Mobile devices are rapidly becoming our main method of accessing the Internet and are frequently used to perform on-the-go search tasks. The use of such devices in situations where attention must be divided, such as when walking, are common and research suggests that this increases cognitive load and, therefore, may have an impact on performance.In this work we conducted a laboratory experiment with both phone and tablet devices with the aim of evaluating common mobile situations that cause; fragmented attention, impact search performance and impact on user perception. To do this the distraction level was varied by simulating 3 everyday situations: 1) walking quickly (on a treadmill), 2) navigating a pre-defined route and 3) sitting still (which was used as the baseline condition). The results showed that different experimental conditions had a number of different effects on the participants' perceptions of their own search performance, how hurried they felt and how engaged they were in the tasks.

Improvements in mobile technologies have led to a dramatic change in how and when people access and use information, and is having a profound impact on how users address their daily information needs. Smart phones are rapidly becoming our main method of accessing information and are frequently used to perform "on-thego" search tasks. As research into information retrieval continues to evolve, evaluating search behaviour in context is relatively new. Previous research has studied the effects of context through either self-reported diary studies or quantitative log analysis; however, neither approach is able to accurately capture context of use at the time of searching.In this study, we aim to gain a better understanding of task relevance and search behaviour via a task-based user study (n=31) employing a bespoke Android app. The app allowed us to accurately capture the user's context when completing tasks at different times of the day over the period of a week. Through analysis of the collected data, we gain a better understanding of how using smart phones on the go impacts search behaviour, search performance and task relevance and whether or not the actual context is an important factor.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent a person’s psychophysiological well-being is affected by misinformation and whether their level of information discernment has any positive or negative effect on the outcome. Design/methodology/approach Participants (n = 48) were randomly and blindly allocated to one of two groups: control group participants were told a person they were working with was a student; experimental group participants were additionally led to believe that this other participant had extreme religious views. This was both stigmatising and misinforming, as this other person was an actor. Participants completed a pre-screening booklet and a series of tasks. Participants’ cardiovascular responses were measured during the procedure. Findings Participants with high levels of information discernment, i.e. those who are curious, use multiple sources to verify information, are sceptical about search engine information, are cognisant of the importance of authority and are aware that knowledge changes and is contradictory at times exhibited an adaptive stress response, i.e. healthy psychophysiological outcomes and responded with positive emotions before and after a stressful task. Social implications The findings indicate the potential harmful effects of misinformation and discuss how information literacy or Metaliteracy interventions may address this issue. Originality/value The first study to combine the hitherto unrelated theoretical areas of information discernment (a sub-set of information literacy), affective states (positive affect negative affect survey) and stress (challenge and threat cardiovascular measures).

This is a preprint of a chapter accepted for publication by Facet Publishing. This extract has been taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive version of this piece may be found in Informed Societies-Why information literacy matters for citizenship, participation and democracy, edited by Stéphane Goldstein, Facet, London, ISBN 978-1-78330-391-5, which can be purchased from http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=304226#.XfDthej7SUk. The author agrees not to update the preprint or replace it with the published version of the chapter. Our titles have wide appeal across the UK and internationally and we are keen to see our authors content translated into foreign languages and welcome requests from publishers. World rights for translation are available for many of our titles. To date our books have been translated into over 25 languages Chapter 8-PREPRINT VERSION Information literacy and the societal imperative of information discernment

Smart phones and tablets are rapidly becoming our main method of accessing information and are frequently used to perform on-thego search tasks. Mobile devices are commonly used in situations where a ention must be divided, such as when walking down a street. Research suggests that this increases cognitive load and, therefore, may have an impact on performance. In this work we conducted a laboratory experiment with both device types in which we simulated everyday, common mobile situations that may cause fragmented a ention, impact search performance and a ect user perception.Our results showed that the fragmented a ention induced by the simulated conditions signi cantly a ected both participants' objective and perceived search performance, as well as how hurried they felt and how engaged they were in the tasks. Furthermore, the type of device used also impacted how users felt about the search tasks, how well they performed and the mount of time they spent engaged in the tasks.ese novel insights provide useful information to inform the design of future interfaces for mobile search and give us a greater understanding of how context and device size a ect search behaviour and user experience.