Social perspective

Beyond individual’s interest

Information establishes identity, power

Information relative to context Time, locations, people, organizations,

cultures, identities Individual too, but focus on group

“Information as an individual phenomenon must be examined in the context of its social nature” (Raber, 2003, p. 222)

Information Societyinfluences

Social perspective

Social perspective

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Social perspective

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Chatman

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Frohmann

Social perspective

Many different views, but with much in common

Talja, S., Tuominen, K., & Savolainen, R. (2005). “Isms” in information science: Constructivism, collectivism and constructionism. Journal of Documentation, 61(1), 79-101. doi:10.1108/00220410510578023

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What does the social flamingo’s reality look like?

Flock of “birds of a feather”: group, community, network, world

flickr photo by Pedro Szekely (szeke), Creative Commons licensed

What does the social flamingo’s reality look like?

Flock of “birds of a feather”: group, community, network, world

Multiple, overlapping membership Information exchange (or not)

squack?squack

!

flickr photo by Pedro Szekely (szeke), Creative Commons licensed

What does the social flamingo’s reality look like?

Flock of “birds of a feather”: group, community, network, world Multiple, overlapping membership Information exchange (or not) Each flock constructs its own reality (with potential overlap)

Information, knowledge, information practices / behaviors Mutual influence between flocks and their reality, information,

knowledge

Reality RealityReality

flickr photo by Pedro Szekely (szeke), Creative Commons licensed

What constitutes information for the social flamingo?Information as (socially constructive /

constructed) practice, process, knowledge

Context necessary Social flamingos can’t make sense if there

is no context

What constitutes information for the social flamingo?Information as (socially constructive /

constructed) practice, process, knowledge

Context necessary Social flamingos can’t make sense if there

is no context

flickr photo by Adam Roberts (Spartacus007),

Creative Commons licensed

What constitutes information for the social flamingo?Information as (socially constructive /

constructed) practice, process, knowledge

Context necessary Social flamingos can’t make sense if there

is no contextLanguage, discourse of interest

What do we call something? What do they call something?

Information sought, used in context (individual and of other flamingos)

flickr photo by Adam Roberts (Spartacus007),

Creative Commons licensed

How is information research conducted in this world?Method

Qualitative methods prevail Ethnographic approach Mixed/multi-methods

Often a theoretical basis Small worlds / normative behavior (Chatman) Information worlds (Burnett & Jaeger) Everyday life information seeking (Savolainen) Information grounds (Fisher) Social network perspectives (e.g.

Haythornthwaite)

“Unless we grasp and understand information as a social

phenomenon, we will not be able to penetrate and understand the

information ecology whose actions and interactions determine the

meaning of … the central concepts of a science of information.”

(Raber, “The Problem of Information,” 2003, p. 221)