Michael R. Olsson

• Professor at University of the Philippines System

This paper makes the case for practice architectures (Kemmis, et al., 2014; Mahon et al. 2017) as a useful conceptual tool in information practices research. It argues that practice architectures provides a meso-sociological framework which might be used to address long-standing critique of the narrow focus on the individual information seeker in t...

This chapter examines the contours of the religious and spiritual information experiences subfield through a review and content analysis of selected contributions from the past two decades in both information science and related fields. The research question that guides this review is: How have spirituality and religion been conceptualized in infor...

This panel centers on presentations that address examples of spiritual and/or religious experiences through an information lens. The panelists will initiate a timely conversation about the ways in which individuals and communities make sense of their information worlds post pandemic and in contexts of high uncertainty (e.g., climate anxiety, increa...

Purpose The outcomes of information behaviours have traditionally been conceptualised as use or effects. The adoption of a sociological stance, based on a practices approach, provides the opportunity to challenge these understandings. The non-Western setting further enhances the possibilities for conceptualising the outcomes of information practice...

The findings of a study of the information practices of devotees and monks associated with a Buddhist temple are used to examine the way place is understood, and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the conceptualisations presented in the literature. An insider approach facilitated the collection of data through interviews of monks and devot...

This paper reports the findings of a study of the information practices of YouTube content creators. It uses the concept of practice architectures developed by Kemmis and his collaborators to explore the relationship between participants’ information practices and the practice architectures (cultural-discursive, material-economic, social-political)...

Authority and Agency have been central concepts in information science since its beginnings in 19th century documentalism. This paper begins with a brief historical overview of how these concepts have been constructed in the traditional and user‐centred paradigms. It will then explore how an information practices perspective affords the possibility...

This paper presents the findings of a study exploring the information practices of members of a religious organization. Its focus is the “Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery.” Particularly, this paper focuses on the study's findings in relation to participants’ information practices in constructing their understanding of “the Temple.” The study is infor...

The study examines the information practices of early career surgeons. Methodologically, it uses critical discourse analysis in conjunction with two social constructivist theories, Lloyd's information practices and Alvesson and Willmott's identity regulation and identity work. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with early career su...

A study of enthusiast car restorers is used to illustrate how an information practice approach can provide information science researchers with a richer, more nuanced understanding of the complex interrelationship between people, technology, and information. An ethnographic approach incorporating both semistructured interviews and in the garage eth...

This paper reports on emerging themes drawn from a larger ongoing qualitative study of car restorers which explores themes of embodiment, embodied knowledge and ways of knowing. The themes described in this current article indicate that car restoration is bounded within a discourse of loyalty to the particular type of practice and its projects (res...

Information Science researchers have been relatively slow to consider the role of the body in understanding the relationship between people, information and technology. This panel will discuss how a consideration of the body can enrich information researchers' understanding of the complex relationship between people, information and technologies, o...

Introduction. The study examines the information practices of enthusiast car restorers in order to gain a greater understanding of embodied information practices. Conceptual framework. The study is informed by a range of different theoretical approaches including practice theory, sense-making and Foucauldian, multimodal and critical discourse analy...

Archaeology is a domain that has intersections with information science and technology research both as an empirical domain of investigation and as a perspective to inquire into how people interact with information. The aim of this panel is to highlight this interdisciplinary nexus of diverse engagements and to explicate how archaeology has informe...

This article provides a critical analysis of some of the key theories and assumptions that underpin prevailing approaches to the concept of ‘information user’ in contemporary information research and professional practice, suggesting that they continue to reflect a tacitly systems-oriented focus. The author draws on the Sense-Making theories of Bre...

Introduction The concept of embodied information practices and the implications for research and professional practice are examined drawing from the authors’ empirical studies of people engaged in professional and everyday practices. The authors suggest that information behaviour research’s focus on individual cognition has led our field to overloo...

This paper reports the findings of a study of the information practices of archaeologists, students and volunteers undertaking an excavation in the field. Conceptually, the study was guided by a social constructionist and practice-theoretical epistemological standpoint. Methodologically, the study employed a multi-faceted approach incorporating bot...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to engage knowledge management (KM) researchers and practitioners with Foucault’s power/knowledge lens as a way of thinking about and recognising the central role of power in organisational knowledge cultures. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical illustrations in this paper are drawn from two qualita...

Introduction. This paper advocates Foucault's notion of pouvoir/savoir (power/knowledge) as a conceptual lens that information researchers might fruitfully use to develop a richer understanding of the relationship between knowledge and power. Methods. Three of the authors’ earlier studies are employed to illustrate the use of this conceptual lens....

This article presents a case study of a compulsory first-year undergraduate communication degree subject (Language and Discourse) that combines critical discourse analysis, genre and multimodality studies with the teaching of radio production. Using audio/radio as its primary focus, the subject is delivered to over 700 students per semester and aim...

What is the nature of information? What is its role in Contemporary Cosmopolitan Civil Society? What is the basis for the widespread current belief that we live in an ‘information society’? The present article will examine these questions through an examination of the historical origins of established ‘scientized’ views of information in the philos...

The works of William Shakespeare are more popular in the 21st century than ever before, Why are theatre and audiences around the globe still drawn to his work? How do they make sense of these texts in ways that resonate with their cosmopolitan, contemporary audiences? This article uses the findings of a study interviewing 35 theatre professionals i...

This paper presents the results from a study of information behaviors, with specific focus on information organisation-related behaviours conducted as part of a larger daily diary study with 34 participants. The findings indicate that organization of information in everyday life is a problematic area due to various factors. The self-evident one is...

Purpose – To develop a broader understanding of sense-making as an embodied process of social construction. Methodology/approach – Extended conversational interviews (Seidman, 1991) were undertaken with 35 prominent theatre professionals in Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom exploring the events and relationships that shaped their relationship...

This paper grew out of a presentation at the ‘Research for LIS Practitioners Workshop’ organised by the ALIA Research Committees and held at the State Library of New South Wales. The workshop was a satellite event of the Information Online Conference. The goal of the workshop was to encourage practitioner research and publication in the LIS communi...

This paper draws on the findings of a study of 15 international information researchers' relationship with an author work prominent in the literature of their field (Brenda Dervin) to examine academic citation practices in a new light. Drawing on social constructivist theories, derived in part from Foucault's approach to discourse analysis, and a m...

This paper reports on the findings of a study examining how theatre professionals (actors, directors and others) make sense of the works of a culturally iconic author (William Shakespeare). The findings of the study are based on interviews with 35 theatre professionals in Canada, Finland and the UK. The study aims a more holistic approach to the st...

This study examines how theater professionals (actors, directors and others) make sense of the works of a culturally iconic author (William Shakespeare). The research aims to address critique of the information studies/science field's excessive focus on active information seeking and searching by developing an alternative approach, and to understan...

This text provides an overview of major critical theorists from across disciplines—including the humanities, social sciences, and education—that discusses the importance of these critical perspectives for the advancement of LIS research and scholarship. The practical application of library and information science is based upon 75 years of critical...

This paper reports on the findings of a study examining how theatre professionals (actors, directors and others) make sense of the works of a culturally iconic author (William Shakespeare). The study aims to address critique of prevailing approaches' excessive focus on active information seeking and searching (Julien, Where to from here? Results of...

This article provides a critical analysis of some of the key theories and assumptions that underpin prevailing approaches to the concept of ‘information user’ in contemporary information research and professional practice, suggesting that they continue to reflect a tacitly systems-oriented focus. The author draws on the Sense-Making theories of Bre...

‘Knowledge is Power’ has become a cliché in contemporary management discourse. Yet despite this, there has been relatively little attempt made by knowledge management writers to develop a credible conceptual foundation to examine the relationship between knowledge and power and their implications for knowledge management practice The paper will arg...

This article reports the findings of a study examining the social/discursive construction of an author (Brenda Dervin) by an international community of researchers (information behavior researchers). A crucial conceptual starting point for the study was Michel Foucault's work on the discursive construction of power/knowledge. The study represents o...

Understanding information users and their behavior is a question of central importance for information research and practice. The paper challenges several aspects of existing approaches to understanding information behavior, including: the focus on individual cognition at the expense of social and affective factors; the construction of information...

This paper reports the findings of a study of how members of a scholarly community (15 information behaviour researchers) constructed the meaning(s) and significance(s) of an author whose work is prominent in their field (Brenda Dervin). Its findings reveal the essentially social nature of participants' constructive processes. In shifting theoretic...

Introduction. The study explores the social processes that influence the construction by academic (information behaviour) researchers of the meaning/s and significance/s of an author and her work prominent in the literature of their field (Brenda Dervin). Method. Semi-structured qualitative interviews, based in part on the 'Life-Line' and 'Time-li...