The passion and pleasure of information sharing in pottery practice

The paper reports selective findings from a broader study about information behaviour in the context of the pottery hobby as a form of serious leisure. Among all the information activities in this context, the paper focuses on the affective and emotional aspects of information sharing. The Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP) is the theoretical framework of the study. The required data were collected via a purposeful and criteria-based sampling method. A sample of user-generated content (UGC) on YouTube was collected to form the dataset. The collected data were analysed through inductive content analysis to identify patterns of embedded concepts and themes in the dataset.Results. Seven categories were identified. These categories summarise the major emotional reactions that viewers expressed and shared in their comments: (1) amazement, (2) excitement, (3) gratitude, (4) joyfulness, (5) admiration, (6) serenity, (7) inspiration. The overall ambience of the videos and commenters’ reactions were positive and joyful. The paper concludes that information sharing on a popular hobby via a publicly available platform, like YouTube, can evoke a range of positive emotions and establish social bonds. These social ties are the building blocks to form communities of interest and communities of practice to produce and share information on the chosen activity.Peer Reviewe

Structural (In)visibility: Possible Effects of Constructing a Controlled Vocabulary in a Niche Domain

The paper explores the challenges and implications that arose during the construction of a controlled vocabulary in an emerging, non-structured domain. It discusses the difficulty of defining a domain with evolving and intersectional boundaries, and how Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language may aid designers in properly representing a domain’s hierarchy when multiple language games are present. It also discusses adaptation of standard construction procedures to maintain domain representation. The analysis focuses on the potential effects that constructing such a controlled vocabulary could cause in the future evolution of that domain

Organizational changes, trust and information sharing: an empirical study

Purpose While there is relatively plenty of evidence for the positive impact of communication on the perceptions of organizational change, how organizational changes affect information sharing is relatively unknown. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a favorable perception of ongoing organizational changes has a positive impact on information sharing and whether trust mediates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire (n=317) was administered to the employees of a large Finnish multinational organization. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses based on earlier research findings. Findings The results show that a positive perception of recent organizational changes improves information sharing both directly and indirectly, mediated by trust. Consequently, when changes are perceived negatively, employees recoil from information sharing which is known to have negative implications for organizations. Research limitations/implications Data were collected in a single organization. The nature of the specific changes in the studied organization and its particularities undoubtedly had an effect on respondents’ perceptions. Originality/value This paper contributes to organizational information management research by elaborating on the relationship between organizational changes and interpersonal information sharing between employees. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study confirming the impact of the perception of organizational changes on employee information-sharing behavior

Information exchange on an academic social networking site: A multidiscipline comparison on researchgate Q&A

The increasing popularity of academic social networking sites (ASNSs) requires studies on the usage of ASNSs among scholars and evaluations of the effectiveness of these ASNSs. However, it is unclear whether current ASNSs have fulfilled their design goal, as scholars' actual online interactions on these platforms remain unexplored. To fill the gap, this article presents a study based on data collected from ResearchGate. Adopting a mixed-method design by conducting qualitative content analysis and statistical analysis on 1,128 posts collected from ResearchGate Q&A, we examine how scholars exchange information and resources, and how their practices vary across three distinct disciplines: library and information services, history of art, and astrophysics. Our results show that the effect of a questioner's intention (i.e., seeking information or discussion) is greater than disciplinary factors in some circumstances. Across the three disciplines, responses to questions provide various resources, including experts' contact details, citations, links to Wikipedia, images, and so on. We further discuss several implications of the understanding of scholarly information exchange and the design of better academic social networking interfaces, which should stimulate scholarly interactions by minimizing confusion, improving the clarity of questions, and promoting scholarly content management

To share or not to share : an explorative study of health information non-sharing behaviour among Flemish adults aged fifty and over

Introduction: This study explores health information non-sharing behaviour in everyday social settings and interactions. The novelty and relevance of the study lies in the fact that it explores a common yet understudied information behaviour, as very few studies have examined information non-sharing. Method: Forty qualitative in-depth interviews were held in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, with adults between the ages of fifty and eighty. Analysis: A contextual framework was drawn from information studies and health information and communication research, consisting of the concepts of health orientation, information avoidance, uncertainty management, to help understand health information non-sharing. Thematic analysis was employed to identify reasons for non-sharing behaviour. Results: Seven key themes or reasons emerge for health information non-sharing behaviour; health as a non-topic, avoid being labelled as ill, individual responsibility, avoid burdening others, lack of trust in others, lack of trust in the internet, and avoiding information overload. Conclusions: This study is not only more nuanced than earlier work on sharing behaviour, but also leads to new questions about outcomes of health information non-sharing. The findings further illuminate'non-information behaviour' within information studies, while also offering insights relevant to health communication researchers and healthcare practitioners

Fisher and Dervin and the Ordinary Citizen: How Information Grounds and Sensemaking is Spurring Library and Information Science in the Areas of Design, User Behavior, and Library Amenities

Does information behaviour change based on the setting? This paper looks at the new buildings of the Seattle Public Library, Boston Public Library and Helsinki's Public Library, Oodi, and how design elements can help shape library usage and information behaviour

Information Providers Behaviour: Communication as a Process in Information Behaviour of Pharmaceutical Companies: Part 2

As pharmaceutical companies are sponsors and producers of much of the research evidence for new medicines, it is important that they make that evidence available to the NHS as soon as possible and that users in the NHS are able easily to access it, evaluate it and use it in clinical decision-making. When healthcare professionals refer to information provision by the pharmaceutical industry, however, they often focus on advertising and promotional information and question its value or they claim that the industry supplies biased information. In order to gain in-depth insights into information providers’ views of their roles and activities, qualitative interviews were carried out with employees of a selection of pharmaceutical companies in the UK. Interviews were carried out by telephone to minimize inconvenience to the participants and in the hope of encouraging participation. The findings indicate that, companies’ information behaviour is influenced not just by their internal context and goals but also by the external context in which they operate, including legal requirements. The ISCM also refers to personal context, training, experience and job role as possible influences on information providers’ behaviour. In addition, it takes a novel approach in using existing theory not only from library and information science but also from communication studies. As a result, the ISCM is more comprehensive in scope than most other models, covering as it does the information user, information seeking and use, the information provider and communication

High involvement of human resource management practices, organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction in Royal Malaysia Customs

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of high involvement human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on job satisfaction. High involvement of HRM practices was divided into five dimensions namely recognition practices, empowerment practices, competence development practices, fair reward practices and information sharing practices. The relationship between these five dimensions to OCB and the relationship between OCB to job satisfaction of employee in Royal Malaysia Customs Department (RMCD) Perak was explored in this study. 250 questionnaires were distributed to the employees in RMCD Perak and in return, 200 questionnaires were collected. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between those variables. Results indicated that the positive significant relationship was found between empowerment practices, competence development practices, fair reward practices and information sharing practices to OCB as well as the positive significant relationship between OCB and job satisfaction. However, results showed that there was no significant relationship between recognition practices and OCB. The study aims to contribute to organization that intend to use OCB as an instrument to increase the level of employee satisfaction as well as to enhance the human resources management, organizational citizenship and job satisfaction

Talking to imagined citizens? Information sharing practices and proxies for e-participation in hyperlocal democratic settings

Introduction. Prior research in Information Science often uses constructs from Social Exchange Theory to explain online information sharing. Exchange theories have a strong focus on reciprocity, yet in some communities, such as elected democratic representatives at hyperlocal level, it is observed that information is shared online for little visible return. This raises questions as to the extent to which existing models of online information sharing based on the tenets of exchange are applicable across a full range of contexts. In the case of hyperlocal representatives, this also prompts consideration of their motivations for online information sharing, and their response to apparent non-participation or 'lurking' in this process on the part of citizens. In this paper an information sharing practice-based approach is deployed to explore the means by which hyperlocal representatives in Scotland handle their information sharing role and address their relationship with their online 'lurker' audiences. Method. Hour long interviews were conducted in November and December 2016 with 19 representatives who serve on Scottish community councils. Analysis. Qualitative analysis of the interview data generated the results of the study. Results. Information sharing is regarded as an important duty of community councillors. It is largely practised as transmission or broadcast (rather than exchange) using a variety of channels, both online and face-to-face. Such efforts are, however, limited. This is due to restricted resources, a lack of familiarity with the information users (and non-users) that community councillors serve, and poor knowledge of tools for analysing online audiences. Attitudes towards online communities that largely comprise lurker audiences vary from frustration to resignation. Conclusions. While some of the findings articulate with extant knowledge and extend it further, others contradict the results of prior research, for example on online platforms as deliberative spaces. The practice-based approach as deployed in the study surfaces new contributions on proxies in information sharing. Amongst these, it adds to prior work on information seeking by proxy, and introduces the concept of information sharing by proxy