Watching the workersResearching information behaviours

in, and for, workplaces

Hazel Hall

Opening keynote: Information Behaviour in Workplaces

15th October 2016

ASIST Annual MeetingCopenhagen, Denmark

Introducing the speaker

Hazel Hall and Edinburgh Napier University

@hazelhhttp://hazelhall.org

#siguse16

Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (1614)

John Napier of Merchiston1 February 1550 - 4 April 1617

Evening lecture and reception

What, if anything, makes knowledge an improvement over information?

6pm Wednesday 30th November

Edinburgh

Afternoon doctoral workshop

Research philosophies

Travel/accommodation bursaries for PhD students

Watching the workers

Early days

An early experience of ‘watching the workers’

The next set of workers watched

http://hazelhall.org

Watching the workers

Recent and current research in the Centre for Social Informatics

Page 15

Centre for Social Informatics 2016/17

8 staff: 1 researcher, 4 lecturers, 1 senior lecturer, 1 associate professor, 1 professor

8 research students: 7 full-time, 1 part-time

1 emeritus professor: Lizzie Davenport

2 visiting professors: Blaise Cronin & Brian Detlor

Louise Rasmussen PhD

Workplace: large European public sector agency charged with economic development

Behaviours examined relate to adoption of KM

JIS 42(3) 356-368

Iris Buunk 3rd year PhD student

Workplace: UK public sector

Behaviours examined relate to tacit knowledge sharing as facilitated by technology

https://theknowledgeexplorer.org/

Bruce Ryan and Peter Cruickshank

Workplace: (hyperlocal) government

Behaviours examined relate to information use for democratic engagement

https://community-knect.net/

Lynn Killick 3rd year PhD student

Workplace: UK public sector

Behaviours examined relate to use of census information in public policy making

JIS 42(3), 386-395

Lyndsey Jenkins 2nd year PhD student

Workplace: to be confirmed

Behaviours to be examined relate to workplace learning

https://lyndseyjenkins.org/

John Mowbray 3rd year PhD student

‘Workplace’: employers

Behaviours examined relate to use of networking and social media to access the labour market

https://johnmowbray.org/

Frances Ryan 3rd year PhD student

‘Workplace’: employers

Behaviours examined relate to personal online reputation management

http://www.justaphd.com/

Christine Irving

Workplace: employers

Behaviours examined relate to information literacy and lifelong learning

http://www.therightinformation.org/

(We’ve also been watching ‘ourselves’)

(ARA/CILIP Workforce Mapping Project)

Watching the workers

Challenges to researching information behaviours in, and for, workplaces

…through

Referencing frameworks

Selecting methods

Collecting and analysing data

Making a contribution

Extensions to our work

We seek to…

Behaviours and explanation: deploying frameworks

Within discipline or borrowed?

What if none is appropriate? Validity of a ‘loose’ framework to anchor theory development?

Extent of contribution?

Selecting the ‘right’ methods:

Qualitative versus quantitative versus mixed versus multi..?

‘Traditional’ options: surveys, interviews, and focus groups or more novel/risky approaches?

https://lisresearch.org/dream-project/

Collecting and analysing data:

Sample site(s)?

Establishing initial contact(s)?

In-site sampling?

Timing?

Site ‘stability’?

Legal/ethical issues?

Expectation of return?

What exactly are we contributing?Not as simple 2 HCL + Na2O = H2O

+ 2 NaCL

‘Unmixing’ ingredients?

Relevance and impact?

Watching the workers of the future

Who - or what - next?

UK fishing & agriculture

C19th = 22%

C21st = 1%

US farming

C19th = 50%

C21st < 2%

White collar (knowledge) work at risk

Disappearance of ‘traditional’ stable, localised work

Multiple career changes

Established professions under threat

Integration

Not humans or robots

Not humans versus robots

Humans with robots

Emerging agendas

What are the implications of the continued automation of human tasks, roles and jobs?

How can these be addressed?

Is there a role here for information scientists?

If so, what can we contribute (are we already contributing):

On basis of existing body of work on information behaviours in the workplace?

By applying knowledge and techniques to new/changing employment and employment environment(s)?

Groups such as CSI ‘follow the information’ to make contributions to national priorities

Economic: e.g. skills development, innovation, productivity, competitive advantage, sustainable growth

Societal: community development, social cohesion, equality, stability

Watching the workersResearching information behaviours

in, and for, workplaces

Hazel Hall

Opening keynote: Information Behaviour in Workplaces

15th October 2016

ASIST Annual MeetingCopenhagen, Denmark