordefinierten Set auswählen mussten. / My dissertation addresses the questions 1) what cues children and adults have in their cuebox (i.e., the set of cues available for making inferences or categorizing), 2) how people’s intuition about the importance of the cues drives their information search, and 3) how the framing of a problem and the experimental design influence these intuitions. A first project investigated developmental differences in how children and adults solve a sequential binary categorization task. Results show that, apart from age-related differences, children’s but not adults’ inquiry strategies improve if objects are represented at the basic level (e.g., dog) but not if represented at the subordinate level (e.g., Dalmatian) or when the basic level is specified by additional features (e.g., dog, kennel, to wag, collar). Explanations are that, unlike other representations, basic level objects trigger features that are useful for categorization, and therefore help children ask more effective questions. A second project tested children and young adults on two inference problems, by manipulating whether cues were generated or given. Results show that, only when generating their own cues, younger children matched or even outperformed the accuracy of older children and young adults, by generating cues that were as informative as the those generated by older children and young adults. A third project examined the type, amount and informativeness of the cues in people’s cuebox. Further, it investigated the influence of the type of cues on the ability of children and young adults to generate or select the most informative cue available. Results show that children’s cuebox contains more perceptual cues than young adults’. We found no difference between the two age groups in terms of informativeness of the cues generated. Young adults showed the tendency to systematically consider non-perceptual cues more informative than perceptual cues. Children showed such tendency only in a cue-selection task.

Rechercher de l’information sur Internet avec un moteur de recherche est une activité complexe qui exige des utilisateurs un grand nombre de traitements. Les travaux de recherche sur les effets du vieillissement en RI ont montré que les utilisateurs âgés ont de moins bonnes performances, passent plus de temps à évaluer les pages de résultats du moteur de recherche et reformulent moins que les jeunes. Ces difficultés seraient dues au déclin des habiletés cognitives fluides comme la flexibilité cognitive, la vitesse de traitement ou le rafraichissement en mémoire de travail. Pour comprendre comment le vieillissement cognitif affecte l’activité de RI, nos travaux ont investigué les stratégies de recherche élaborées par les utilisateurs jeunes et âgés ainsi que les processus cognitifs impliqués. La première partie de ce travail s’est attaché à étudier, au travers de 2 expérimentations, comment les connaissances antérieures peuvent soutenir l’activité de recherche des utilisateurs plus âgés et les aider à répondre aux exigences de la RI selon le niveau de complexité des tâches de recherche. La deuxième partie du travail de recherche a investigué le rôle de deux dispositifs d’aide à la RI : l’un maximisant les effets bénéfiques des connaissances antérieures par un dispositif de pré-activation (étude 3), et l’autre soutenant le maintien du but en mémoire de travail (étude 4). Nos résultats ont montré que les utilisateurs plus âgés ont davantage de difficultés que les jeunes à évaluer les pages de résultats du moteur de recherche et à reformuler leurs requêtes (ils produisent moins de nouveaux mots clés et utilisent plus de mots clés issus des problèmes de recherche). En outre, la phase initiale de l’activité de recherche s’est avérée être plus critique pour les adultes âgés qui produisent des requêtes initiales moins élaborées et passent plus de temps sur la première page de résultats du moteur de recherche. Les connaissances antérieures sur le domaine peuvent toutefois soutenir le niveau d’élaboration des requêtes des utilisateurs plus âgés et améliorer les stratégies de recherche. Par ailleurs, pré-activer les connaissances antérieures peut soutenir l’élaboration de stratégies de recherche descendantes et améliorer le contenu sémantique des requêtes des âgés (particulièrement dans un domaine pour lequel ils ont de faibles connaissances antérieures). Enfin, l’outil d’aide soutenant le maintien du but en mémoire de travail favorise des stratégies de recherche plus flexibles en améliorant la reformulation des requêtes (temps de reformulation plus courts) et en aidant l’exploration en début d’activité. Ces travaux de recherche posent les bases d’un nouveau modèle cognitif de l’activité des RI pour les utilisateurs plus âgés. / Searching for information with a search engine is a complex activity that requires users to perform a series of cognitive processes. Prior works showed that older users can have lower search performance, they spent more time on the search engine result pages and they produce fewer queries than young ones. Older users’ difficulties are mainly caused by the age-related decline of fluid abilities such as cognitive flexibility, processing speed or update in working memory. To understand the effects of aging on information search with a search engine, we studied the search strategies elaborated and the cognitive processes involved by young and older adults. The first part of the present work investigated how prior knowledge about the search topic can support older users’ on-line search behavior and help them deal with the search task complexity (2 experiments). The second part of our work analyzed the role of two information search support tools. One tool aimed at optimizing the benefits of domain knowledge by pre-activating prior knowledge (experiment 3) whereas the other aimed at supporting search goal refreshing in working memory (experiment 4). Results showed that older users had more difficulties evaluating the search engine results pages and reformulating than young ones (i.e. they produced fewer new keywords and used more keywords extracted from the search problem statement in their queries). The initial stage of the search represented a challenge for older users who formulated initial queries that were less elaborate and spent longer dwell time on the first search engine page than young ones. Prior knowledge can improve older users’ reformulation and support more elaborate search strategies. In addition, pre-activating prior knowledge can foster top-down search strategies and improve the semantic content of the queries produced by older users (especially in a domain for which they have low prior knowledge). The support tool helping search goal refreshing in working memory fostered more flexible search strategies and improved reformulation (i.e. reduced the time needed by older users to reformulate). Eventually, our research work led us to elaborate a new cognitive model of information search with a search engine that takes into account the role of aging.

O comportamento de busca de informação é conhecido por anteceder decisões não triviais e também por ocorre após a tomada de decisão, entretanto poucos estudos focam na busca por informação nesse estágio do processo. Pesquisadores têm investigado o conhecimento prévio tido pelo indivíduo como um importante preditor da busca por informação antes da tomada de decisão. No entanto, após a decisão, a influência do conhecimento prévio na busca por informação tem sido negligenciada. Considerando que o conhecimento sobre o produto é um importante componente do processo decisório do consumidor, e tal conhecimento permanece na memória do indivíduo mesmo após ele ter feito, por exemplo, uma compra, investigar o efeito do conhecimento prévio, antes da decisão, na quantidade de informação buscada pelo consumidor após a tomada de decisão endereça uma importante lacuna na literatura sobre o comportamento de busca de informação do consumidor. Esse é o principal motivador para o presente trabalho. Adicionalmente, essa pesquisa investiga a tendência à maximização como um possível moderador da relação entre conhecimento prévio e a busca de informação após a tomada de decisão. Assim, três estudos são reportados (um experimento e duas surveys). Ao longo desses estudos, o efeito simples proposto é investigado em dois estágios da experiência pós-decisão: pre- e pós-uso. Em essência, os resultados indicam que o conhecimento do consumidor (antes da tomada de decisão) aumenta a busca de informação após a decisão. Esse efeito é potencializado para consumidores com mais tendência à maximização. O papel da dissonância cognitiva também foi explorado na relação entre conhecimento prévio e busca de informação após a decisão. Por fim, a incerteza com a escolha foi apresentada como uma possível variável supressora do efeito de conhecimento prévio na varável dependente investigada. / Information search behavior is known to antecede non-trivial decisions, but it may also occur in the post-decision timespan. Researchers have studied individuals’ prior knowledge as a predictor of information sought prior to the decision. Only a few studies have focused on post-decision information seeking, and these studies did not explore the influence of prior knowledge (i.e., decision-related knowledge accumulate prior to the event of the final decision). Because product knowledge is an important component in consumers’ decision-processes and it remains within individuals’ long-term memory after they made the purchase decision, investigating the effect of pre-decision product knowledge on post-decision amounts of information sought might fill an important gap in consumer information-search-behavior literature. This was the main motivation for the current research. Additionally, this work proposes that maximizing tendencies may moderate the relationship between knowledge and post-decision information search. The thesis reports three studies varying in their data collection approach (experimental and survey). Across these studies, the proposed effect was investigated as occurring in two stages of consumers’ post-decision experience: pre-use and post-use. In essence, results indicate that the consumers’ knowledge increases information search during the post-purchase timespan. This effect is stronger among consumers with high maximizing tendencies (individuals that feel the need to maximize their decisions). I also explored the role of cognitive dissonance as a bridging factor to the relationship between prior knowledge and information seeking. Lastly, choice-uncertainty was found to suppress effects of prior knowledge.

Today the amount of online medical information sources in Swedish is steadily increasing. The information is convenient and always at hand. People who turn to Google and other search engines are, however, not always knowledgeable about how to identify trustworthy information, or how search algorithms work. The main purpose of this study is to :ind out how Swedish students in the ages of 18-35 search for medical information online. One aspect of this is to gain a better understanding of how they navigate the internet, and how they prioritize and value different information sources. We also look at what sources they turn to for medical information and whether source credibility is crucial in their choices. Our study is based on an online survey at Umeå University. The survey was conducted among eight different study programs with students in the ages of 18-35. In total, we received 305 responses, of which 163 (53,4%) were women, 139 (45,6%) were men, and 1% de:ined as others. The main conclusion of this study is that the target group is most likely to turn to information sites provided by authorities. These sites are considered to be the most trustworthy. The study also showed that the target group was well aware of Sweden’s biggest online doctors, Kry in particular, and rated them as trustworthy as well. The target group would, however, not turn to these sites for medical information. We can also notice that the target group consider themselves to be critical of information online and good at evaluating source credibility.

<p>Undersökningen visar att Folkuniversitetet i Stockholms befintliga kunder beter sig på ett likartat sätt, i alla olika steg i köpbeslutsprocessen, när de söker information om Folkuniversitetet samt deras kurser och utbildningar. Hemsidan är den informationskanal som de flesta kunderna kommer i kontakt med, följt av kurskatalogen, personalen och rekommendationer från vänner och bekanta.</p> / <p>The survey shows that the current customers of Folkuniversitetet in Stockholm act in a similar way, in all steps of the buyer behaviour process, when they search for information about Folkuniversitetet, their courses and educations. The homepage is the main information channel that most of the customers get in contact with, followed by the course catalogue, the personnel and recommendations from friends and acquaintances.</p>

Undersökningen visar att Folkuniversitetet i Stockholms befintliga kunder beter sig på ett likartat sätt, i alla olika steg i köpbeslutsprocessen, när de söker information om Folkuniversitetet samt deras kurser och utbildningar. Hemsidan är den informationskanal som de flesta kunderna kommer i kontakt med, följt av kurskatalogen, personalen och rekommendationer från vänner och bekanta. / The survey shows that the current customers of Folkuniversitetet in Stockholm act in a similar way, in all steps of the buyer behaviour process, when they search for information about Folkuniversitetet, their courses and educations. The homepage is the main information channel that most of the customers get in contact with, followed by the course catalogue, the personnel and recommendations from friends and acquaintances.