A DISCUSSION OF INFORMATION USERS

A CONCEPTUAL PAPER

BY DAVID KYALO MUTISO

NOVEMBER 2015

CONTENTS

PG

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Definition of terms
3.0 Information
2.2 Information need
2.3 Information Behaviour
3.0 Information users
3.1 General public in a social context
3.2 Access of information by age group
3.3 Professionals in terms of their functions and work environment
3.4 Managers and scientists in various disciplines
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Sources consulted

INFORMATION USERS
4.0 INTRODUCTION
Information has many users; these include the persons concerned with processing the information
storing and making it accessible to the end user. There is also the end user of the information. This
is the person who is targeted by the author or producer of the information, the audience for whom
the information is recorded. There are many categories of information users; these include the
young user, the adult general user, professional users including scientists, lawyers, doctors,
managers, scholars, researchers and students.
5.0 DEFINITION OF TERMS
6.0 INFORMATION
According to Wikipidia.org/wiki Sv. Information Information in its most restricted technical sense
is an ordered sequence of symbols that record or transmit a message, it adds As a concept, however,
information has numerous meanings.[1] Moreover, the concept of information is closely related to
notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental
stimulus, pattern, perception

2.2 INFORMATION NEED

(Case, D.O. 2002: 5) information need is a recognition that your knowledge is inadequate to
satisfy a goal that you have
According to Wikipidia.org/wiki Sv. Information_need Information need is an individual or
group's desire to locate and obtain information to satisfy a conscious or unconscious need

2.3 INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

Wikipidia.org/wiki Sv. Information_behavior Information seeking (redirect from Information
behavior), information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information
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3.0 INFORMATION USERS

3.1 GENERAL PUBLIC IN A SOCIAL CONTEXT
Almost everybody requires information for different reasons and purposes. As a commodity,
information can be utilized by age group, occupation, non occupation, locality and physical nature.
3.2 ACCESS OF INFORMATION BY AGE GROUP
When one thinks of access to information by age group, obviously the issue of the reading materials
comes into consideration. For instance childrens reading materials are usually when with the issue
of level of understanding in mind. They require humorous and light literature that is well illustrated
and whenever possible their reading matter is firmly prepared and with colour illustrations. By so
doing they will be interesting to look and read.
Young persons and the youths reading patterns are almost similar to those of the children. They
tool like humorous literature for general reading. Textbooks for those in school are prepared with
their level of understanding in mind. Thus there would be a difference in the reading scope between
pupils in primary school and the others in Secondary school because their level of understanding is
different.
Similarly, the adult users will want to access information on general topics not particularly In
humour and adventure like the young persons, instead they would prefer to access information on
real life situations. Such includes news of current happenings, politics of the day, social and
economic matters affecting their daily lives, such as public health, family planning issues,
agricultural information and political maneuvers and tricks of politicians in the present government
and the corruption dealings plus the rot and woes of the civil service.

3.3 PROFESSIONALS IN TERMS OF THEIR FUNCTIONS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

Information users can also be categorized in terms of their functions and work environment. In this
cluster of users the following user groups will be examined: People engaged in doing research,
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Users teaching and training in educational institutions, Managers of corporations and institutions,
Social workers and administrators, information users in the printing and broadcasting industries,
users engaged in politicians, business and commerce users of information and lastly those doing
studies and as well as learners. These categories of users need quality information that is well
researched.
Researchers are found in academic institutions which include universities a, colleges, schools and
research organizations. Most of the times, this category of users require information for research
purposes. The information is mean to fulfill tasks related to learning and research. At universities,
lecturers will want information to fulfill their duty for teaching and lecturing to students. They will
also want to present papers in learned forums like conferences where they exchange ideas with
researchers from other universities and research organizations. Students from universities, colleges
and schools will require information to do their home work and write term papers given by their
lecturers. Researchers would need information to write papers and while doing investigative
research to come up with new information in their field for exchange and dissemination to other
researchers through professional forums and journals.
Industrialist are another group of users who need information to do their daily work, they include,
manuals, handbooks and instructions. Usually they require information on daily basis compared to
researchers who will need long term and strategic information for publishing their findings.
People working in government institutions are another category of users who require information
related to government activities usually for administrative purposes. Most government offices have
registries and special libraries specially stocked to fulfill their information needs.
Professional associations, trade unions and political parties are a distinct form a distinct class of
users in that they are also users in their own right within the other categories. To belong to these
three groups of users, one has to be admitted to the group through a consensus or pay some fees.
The information needs of this category of users are therefore specific to their area of operation.
They usually have a specialized collection of documents related to their area of interest. Their
information need is therefore distinct and about issues related to their area of interest usually about
what they profess and information articulate to the membership for the interest of the entire
community.
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Lastly the press and broadcasting industry is another distinct category of information users that
requires a bit general information. Whatever they gather is usually repackaged for public
consumption. They have to research on; they have to gauge its impact to the community after its
distribution. The people of the press and broadcasting industry do not usually have enough time to
do a thorough research and most of what they report is superficially covered in terms of details. At
times they can get the facts wrong and have to apologize to the injured parties. Since they deal with
superficial information the resource centres at these institutions are stocked with materials that
supply factual and ready reference information. Only literature related to their area of interest is
stocked in addition to their publications.

3.4 MANAGERS AND SCIENTISTS IN VARIOUS DISCIPLINES

Managers as a category of users have their own information requirement. There are three known
categories of managers who require slightly different information at their level; these include tom
management, middle managers and front line or lower level managers. Higher level managers
require high summarized information; usually they have little time for details because their tasks are
complex and enormous. Middle level managers have time for details and usually communicate to
the frontline managers what is needed to be done by the top level managers and indeed the
organization as a whole. Middle level managers and frontline have time to go through detailed
documents in order to get the organization moving. All the same their information requirement is
related and most of the time their resources centres will stock relevant information to meet their
information requirement.
Scientists and scholars are an information user category that comprises technologists, lecturers of
educational and training institutions and the students that they teach. These users in these
institutions enjoy access a wide range of information almost covering all discipline and indeed the
universe of knowledge. Though the information workers may stock more materials touching on the
courses being done, they will always make sure there is adequate information for general reading.
Nevertheless, research institutes usually for specialized scientists will tend to stock information
tilting on the mission of the kind of research the organization was commissioned to do by the parent
organization.
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The general public in various occupational excluding children are another category of users. The
national and public libraries are frequently visited by this group of users. As general users their
information enquires are usually not so specific to one discipline. Libraries charged with the
responsibility of meeting their information needs stock materials meant for general reading. But it is
the information seeking behaviuor of this group of users that distinguishes itself from the rest.
Usually composed of mature people their information interests touch across all disciplines but at
generally and superficially. This includes current affairs, and recent occurrences of interest to the
public. This includes developing stories on social and cultural matters that has an impact on the
society in general.

4.0 CONCLUSION
Information as a commodity can be accessed by people for different reasons. The above discussion
on categorization of users has proved this premise. It is actually the user who determines the value
and need for the information. The work of the manager of information is to meet the many various
needs of these users. It is also important to make sure that the right information is accessed by the
right user. That is why user studies is a very important field for information science specialists; so
that they be able to identify the type of user and the scope of information being sought.

5.0 SOURCES CONSULTED

Case, D.O. 2007. Looking for information : a survey of research on information, seeking needs and
behaviour. London: Elsevier. Available: http://books.google.co.ke (accessed 2011/08/20)

Gashaw K. 2002. The changing information needs of users in electronic information

environments. Electronic Library. 20 (1): 14 - 21.
htt[2: //www.e merald insight.c om/journals. htm?issn=02640473&volume=20&issue=1&articleid=861947&show=html (accessed 27 July 2011)

Ritter, Frank E. Discovering User Information Needs:The Case of University Department

Web Sites. Source: acs.ist.psu.edu/papers/ritterFH05.pdf (accessed 27/07/2011)

University of South Africa, Department of Information Science.

2008. Exploring Information user Studies. Only study guide for
INS2055. Pretoria: Unisa.
Wikipidia.org/wiki Sv. Information
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information (accessed 2011/08/27)
Wikipidia.org/wiki Sv. Information_behavoir
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_behavior (accessed 2011/08/27)
to Wikipidia.org/wiki Sv. Information_need
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_need (accessed 2011/08/27)

INS2055
ASSIGNMENT 02

QUESTION 2
IDENTIFICATION AND DISCUSSION OF INFORMATION BARRIERS THAT HINDER
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
CONTENTS

PG

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Definition of terms
2.1 Information access
3.0 Information barriers that hinder access to information
3.1 Distance from service point
3.2 Costs of information materials and access
3.3 Language barriers
3.4 Technology challenges
3.5 User interface
3.6 Information skills
3.7 Information overload
3.8 Electronic problems
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Sources consulted

3.0 INTRODUCTION
Information is supposed to be freely accessed but due to many factors, its access has been hindered
and created issues that would need to be addressed to enhance its access. Most of the barriers are
prevalent in developing countries. It is there where governments are still struggling to address to the
basic needs of its citizens. Thus there is minimal attention given to developing sound information
infrastructure. It is only at the urban areas where good infrastructure is available and information
can be accessed. This is true only if other barriers pertaining to subscription to information agencies
and databases are addressed. However, today there is a systematic shift to accessing electronic
information and without access to the global information infrastructure there are minimal
documents available in electronic formats from the local publishers owing to financial limitations
being encountered for designing and housing of information electronically for online access.
4.0 DEFINITION OF TERMS
2.1 INFORMATION ACCESS
(Wikipedia/wiki.org Sv Information_access) Information access is a term used to describe an area
of research at the intersection of informatics, Information Science, Information Security, Language
Technology, Computer Science, and library science.

3.0 INFORMATION BARRIERS THAT HINDER ACCESS TO INFORMATION

The following challenges and barriers have been identified as the major handles bedeviling the free
flow of information to the end user.
3.1 DISTANCE FROM SERVICE POINT
Information centres will not always be situated at the most convenient locality for the user unless by
a chance. Most of the times, one has to walk or travel some distance to access for information. This
is true of information in print format, with modern technology, one can access to information at
home or office. However, one has to have a computer, laptop or some gadget that has a modem
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either to access using a broad band modem or through the mobile communication providers using
microwave technology. If one is equipped with such, information resources can be accessed
electronically through the intranet or internet while at home. Thus distance remains quite a
hindrance to access of information some most people living in rural areas and even urban dwellers.

3.2 COSTS OF INFORMATION MATERIALS AND ACCESS

Information can be an expensive commodity. This is especially true when it come to buying some
textbooks from using foreign exchange. Science text books for instance can be quite expensive
because some of them are published with colour illustrations and have to be printed on
photographic paper. Some information centres ask for subscription to their resources, hence one has
to part with some fee to access the desired information. Electronic journals are also quite expensive
to access form the publishers databases. The annual subscription cannot be afforded by individuals,
even some information centres have to subscribe jointly through some kind of a consortium so as to
cut down the costs down. Beyond access to internet can be quite prohibitive for individuals.
Coupled with subscription or registration to the databases, the place for individual access for most
people is almost out of consideration.

3.3 LANGUAGE BARRIERS

Access to information involves reading and sometimes writing. One needs to be able to read and
write in the first place. Therefore people who mainly rely on oral transmission of information can
get challenges in accessing written information. Electronic information is composed in
programming languages that one needs to learn how to use for a successful access to information.
The terms used in some browsers over the web calls for one to register for classes to be able to
access electronic information such as introduction to windows or Linux and some background
information on browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and internet explorer.

3.4 TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

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Information today is available in many formats both in print and none print. Non print information
is available in several multimedia, these include CD-ROMS, motion pictures and live video in one
document. To access such information, one needs the right play back equipment. The information
super highway is almost taking over the speedy delivery of current information from print
materials. One cannot therefore ignore it as an alternative source of information. To access this
information one has to be connected to the web in some way. In developing countries most people
are still struggling to get the basics. In these regions information infrastructure is still undeveloped.
Therefore it is only in the urban areas where one can be able to access online information.

3.5 USER INTERFACE

This applies mostly in accessing electronic information. One has to be familiar with the
programming language in use and the browsers. The manner in which the site is developed can
hinder or promote access to information for front end users. Familiarity with the user interfaces and
easy of looking for information can therefore promote access to information or be challenge to the
user.

3.6 INFORMATION SKILLS

To access information within a given database or information centre, it is necessary to have the
essential communication skills. This includes skills to look for the desired information within the
system and knowledge of how the information is organized. To attain information skills, one has
therefore to have gone through an information literacy induction. Most information agencies offer
some kind of user education programmes to its clients to help them be able to interact with their
databases.

3.7 INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Although we can there is free flow and access to information, still there are inhibiting factors that
would need to be addressed. The current bombardment of information is also causing a lot of
distraction to those people who are looking for quality information. The invention of internet has
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made it possible for the establishment of a global information infrastructure. Coupled with a free
flow of information, we have reached the information age faster and are now experiencing
information overload. One has to carefully evaluate the quality of information desired; else there is
so much accumulation of published and online information that can hinder access to quality
information. In this regard, one needs knowledge and library information communication to locate
the right information desired faster than a freshman would take.
3.8 ELECTRONIC PROBLEMS
Electronics technology is not common sense for everybody. The retrieval language employed by
some websites can hinder effective access to information. In addition to this one needs to master the
how the hardware is used to access electronic information. Telecommunication infrastructure and
the supply of reliable is not evenly distributed especially in developing countries. Non print media
needs power to facilitate access to the information.

4.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion the challenges and barriers to access of information discussed above should be
addressed to achieve a free flow of information to both developed and developing areas. We are
living in the knowledge era and information is a catalyst for development. The change brought
about by emergence of electronic information for example has posed new challenges and barriers
for accessing the previously recorded information in print. The availability of information databases
have resulted in change in mode of access of information, now people have to acquire new skills in
order to keep up to date with the information technological developments. In order to achieve this,
challenges and barriers have to be eliminated and user education approached in the light of the
changing mode of accessing information. When all the obstacles are eliminated, the power of
information will be seen as mantra among scholars goes that knowledge liberates.

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5.0 SOURCES CONSULTED

Case, D.O. 2007. Looking for information : a survey of research on information, seeking needs and
behaviour. London: Elsevier. Available: http://books.google.co.ke (accessed 2011/08/20)

Gashaw K. 2002. The changing information needs of users in electronic information

environments. Electronic Library. 20 (1): 14 - 21.
htt[2: //www.e merald insight.c om/journals. htm?issn=02640473&volume=20&issue=1&articleid=861947&show=html (accessed 27 July 2011)

Ritter, Frank E. Discovering User Information Needs:The Case of University Department

Web Sites. Source: acs.ist.psu.edu/papers/ritterFH05.pdf (accessed 27/07/2011)

University of South Africa, Department of Information Science.

2008. Exploring Information user Studies. Only study guide for
INS2055. Pretoria: Unisa.

Wikipedia/wiki.org Sv Information_access
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_access (accessed 27/07/2011)

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