PurposeThis study demonstrates how individual paradigms implicate the questions asked, methods used and results drawn in association with a common object of study in human information behavior (HIB) research – the relationship between uncertainty and decision-making.Design/methodology/approachThe author uses textual case studies to examine uncertainty and decision-making through the framework of four paradigms used in HIB research: positivism, cognitivism, collectivism and constructionism and suggests deconstructionism as a paradigm which raises new questions around this topic.FindingsPositivistic approaches to uncertainty are often systems oriented; cognitive approaches are often user-oriented; collectivist approaches are intersubjective; and constructionist approaches blend a subjective and intersubjective research orientation. Deconstructionism raises new questions around ethics and responsibility in relation to decision-making, and the author therefore situates it as a new paradigmatic approach for this topic in HIB research.Originality/valueDespite the presence of research aimed at recognizing and defining paradigms in HIB research, a comparative micro-examination of how individual paradigms implicate a specific research topic has yet to be conducted. Each paradigm uniquely shapes the ways in which uncertainty and decision-making are characterized, but the four central ones examined here have thus far left out questions of ethics and responsibility as being core elements of decision-making as tied to uncertainty. Therefore, this paper introduces deconstructionism as a paradigm new to HIB uncertainty research, arguing that it provides an important and novel complication of existent research questions and approaches.
Derridean hospitality provides a way to complicate and elevate service models of librarianship, yet its implications in a virtual environment are unclear, clouded by debate within Derrida’s scholarship and surrounding literature. Applying his theory to digital libraries raises questions involving responsibility, labour, and ethics. I review a selection of theoretical and topical literature, exploring the (im)possibility of virtual Derridean hospitality in relation to digital libraries before establishing contact points for this discussion in existent library and information science literature. Articles are selected and analysed based off relevance. Some hold philosophical relevance, representing contributions to conversations surrounding Derridean and Levinasean conceptions of hospitality. Others hold field relevance, representing pieces of literature that relate to questions of hospitality from within library and information science. In addition to relevance, they have all been assessed for quality and timeliness with the goal of capturing a sample indicative of current conversations surrounding this topic. Derridean hospitality provides a novel and productive theoretical foundation for working through ethical tension unique to digital libraries. Though the theory is new to library and information science, there are existent scholarly conversations surrounding library hospitality and digital civics that provide a basis for theoretical integration.
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