Information Needs and Seeking Behaviours of Journalists and Artisans

Abstract

This paper discussed the information needs and information seeking behaviours of journalists and artisans. It is observed that information seeking is context based meaning that people seek information so as to resolve a problem or to take a particular decision. Also, people vary in their ability to seek information: differences in intelligence, analytical ability, educational status, profession/occupation, age, and gender among other factors have substantial influence on the capacity of people to seek information effectively. Journalists are a heterogeneous group of professionals and their information needs are enormous, quite insatiable and much diversified because they do not only inform the masses but also play an important role in the interpretation of news and events to develop understanding, opinion formation and persuasion. They consult a variety of formal and informal sources but a greater emphasis is placed on the informal (interpersonal) sources. Some of the problems hampering access to information by journalists include lack of time to search for information, information overload, inadequate library services and sources, lack of support from library staff, problem of accessing information, finance and language. Artisans also are highly heterogeneous groups of information seekers. They often engage in very small to medium scale business enterprises and cut across all age groups. Majority of them have little or no education and this results in major differences in their information needs and seeking behaviours. Artisans need information for training and gaining new skills, job related issues, financial matters, health, socio-economic issues, politics and government, community development matters, employment opportunities, current affairs, and sports among others. With regards in information sources, artisans are most frequently engaged in informal, face-to-face discussion with customers and neighbours and through attendance at their association meetings. On the usage of ICTs, artisans rely almost exclusively on mobile phones as a significant cost-saving device in everyday business communication. They also use radio, television and internet as formal sources of information. Problems encountered by artisans in seeking information include the inability to get required information, time to be spent in getting required information, ignorance of the existence of information sources, problem of getting reliable information, and language. Journalists and artisans as well as other information seekers would want to expend the least effort in searching for information; they generally consult the most convenient sources. Librarians and other information providers should, therefore, take convenience into consideration in the design and delivery of information services to ensure adequate utilization.

Keywords: information needs, information seeking behaviour, journalists, artisans, formal and informal sources.