Information Science And The Problem Of Non-urrent Motivation

Information, in a broad sense, is systematically structured, processed and organised information designed for the purpose of decision making. It gives context to existing data and allows effective decision making. For instance, a single consumer’s sale in a restaurant is multiple data through which the management can make an informed decision as to which dish is more popular. Similarly, the activities of a company can be divided into tasks and departments and sub-tasks and the performance of each task/department/sub-task can be measured or evaluated in measurable units. Decision making therefore relies heavily on information.

Information seeking behavior therefore involves three major aspects: self-organization, selective gathering and collaborative sharing. Self-organization refers to the ability to extract useful information from information sources and organize them into meaningful forms. For instance, when a group of workers takes the decisions related to production, their actions facilitate information flow in the direction of productive work. These actions make it possible for information sources to inform each other thereby leading to collective understanding. In addition, they also enable feedback to take place between and within the groups thereby producing improved knowledge. Such a collective understanding facilitates information gathering which leads to the ultimate decision maker’s satisfaction.

On the other hand, information seeking behavior also involves selective gathering. In an information-rich environment, people need various different information sources in order to effectively make decisions. Those information sources should be appropriately chosen in order to be more relevant to the individuals’ goals and needs.

Finally, on the subject of information sources, people seek information because they need it for certain purposes. In the case of information seeking, information sources may be available to a person who is motivated to acquire them because they are looking for particular information. On the other hand, information sources may not be available in the social world at large because they have not been prioritized. In either case, the person seeking information uses different techniques to acquire them.

In this way, it can be seen that people use information systems in order to efficiently collect, organize, and transmit relevant information so that their goals and needs can be met. This is facilitated by the various processes and procedures used inside an information system. An information system may be viewed as a set of processes and procedures that make it possible for people to collect and organize relevant information (e.g. consumer price index, real estate indexes, stock exchanges, etc.)

A person may lack motivation because she lacks the proper tools for her efforts in information science. Fortunately, such problems do not arise because all the tools and skills needed by someone are readily available. They may be purchased from electronic sources, they may be downloaded from the Internet, or they may be taught or trained by someone else who has acquired these skills through extensive training.