Special Issue of Information Processing and Management on “Information Need”
摘要截稿:
全文截稿: 2019-01-15
影响因子: 4.787
期刊难度:
CCF分类: B类
中科院JCR分区:
• 大类 : 计算机科学 - 1区
• 小类 : 计算机:信息系统 - 1区
• 小类 : 图书情报与档案管理 - 1区
Overview
Information Need is one the most significant and controversial concepts within Information Science. Information needs are fundamental to much research within Information Seeking and Retrieval and we have seen decades of research into how to classify information needs, how systems should respond to different types of information need and into the nature of information needs themselves. Information need has also proven to be a very accessible concept, one that appears widely across disciplines and appears extensively within both the research and practitioner literatures.
In spite of its strong place within many sub-fields of Information Science, Information Need is also a highly contentious concept. Many authors feel that it is a concept that lacks theoretical clarity or that other concepts, such as tasks or situations, better represent what users care about. Although information ‘need’ has an intuitive and common-sense feeling about it, this property may well mask serious problems with one of our most important theoretical constructs.
The Special Issue is intended to present a collection of significant contributions to our understanding of the concept of Information Need. Contributions to this issue will go beyond simply describing information needs in order to answer critical questions regarding the nature of information needs. Submissions may answer theoretical questions on how we conceptualise need or perform comparisons between information need and alternative concepts. They may empirically demonstrate new knowledge about information needs in new contexts or provide new ways to distinguish between information needs. They may also help us evaluate how to support information needs of different types or present new methodologies for understanding information needs.
This Special Issue is inspired by Robert Taylor’s 1968 classification of four levels of information need [1]. One of the most cited and influential works within Information Science, Taylor’s research was a major theoretical advance. Half a century later we wish to both honour this significant intellectual contribution and reflect on the status of Information Need within Information Science.
Submissions should fall under at least one of these categories, if in doubt as to suitability, please contact the Guest Editors:
- Definition and conceptualisation of Information Need
- Empirical investigations of Information Need
- Methodological innovation in studying Information Need