ERIC Number: EJ858570
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jul
Pages: 41
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-2519
EISSN: N/A
Making Sense of an Information World: The Everyday-Life Information Behavior of Preteens
Meyers, Eric M.; Fisher, Karen E.; Marcoux, Elizabeth
Library Quarterly, v79 n3 p301-341 Jul 2009
This article presents an empirically-grounded framework for mediating the everyday-life information worlds of youth aged 9-13. "Tweens" are a sandwiched population with behaviors, circumstances, and needs distinct from children and young adults. Little research has addressed their information-seeking, especially regarding nonschool contexts. Thus, empirically-based conceptual tools are needed to help professionals in mediating the complex information worlds of tweens. Guided by multiple frameworks (Dervin's sense-making, Fisher's information grounds, and Chatman's normative behavior), data were collected using the "Tween Day" technique, involving scenario-based focus groups and interviews with thirty-four youth in three distinct settings. The study aimed at understanding the situations for which tweens seek everyday information; which sources they use, and why; what social settings foster information-sharing, and how; and what factors (especially affective) promote or hinder information-seeking. Using these findings, the proposed professional service framework contains five descriptive principles for mediating everyday-life information-seeking and information use by tweens.
Descriptors: Focus Groups, Access to Information, Interviews, Vignettes, Information Seeking, Barriers, Preadolescents, Early Adolescents, Search Strategies, Information Needs, Information Sources, Social Environment
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A