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Transitions and social interaction: Making sense of self and situation through engagement with others
Author(s) -
McKenzie Pam,
Willson Rebekah
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
proceedings of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.193
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2373-9231
DOI - 10.1002/pra2.47
Subject(s) - situated , social relation , perception , psychology , social psychology , focus (optics) , sociology , process (computing) , social learning , epistemology , computer science , pedagogy , philosophy , physics , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , optics , operating system
This short paper examines social interaction (e.g. asking colleagues for help in the lunchroom) as an informative experience, a way to understand oneself and situation. The process of coming to an understanding is frequently hidden, but may be brought to light by examining the experiences of individuals undergoing a transition – a change that requires them to redefine their sense of self and situation. Using exemplars from previous research and drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) theory of situated learning, this paper explores the importance of social interaction to information practices. The role of social interaction will be discussed, including: information seeking to become part of a community, and social interaction as a source of information and as a site for information comparison (a type of information use) to situate oneself in a new environment. The paper proposes making social interaction a focus of study to better understand how individuals use information to change perception about and situate themselves.