Ian Ruthven’s research while affiliated with University of Strathclyde and other places

Purpose Grey digital divide is becoming a major challenge in today’s world where everyone is expected to be tech savvy in order to use the Internet and digital technologies for everyday living. Vulnerable people, especially older people, encounter several issues with online financial services such as online banking, online shopping, insurance policies, etc. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the factors related to online financial services through literature review and interviews and cluster them in four different sections: human, technology, society and the institutions that provide digital financial services. Design/methodology/approach Through literature review, this research establishes some of the factors that could act as barriers or facilitators in using digital financial services which leads to the classification of four main areas that are presented visually. Subsequently, 22 semi-structured interviews with older people (those aged 65+) and intermediaries resulted in identifying further factors. Findings The findings procured from the thematic analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews are mapped onto the four main classified areas to identify the novel and common factors and a conceptual model was formed from this merging process. Originality/value This type of model has not been developed yet. Hence, this model could be leveraged for undertaking additional research on the interconnections between the factors and investigating to what extent they can positively or negatively influence individuals in the adoption of online financial services.

Older people are encountering digital exclusion due to the evolving technological realm. The use of digital financial services among older people aged 65 and over is low in comparison to other age groups. A wide range of challenges are associated with older people’s low usage of online financial services. Hence, interventions have to be developed to reduce the exclusion. In order to create interventions, factors which contribute to their challenges have to be identified. This paper elucidates a framework which was developed from qualitative data that could be leveraged to develop potential solutions by focusing on the main factors which could prevent them from fully utilizing digital financial services. Not only would this framework be beneficial for older people but also for intermediaries who assist older people in accessing digital financial information as this tool could aid them in choosing the appropriate solution required to help the individual to use online financial services.

Information avoidance has long been in the shadow of information seeking. Variously seen as undesired, maladaptive, or even pathological, information avoidance has lacked the sustained attention and conceptualization that has been provided to other information practices. It is also, perhaps uniquely among information practices, often invoked to blame or censure those who engage in it. However, closer examination of information avoidance reveals nuanced and complex patterns of interactions with information, ones that often have positive and beneficial outcomes. We challenge the simplistic tenor of this conversation through this critical conceptual review of information avoidance. Starting from an examination of how information avoidance has been treated within information science and related disciplines, we then draw upon the various terms that have been used to describe a lack of engagement with information to establish seven core characteristics of the concept. We subsequently use this analysis to establish our definition of information avoidance as practices that moderate interaction with information by reducing the intensity of information, restricting control over information, and/or excluding information based on perceived properties. We consider the implications of this definition and its view of information avoidance as a significant information practice on information research.

Information practices comprise both seeking and avoidance. Although information practices scholars use qualitative and visual methods to understand seeking practices, they rarely do so to understand avoidance. This paper proposes a new visual method that supports revealing and explaining the complex interplay of seeking and avoidance in rich qualitative data. We introduce seven dimensions of information seeking and avoidance practice (intensity, granularity, engagement, control, relevance, quality, and timeliness). We conceptualize these visually as axes radiating outward from a central origin. We use Excel radar charts to depict these dimensions, allowing us to identify and characterize the shapes of information seeking and avoidance in everyday information practices. We apply our approach to two cases from published literature to show how mapping reveals the interplay between seeking and avoidance at one point in time and over time. We propose potential data collection and analysis applications of this method for information practices research.

This panel examines conceptions of everyday life in Information Science. Several theories about everyday life and its information phenomena will be reviewed and analyzed for their origins, distinctions, and divergent claims. Four expert panelists who have published on these matters will encapsulate their ideas, and there will be a video interlude, as well. By design, the panel Agenda features short opening statements, leaving 40 minutes to discuss: How do existing notions of everyday life within Information Science bring information into focus in different ways? Are informational conceptions of everyday life adequate or wanting of critical re‐examination? In keeping with ASIS&T's multiperspective community, inputs will be sought from students, practitioners, first‐time conference attendees, and other groups, in turn. If, as Marcia J. Bates claims, we are “…always looking for the red thread of information in the social texture of people's lives” (1999, p. 1048) then we need to individually and collectively reflect on the nature of everyday life.

Purpose More than eight in ten people worldwide identify with a religious group. In addition, people often engage with spiritual and religious content despite having no formal beliefs or affiliations. Spirituality remains a prominent feature of Western and Westernised information-based societies and cultures; however, people’s everyday interactions with spiritual and religious information have received disproportionate attention in information and library science research. Accordingly, this paper aims to understand how scholars have explored religion and spirituality in information research and identify current and emerging trends in the literature. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses 115 peer-reviewed articles, 44 book chapters, 24 theses and 17 unrefereed papers published between 1990 and 2022 to present a narrative review of how scholars have explored spirituality and religion in information research. The reviewed literature is first organised into spirituality-related and religion-related articles and thereafter analysed in Internet studies, information behaviour studies and galleries, libraries, archives and museums-related research groups. Findings Our analysis indicates scholars in Internet studies have researched both established and alternative religious interactions, and emerging research agendas seek to explore intersections between traditional religious authority and modern Internet-facilitated engagements. Information behaviour scholars have examined interactions in Christianity and Islam, focused primarily on Western contexts and conventional interactions, with emerging research aiming to explore diverse contextual and methodological combinations. Finally, GLAM researchers have investigated the practicality, suitability, and appropriateness of spirituality and religion-related service provisions; however, a clear research agenda is currently lacking in spirituality and religion information research more broadly. Originality/value This paper is the first review of the spirituality and religion-related information research spanning Internet studies, information behaviour studies and galleries, libraries, archives and museums research domains.

Introduction. This study investigates the information behaviours that chaplains across the UK and Ireland use in their day-to-day work when interacting with vulnerable people. Methods. Eight chaplains working with vulnerable people were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The interviews aimed to find out how chaplains acted as intermediaries and what other information behaviour techniques they use in their work. Analysis. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcribed interviews, the four main themes of information work, work duties, ways of working and faith were discovered. Findings. A range of information behaviours were found to be used by chaplains when interacting with their clients. These information behaviours included information chunking, avoidance and acting as an information intermediary. Conclusion. This paper shows the range of information behaviours that chaplains utilise when working with vulnerable communities.