Final report: SMaRT messenger pilot project

The SMaRT Messenger Pilot Project is an extension of a previous collaboration between Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) and Loughborough University. Research at the university has contributed to the development of a device by which messages can be sent to the television screens of older and vulnerable people. For example, such messages might: • Alert them to take medication • Remind them of appointments • Send them information of interest • Communicate with friends and family This research project has two objectives. NCHA would like to use the SMaRT Messenger system as a commercial product to enhance their service for their clients and to market to other agencies. Loughborough University, on the other hand, is interested in the digital inclusion of older and vulnerable people and the use of a television based messenger system to facilitate communication and Information to that portion of society. This one year study has investigated the utility of the device as perceived by participants in three different locations served by NCHA. A three phase survey was conducted of people who are testing the system in their own homes. A subgroup of participants was questioned through SMaRT messenger and five people were interviewed face to face. The system has been designed to enable communication between people who receive support from NCHA in their own home and NCHA staff, family and friends and other relevant services. The target audience is people who are not highly competent users of digital communication, such as emails or social media sites, and who have underlying or deteriorating health conditions, live independently with a strong functional support system. The findings indicate that a television based messenger system is an important way of communication for such a limited audience, giving them the feeling of reassurance and inclusion in society

An investigation of multitasking on the web: key findings

Introduction. This paper presents key findings from a study exploring how multitasking information behaviour is affected by people’s working memory capacity and the flow they experience during the searching process. Method. The research is exploratory using a pragmatic, mixed method approach. 30 study participants, 10 psychologists, 10 accountants and 10 mechanical engineers, conducted Web searches on four information topics. The data collection tools used were: pre and post questionnaires, pre interviews, working memory test, the flow state scale of Jackson and Marsh (1996), audio-visual data, web search logs, think aloud data, observation, and the critical decision method. Results. The results suggested that people with high working memory, high flow and mechanical engineers generated more cognitive coordination and cognitive state shifts than people with low working memory, low flow, accountants and psychologists. The most frequent cognitive state and coordination shift for all groups was from strategy to information topic. Low working memory participants rated task complexity at the end of the procedure more highly for tasks without prior knowledge compared to tasks with prior knowledge. Participants with high flow levels experienced a greater change of knowledge for information tasks without prior knowledge compared to participants with low flow. The degree of change of knowledge for participants with high flow was higher for tasks without prior knowledge rather than for tasks with prior knowledge

An integrated model highlighting information literacy and knowledge formation in information behaviour

Purpose This paper reviews key models of people’s information behaviour (IB) exploring the integration of the concepts of information literacy (IL) and knowledge in their designs. Scholarly perspectives portray information literacy as providing individuals with capacity for good information practices that result in generating new knowledge. It is surprising that this important perspective is not reflected in the reviewed information behaviour models. This paper contributes to the literature base by proposing a new model highlighting IL and knowledge as important concepts within the information behaviour discourse. Approach A discourse of the integration of information literacy and knowledge, which are integral factors, associated with IB, in selected IB models. Findings Identifying a need for information and understanding its context is an IL attribute. IL underpins information behaviour in providing awareness of information sources; how to search and use information appropriately for solving information needs and leveraging generated new knowledge. The generation of new knowledge results from using information, in a process that combines with sense-making and adaption. Correspondingly, the knowledge that develops, increases capability for sense-making and adaptation of information to suit various contexts of need; iteratively. Originality/value A new model of information behaviour; the Causative and Outcome Factors of Information Behaviour (COFIB) is proposed. COFIB stresses that information literacy and knowledge are prominent factors within the general framework of people’s information behaviour. The model emphasises knowledge generation as the outcome of information behaviour, applied in solving problems within specific contexts

“She looked like an Alien”: Experience and definitions children attach to a parental cancer diagnosis

Purpose: This paper explores Malay children’s information needs from their experience with parental cancer using information behaviour techniques to elicit sensitive information that provided an indication of what children were thinking. Design/methodology/approach: Data collection adapted the Participatory Action Research method and used participatory-based techniques that included drawings, essays, and interviews. Data explication used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach. Social Constructionism, Learning theory and Cognitive Theory were used to analyse the data. Thirty-two participants took part, ten mothers with breast cancer at different stages of their cancer journey, and twenty-two children between 6-18 years old. Findings: There are shortcomings in the provision of cancer information for Malay children. Unlike verbose and difficult to digest medical definitions and descriptions about cancer and its treatment, Malay children defined cancer as having components made from their experiences and observations about how cancer affected their parent. The findings explain the relationship between children participants’ reaction to a health situation and the subsequent processes they undergo to resolve their state of information need. Originality/value: It highlights the importance of determining information needs and the combined methods used to gain and interpret the experience children face with a parental cancer diagnosis. Findings about ethnic-based information problems, needs and provision for dependent children of cancer patients, are one of the original contributions of this research. To the best of the authors knowledge, this research is believed to be the first in-depth qualitative and highly participative study of the implications of cancer for dependent children of Malay cancer patients