Hashtags for Gatekeeping of Information on Social Media

Since the inception of gatekeeping research in the 1940s, most studies on gatekeeping have been human‐centric, treating and studying individuals as gatekeepers, who perform their gatekeeping role using a combination of the following mechanisms: forming communities, and/or broadcasting, discovering‐searching, collecting, organizing, or protecting information. However, the nature of communication channels and how information is produced by and shared with users has fundamentally changed in the last 80 years. One significant change is the growing use of technology‐enabled metadata like hashtags when sharing information on social media. Rarely any study investigates whether hashtags can perform gatekeeping of information and what it means for information gatekeeping. This paper fills in the gap by conducting a content analysis of 77 interdisciplinary studies on hashtags and gatekeeping to confirm how they can implement six gatekeeping mechanisms. This study shows that hashtags expand our understanding of the role of technology solutions in gatekeeping and advance research on hierarchical gatekeeping. The benefits of hashtags for gatekeeping suggest that they act as “information anchors” for online communities, thereby highlighting the utility of information gatekeepers for society

O impacto das tecnologias de informação na geração do artigo científico: tópicos para estudo

As novas tecnologias de informação oferecem facilidades para comunicação que independem de distâncias geográficas e permitem a divulgação ampla de informações sobre pesquisas em andamento ou já terminadas. Permitem também a participação de um público imenso nas discussões dos tópicos expostos. Esses fatos modificaram o comportamento dos cientistas quanto à comunicação que precede a publicação do artigo e têm, potencialmente, a capacidade de modificar profundamente o atual sistema formal de comunicação representado pelo artigo publicado em periódico primário. De que maneira as novas tecnologias afetaram ou poderão afetar a sobrevivência do artigo e do periódico? Neste texto, são revistos estudos clássicos sobre os colégios invisíveis e o fluxo da informação científica, como subsídios para pesquisas sobre o problema. Tópicos específicos de investigação são sugeridos. Palavras-chave Tecnologias da informação. Comunicação científica. Colégios invisíveis. Fluxo da informação científica. Impacts of information technology on the generation of the scientific article: topics for research Abstract The new technologies of communication, by making possible long distance communication among scientists and new forms of dissemination of research, are modifying communication behaviors and may modify the present system of formal communication, represented by the refereed article published in a primary journal. This "new fact" brought back interest in the study of scientific communications in general and on the periodical in particular. In this text some classical studies on informal communication and the proposed models of scientific communication are reviewed, and proposed as base for the study of the periodical today. Specific research topics are suggested. Keywords Information technologies. Scientific communication. Invisible colleges. Information flow

Interactive acquisition and sharing: Understanding the dynamics of HIV/AIDS information networks

HIV/AIDS information is an important resource for people affected by the disease, particularly information that they obtain from other people. Although existing studies reveal that people with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) rely extensively on personal relationships for HIV/AIDS information, they explain little about how this happens as a social process. To investigate how PHAs and their friends/family members acquire and share network-mediated HIV/AIDS information, semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted in three rural regions of Canada. Interviews were carried out with 114 PHAs, their friends/family members, and health care and service providers. A network solicitation and chain-referral recruitment procedure was used to delineate HIV/AIDS information networks for participants. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively and compared to Haythornthwaite's ( 1996 ) concepts of network-mediated information processes and Talja and Hansen's ( 2006 ) collaborative information behavior framework. Findings revealed that participants obtained HIV/AIDS information from their networks through five interactive processes: joint seeking, tag-team seeking, exposure, opportunity, and legitimation. The results of this study advance information behavior theory by pointing to the interactive character of information behavior and introducing new concepts to describe everyday life collaborative information behavior. This research also demonstrates the extensive interplay between health information exchange and the sharing of emotional support. The insights emanating from this study suggest that health information practice might benefit from a focus on program strategies such as building information network capacity, developing collaborative information retrieval systems and relationship-building, in addition to the more traditional library-related concerns of reference encounters, collections, and institutional Web sites.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64304/1/21151_ftp.pd

Information-seeking Behavior of Social Sciences and Humanities Researchers in the Internet Age

This study focuses on how Internet technology influences and contributes to the information-seeking process in the social sciences and humanities. The study examines the information-seeking behavior of faculty and doctoral students in these fields and observes and extends Ellis’s model of information-seeking behavior for social scientists, which includes six characteristics: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The study was conducted at Tennessee State University. Thirty active social sciences and humanities faculty and doctoral students were interviewed about their use of Internet resources, their perception of electronic and print materials, and their opinions concerning the Ellis model and how it might be applicable to them. The research confirmed all the continuing relevance of all characteristics of the Ellis model, and theorized that an extended model could potentially include two additional characteristics: preparation and planning and information management. Based on the interview results, the researcher provides suggestions on how current information services and products can be improved to better serve social sciences and humanities researchers, discusses the implications of these new characteristics for information-searching needs, and makes recommendations for improving library services and technologies that will meet the needs of future social sciences and humanities scholars

Information seeking behaviour of Indonesian agriculturalists working in government research institutes

Information seeking behaviour of Indonesian agriculturalists working in government research institute

The Information Sharing Behaviour of Health Service Managers: a three-part study

Objectives – The purpose of this research was to gain insight into the information behaviour of health service managers as they informed critical decisions unrelated to individual patient care. Methods – This research used two series of qualitative interviews, documentary analysis (a calendar study), a card sorting exercise and a demographic questionnaire to explore the workplace information practices of health service managers. Thirty-six managers were interviewed. Both interview studies used the critical incident technique and cross case analysis. Results are reported with observations and conclusions supported with interview content. The Second Interview Study also used within case analysis in the form of information transaction mapping. Information transactions, calendar study and card sorting exercise data were reported quantitatively. Results – Findings included that these health service managers practiced satisficing, integrating and balancing multiple types of information from multiple sources to inform their decisions until they reached the point of information saturation. After this point, additional information would not make a difference to their decision. Their dominant means of acquiring information was oral information sharing over information seeking. Conclusions – Healthcare services managers support decisions with both facts and value-based information. Lower levels of managers and hybrid managers might benefit from library and information services designed to support them as information gatekeepers. The findings may also encourage health researchers and health research funders to make sure their research informs information sources that health service managers find most convenient to use. These include explicit information such as professional standards, and interpersonal sources such as positional information gatekeepers, experts and conferences