Info Environment for Serendipity
Research interest has grown in understanding how creative professionals obtain information to enhance their creative output. To acquire a comprehensive knowledge of such behavior, it is important to look at information-seeking beyond work contexts. Previous research has highlighted the importance of studying information-rich hobbies to enrich a broader understanding of information acquisition. However, little attention has been given to the arts and crafts hobby. Creative inspiration often involves a process of gathering information from various sources that can be found anywhere. With this in mind, we conducted semi-structured interviews and think-aloud observations to investigate how hobbyists navigate information sources in the arts and crafts domain to boost their innovative practices. We selected two research sites for our project: Pinterest, a digital platform, and a physical crafts store. We recruited 20 participants who expressed an interest in arts and crafts, with 10 at each site. Our research question is as follows.
- RQ: How hobbyists navigate information sources in the arts and crafts environment to motivate their creative practices?
My role
I collaborated with Drs. Melissa Ocepek and Stephann Makri on this research project during my time as a doctoral student at the University of Illinois. Our initial goal was to investigate spaces that facilitated passive information acquisition, such as browsing and encountering. As part of this larger project, I was responsible for recruiting and engaging with participants, scheduling initial briefings, conducting interviews, and making observations. Additionally, I analyzed the majority of the qualitative data using thematic analysis and presented our findings across various venues.
Featured skills
- Literature Reviews
- Interviewing
- Ethnography
- Publication Writing
- User Study
- Problem Solving
- Communication
- Qualitative Analysis
- Presentation
Software
- ATLAS.ti
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Skype
Here is the poster that we showcased at the ASIS&T Annual Meeting in Melbourne, Australia in 2019.
This image comes from our JASIST paper published in 2022. Here, we introduced the term information behavior patterns to describe the complex relationships between information and its interaction in the arts and crafts context. Check out the full paper here.
Publications
- Lee, L., Ocepek, M. G., & Makri, S. (2022). Information behavior patterns: A new theoretical perspective from an empirical study of naturalistic information acquisition. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 73(4), 594-608.
- Lee, L., Ocepek, M. G., & Makri, S. (2021). Creating by me, and for me: Investigating the use of information creation in everyday life. Information Research, 26(1), paper 891. Available at InformationR.net/ir/26-1/paper891.html
- (*) Lee, L., Ocepek, M. G., & Makri, S. (2020). Good, bad, and practical: Exploring human memory in everyday information behavior. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 57(1), 1-3.
- Lee, L., Ocepek, M. G., Makri, S., Buchanan G., & McKay, D. (2019). Getting creative in everyday life: Investigating arts and crafts hobbyists’ information behavior. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 56(1), 703-705.
(*) Received ASIS&T 2020 Best Poster Award Honorable Mention and SIG-USE Best Information Behavior Conference Poster Award