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Dr. Reijo Savolainen Professor at the University of Tampere, Finland

Best known for his research into the area of Everyday Life Information Seeking (ELIS). Early work was influenced by Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of Habitus – Internalized socially and culturally determined way of thinking, perception and evaluation

Daily problem solving is increasingly dependent on the critical selection and use of information sources.

ELIS focuses on how social and cultural factors affect how people acquire information in daily life (non-work context).

• This includes how people acquire information to solve their daily problems or how they monitor daily events in the media

Everyday Life Information Seeking (ELIS)


Examines the “small worlds” of groups, focusing on the social context in which information is (or is not) accepted in a specific community.

How do we perceive the information world around us?

By which criteria do we accept or reject information in everyday criteria?

ELIS asks the questions:

Gender, age, socioeconomic status, cultural background, location, education level can all affect one’s everyday life information seeking.


Used when people are assessing such things as media credibility and cognitive authority. If factors such as time constraint or too much volume of information, individuals will accept information that is “good enough to meet their needs, and then move on.

The body of knowledge one has forms the basis for their information behavior in daily projects, and accomplishing information practices may add to that knowledge base and enhance their daily behavior.

The level of interest one has in a particular daily activities dictates how they prioritize everyday information-seeking. [EXAMPLE?]

Principle of “Good Enough”

Way of Life

How people make sense to operate in their daily world, and what they consider to be normal in the engagement of daily tasks.

Includes:

• Structure of time budget (working vs. leisure time)

• Models of consumption of goods & services

• Nature of hobbies

Mastery of Life

Any problem solving necessary to restore one’s order of things

Includes: • General preparedness to

approach everyday problems that align with personal values

• One’s tendency to adopt a particular information seeking

strategy to solve problems.

Information seeking is critical to Mastery of Life by closing the gap between how things are and how things should be.


Two core concepts

Seeking Orienting Information

Information gathering that takes place in order to stay abreast of development in everyday contexts.

Various sources provide orienting information that direct individual behavior.

Most active where people are looking for sources on issues of primary interest to them. Orienting information seeking is fragmentary and passive in cases where the issues are of marginal interest.

Seeking Problem-specific Information

Making sense of problematic situations and how people decide which sources they prefer when solving everyday problems.

May be episodic in nature, with a starting and end point

Information seekers try to obtain enough information for decision making and action in areas that matter most to them.

If they have a passive concern, the information they already have may be enough. If it is active, they will seek information satisfactory for their needs.

Everyday Life Information Seeking (ELIS)Two contexts for ELIS

Information sharing reflects the communicative nature of everyday life information sharing. •It involves giving information to others to be shared, and receiving information for that purpose.

Through information sharing, people add to their knowledge structure and also create solidarity.

An analysis of reciprocity may enter into play: if one deems the cost of the information sharing greater than the benefit, they are unlikely to share the information.

Information Sharing


How individuals determine what sources of information they prefer in everyday life information seeking.

In Savolainen study the top criteria for source preference were content of information and availability and accessibility. Usability was found less important.

Information Source Horizons


Sociologist at Stanford University

Best known for his theory The Strength of Weak Ties (SWT), which focuses on the spread of information in social networks.

Granovetter’s other works include studies on how economic relations between individuals or firms are embedded in actual social networks, and on how fads are created.

Dr. Mark Granovetter

Weak ties (acquaintances) are more likely to be bridges to outside networks than strong ties (emotionally close friends and family), and are therefore vital to gaining new information and ideas.

Weak ties provide access to information and resources beyond those available in their own social circle.

Acquaintances (Weak Ties)

Personal Network

Outside Network

New information

& ideas

The Strength of Weak Ties (SWT)

Granovetter conducted a well-known study of job-seekers in evaluating his theory of the strength of weak ties [ ].

The study found that weak ties were more important in gaining information about new job opportunities, since many strong ties new the same people and had the same information as one another

Individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of new information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends.

However, individuals tend to consult with strong ties before acting on information received from weak ties because strong ties tend to be more motivated to assist and are more easily available.


Granovetter offered the following conclusions:

What matters in getting ahead is not how close you are to those you

know but, how many people you know whom you aren't particularly close to [ ].

Social systems lacking in weak ties will be fragmented and incoherent, as new ideas spread slowly and groups separated by race, ethnicity, or geography won’t have the same access to information [ ].

Cultural diffusion is made possible by small cohesive groups who share a culture that is not entirely closed and therefore can potentially share ideas via weak ties [ ] .


Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Those that do support the notion of a theory define it as a way of looking at individual relationships at a micro level, as well as at group/community relationships at a macro level [hersberger transfer].

Most studied attributes within social network theory: •Content – nature of resource exchange•Direction – flow of resources•Tie Strength - strength of relationships

In LIS context , social network analysis looks at patterns of information exchange – what kinds of information is exchanged and between whom.

These areas can be studies using social network analysis

Information Needs

Information Legitimation

Information Opportunities

Information Routes

Information Exposure


Positions in a network reveal who controls, facilitates, or inhibits the flow of information, and who has similar information needsor uses.

Social network analysis provides tools for the information professional which can help in the identification, diagnosis, and modification of information routes.

By examining network structures, the information professional can identify flow and control in an environment, and can choose to fill gaps in the structure with services, advise clients on how to best use networks, or put in place the structures that will allow information to disseminate appropriately.

Haythornthwaite introduced five principles used to examine social networks


Director of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British ColumbiaOne of the first scholars to apply social network analysis to the study of online communities and online learning.

Caroline Haythornthwaite

CohesionDescribes attributes of the whole network, indicating the presence of strong socializing relationships among network members, & likelihood of their having the access to same information resources.Structural Equivalence

Identifies actors with similar roles. Actors are considered to be structurally equivalent if they fill the same role with respect to members of the same network.

Prominence Measures of prominence indicate which actor(s) have influence or power in a network.

Range The array of sources to

which an actor has access.

Brokerage relationsConnections between disorganized others.These connections represent entrepreneurial opportunities for those who occupy them.