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This study examines what happens when an online community (OC) platform is shut down. In particular, it builds on recent interest from information science on everyday life information seeking, providing insights into the socio‐emotional roles enacted by users following community closure. A qualitative study is undertaken on 12 months of social media comments relating to the closure of an OC platform. We identify and discuss the socio‐emotional information roles that manifest, and present a model of their relationship to different aspects of the closure. We make theoretical connections between the notion of socio‐emotional information roles and both the information behavior and practice literature, as well as research on community and participant roles. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illuminates the role of activity theory in addressing theoretical and practical challenges raised by the growing role of digital technology in human activity. We explore and review the role of activity theory in the study of crucial digital technologies such as social media, smartphones, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic decision-making, considering the unique ways that activity theory accommodates such technologies and can generate novel insights. We identify several apparent limitations of activity theory with an eye toward promoting its development and ability to incorporate modern perspectives and conditions. An important contribution of this paper is to stimulate future research that brings together activity theorists to study, in greater depth, the impacts of digital technology, and to help generate ideas on how it should shape future human activity. The themes covered are pressing questions not only for activity theorists, but for the ways we live, work, and play. We suggest activity theory can play a larger role in discourse on digital technologies, and their impact and evolution over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is a growing body of research on information behavior during nonroutine events such as natural disasters, the research has largely neglected older persons as a specific group despite their identification as a demographic that suffers disproportionately during disasters. To address this gap, this article reports on the study of the information behavior and related activities of older persons during natural disasters. Based on a qualitative study, we draw on the theory of information worlds to study the key activities of preparing, responding, and recovering from disasters. The article contributes to the information behavior literature by developing a more informed understanding of both the interrelationship between the information worlds and activities of older persons, and how older persons seek and share information during disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The domain of cultural variations in interpersonal communication is becoming increasingly important in various areas, including human-human interaction (e.g., business settings) and human-computer interaction (e.g., during simulations, or with social robots). User-generated content (UGC) in social media can provide an invaluable source of culturally diverse viewpoints for supporting the understanding of cultural variations. However, discovering and organizing UGC is notoriously challenging and laborious for humans, especially in ill-defined domains such as culture. This calls for computational approaches to automate the UGC sensemaking process by using tagging, linking, and exploring. Semantic technologies allow automated structuring and qualitative analysis of UGC, but are dependent on the availability of an ontology representing the main concepts in a specific domain. For the domain of cultural variations in interpersonal communication, no ontological model exists. This paper presents the first such ontological model, called AMOn+, which defines cultural variations and enables tagging culture-related mentions in textual content. AMOn+ is designed based on a novel interdisciplinary approach that combines theoretical models of culture with crowdsourced knowledge (DBpedia). An evaluation of AMOn+ demonstrated its fitness-for-purpose regarding domain coverage for annotating culture-related concepts mentioned in text corpora. This ontology can underpin computational models for making sense of UGC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. This paper examines how mobile devices have influenced patterns of information behaviour in tourism activities. Method. As a conceptual paper we map the alignment of mobile information services to the three stages of travel activity. Analysis. The paper asserts that there has been shift towards an in situ mode of information access and consumption to support tourism planning activity. Conclusions. The paper contends that mobile devices have had a concertina effect on tourism activity, with many activities that had been conducted by people in the pre-trip stage (related to searching for information and booking and paying for tourism products) and the post-trip stage (such as capturing information and recording of vacation experiences) are now being carried out in the during-trip stage. Mobile devices potentially allow access to a range of context-based services that previously were unavailable to the tourist, however are now easily accessible during a trip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social web content such as blogs, videos, and other user-generated content present a vast source of rich 'digital-traces' of individuals' experiences. The use of digital traces to provide insight into human behavior remains underdeveloped. Recently, ontological approaches have been exploited for tagging and linking digital traces, with progress made in ontology models for well-defined domains. However, the process of conceptualization for ill-defined domains remains challenging, requiring interdisciplinary efforts to understand the main aspects and capture them in a computer processable form. The primary contribution of this article is a theory-driven approach to ontology development that supports semantic augmentation of digital traces. Specifically, we argue that (a) activity theory can be used to develop more insightful conceptual models of ill-defined activities, which (b) can be used to inform the development of an ontology, and (c) that this ontology can be used to guide the semantic augmentation of digital traces for making sense of phenomena. A case study of interpersonal communication is chosen to illustrate the applicability of the proposed multidisciplinary approach. The benefits of the approach are illustrated through an example application, demonstrating how it may be used to assemble and make sense of digital traces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 7 years, the AIMTech Research Group in the University of Leeds has used cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to inform a range of research activities in the fields of information behavior and information systems. In this article, we identify certain openings and theoretical challenges in the field of information behavior, which sparked our initial interest in CHAT: context, technology, and the link between practice and policy. We demonstrate the relevance of CHAT in studying information behavior and addressing the identified openings and argue that by providing a framework and hierarchy of activity-action-operation and semantic tools, CHAT is able to overcome many of the uncertainties concerning information behavior research. In particular, CHAT provides researchers a theoretical lens to account for context and activity mediation and, by doing so, can increase the significance of information behavior research to practice. In undertaking this endeavour, we have relied on literature from the fields of information science and others where CHAT is employed. We provide a detailed description of how CHAT may be applied to information behavior and account for the concepts we see as relevant to its study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policing is a complex setting for innovation, influenced by a range of social, economic, and political factors. Nonetheless, police forces are faced with the unavoidable choice of innovating in order to address criminal activity, improve organizational efficiency, and appease public concerns. In this article, we report on an investigation of innovation in UK police forces in order to augment our understanding of the state of innovation. We examine the current emergence of innovation, the processes involved, and the important factors that pattern innovation. The AIMTech is a research group within the Leeds University Business School that focuses on the interrelationship between new technologies, information management, and organizational change. The main academic research areas within AIMTech are information behaviour and practices, innovation, evaluation of information systems, and design of information services. Over the last 5 years, the group has worked closely with a number of police forces and other emergency services in these fields. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), an emergent broadband wireless technology, and examines its suitability to developing countries. Previous technologies have not fulfilled the promise of increasing connectivity in developing countries, largely due to the high-cost of the technologies and the unsuitability of the technologies to local conditions. WiMAX has emerged as a genuine contender to fill the connectivity gap in developing countries. In this paper we discuss the characteristics of the technology, outline how it can be used to enhance community connectivity and identify some of the issues surrounding WiMAX deployments. We also discuss the implications of WiMAX for ICT for development research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-national field research performed in developing countries presents researchers with a number of obstacles. Challenges include creating equivalent samples, countering biases, and managing linguistic and cultural issues. In this article the author reviews the conduct of a cross-national study focusing on small tourism operators and the adoption of information communication technologies. He presents the research process, the issues encountered and how they were addressed are discussed, and a number of lessons. This article adds to our understanding of crossnational field research in developing countries and presents a number of implications for social science researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, critical realism and activity theory are compared within the context of theorizing technology-mediated organizational change. An activity theoretic analysis of the implementation of large-scale disruptive information systems in a public sector setting (in particular concerning paramedic treatment of heart attack patients and ambulance dispatch work activity) is used to illustrate how activity theory makes a significant contribution to critical realism, by (1) locating technology within "activity systems" and theorizing change through contradictions and congruencies within those systems; (2) developing recent critical realism-inspired theorization of the "inscription" of cultural and social relations within technology; and (3) developing recent insights of critical realist researchers regarding the way in which the performance management agenda is mediated through IS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which editor discussed several issues on topics including understand three domains of personal meaning: Bible reading, ultramarathon running, and artmaking; focusing on information practice; and the gendered narratives of a community of practice.

Introduction. This interdisciplinary research in progress paper describes research exploring information sharing and decision making in a policing context. As the use of information from social media, particularly within a public safety environment, is still new and emerging, there is a distinct lack of theory to explain the transformation in information practices taking place. Method. The research takes a qualitative approach, drawing on a social constructivist meta-theory. Activity theory is presented as the methodological and analytic framework and its application for studying information practices is described. Interviews think aloud techniques, observations and document analysis will be the methods used. Future research. This research aims to contribute to both the academic literature and to policy by developing theory and providing policing organisations with an empirical grounding to develop policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cognitive radio (CR) is considered a promising technology that could provide important benefits in the telecommunication domain. In Europe, the number of research projects, standardization activities and public consultations by the European Commission and regulatory authorities testify to the growing interest in CR. The introduction of CR in the telecommunication market may require new regulations or changes to the way spectrum is licensed and the conditions under which it can be used. The concepts of CR can be applied to various operational scenarios, which are described in this paper. This paper identifies the main challenges for the deployment of CR technology in Europe, provides an overview of the activities by European regulatory and standardization bodies to address the identified challenges and describes a roadmap with potential actions to support the adoption of CR technology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]