Informal Social Settings Provide Key Opportunities For Information Exchange

By Author: Alex Lee
Total Articles: 366
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Trust, as a blend of cognitive authority and multivariate cost, is a critical determinate of information-seeking. In experimenting with different interper-Isonal sources, tweens are learning valuable lessons about trust and authority. Factors emerging in their explicit and implicit decisions include (1) the perceived credibility of the source, (2) the loyalty of the source, and (3) their personal connection to the source (i.e., tie strength). Tweens may sacrifice information quality (in objective terms), particularly on sensitive topics like sex, to satisfy their need to reduce social costs, such as embarrassment, intimidation, or loss of social status. Social roles and social types are also important factors in tweens' developing conceptions of trust. Tweens begin to make generalizations, sometimes false or naive, about the ability of adults and peers to answer their questions. As tweens further develop their ability to engage in perspective-taking, they begin to understand more fully their roles as information-seekers as well as the roles others take in helping or hindering their search for information. True Religion Jeans ...
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Informal social settings provide key opportunities for information exchange, particularly about everyday-life situations. Just as formal models of information literacy appear strained in their application to everyday-life problems, formal spaces often fail to provide the proper context for information-sharing. This study found that tweens have a rich repertoire of strategies for sharing everyday-life information, few of which involved formal channels, such as libraries and help systems. As socialization and information behavior are found to be closely entwined, it is important to recognize the power of informal space in mediating the information needs of young people. The soccer field, the school cafeteria, and the shopping mall become essential information grounds to tweens, both for satisfying their curiosity and for meeting their developmental needs. Information professionals who wish to assist tweens in seeking authoritative information must consider expanding their services to these information grounds where possible. Lee Jeans

Practitioners who use this framework to guide the development of information services for preteens should audit their current practices and policies, looking specifically to increase peer interaction and to foster natural cross-over or convergences between everyday and scholastic activities. For example, are student assistants relegated to shelving books, or do they help mediate services through peer assistance? Do tween users have social spaces (physical and virtual) to gather and share everyday-life information as well as school-related information ?How are routine spaces such as hallways, lunchrooms, bathrooms, buses, and even libraries (school and public) being used to promote everyday information-sharing?(e.g., information grounds per Fisher, Landry, and Naumer [55]) Are books on sensitive topics (e.g., reproductive health) and "light" topics (e.g., hobbies, fashion, and music) available in modes and venues that can be accessed privately as well as those that appeal to tweens' social interests and behaviors? As part of information literacy training, are tweens instructed in (a) how to recognize or clarify information needs in their own minds as well as the information needs of others, (b) articulate those needs to others personally or using an information system, and (c) use efficient strategies for sharing and managing information Such questions focus attention on the developmental needs of youth and how services can be oriented toward their personal and social growth as information-seekers.