The importance of theories of knowledge: Browsing as an example
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The importance of theories of knowledge : Browsing as an example. / Hjørland, Birger.
In: Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 62, No. 3, 2011, p. 594-603.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The importance of theories of knowledge
T2 - Browsing as an example
AU - Hjørland, Birger
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - The study on information science (IS) by Bates (2007) is an important contribution to the literature on browsing in IS. It is explicitly based on “behavioural science.” I use this article as the point of departure for demonstrating how more social and interpretative understandings may provide fruitful improvements for research in information seeking, browsing, and related phenomena. It is part of my ongoing publication of articles about philosophical issues in IS and it is intended to be accompanied by analyses of other examples of contributions to core issues in IS. Although it is mainly formulated as a discussion based on a specific paper, it should be seen as part of a general discussion of the philosophical foundation of IS and as support for the emerging social paradigm in this field. The article argues that human browsing should not be conceptualized primarily in biological terms and should not be understood as random exploratory processes, but rather it should be seen as a kind of orienting strategy governed by people’s metatheories or “paradigms.” Information professionals should know how different metatheories are distributed in the information ecology and, thus, be able to help people developing fruitful browsing strategies.
AB - The study on information science (IS) by Bates (2007) is an important contribution to the literature on browsing in IS. It is explicitly based on “behavioural science.” I use this article as the point of departure for demonstrating how more social and interpretative understandings may provide fruitful improvements for research in information seeking, browsing, and related phenomena. It is part of my ongoing publication of articles about philosophical issues in IS and it is intended to be accompanied by analyses of other examples of contributions to core issues in IS. Although it is mainly formulated as a discussion based on a specific paper, it should be seen as part of a general discussion of the philosophical foundation of IS and as support for the emerging social paradigm in this field. The article argues that human browsing should not be conceptualized primarily in biological terms and should not be understood as random exploratory processes, but rather it should be seen as a kind of orienting strategy governed by people’s metatheories or “paradigms.” Information professionals should know how different metatheories are distributed in the information ecology and, thus, be able to help people developing fruitful browsing strategies.
U2 - 10.1002/asi.21480
DO - 10.1002/asi.21480
M3 - Journal article
VL - 62
SP - 594
EP - 603
JO - American Society for Information Science and Technology. Journal
JF - American Society for Information Science and Technology. Journal
SN - 2330-1635
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 47053706