This paper presents an information needs matrix as a navigation guide for refugees and host societies to support integration. It is an outcome from an information behaviour investigation into refugee integration, conducted through interviews with asylum seekers and refugees. A sense-making methodology was used as a framework to examine the experiences of refugees, focusing on the situations and information gaps encountered during integration. The study identified information needs on housing, financial, legal and social support, mobility, health, education, employment and state benefits. A unique feature of the proposed matrix is the order dependency of the uncovered needs by our investigation. The findings were validated with observation data collected while undertaking a role at the Scottish Refugee Council. The matrix can be used to guide society's provisions for integration, assess levels of individual integration and inform the design of information support for refugees.
This article discusses the sources of information used by refugees as they navigate integration systems and processes. The study used interviews to examine how refugees and asylum seekers dealt with their information needs, finding that information gaps were bridged through people and places. People included friends, solicitors, and caseworkers, whereas places included service providers, detention centers, and refugee camps. The information needs matrix was used as an analytical tool to examine the operation of sources on refuge‐seekers' integration journeys. Our findings expand understandings of information sources and information grounds. The matrix can be used to enhance host societies' capacity to make appropriate information available and to provide evidence for the implementation of the information needs matrix.
Refugee integration processes and systems are complex for refugees. They find them difficult to navigate and thus often end up disadvantaged. This paper presents the first set of findings from an ongoing information behaviour research study into refugee integration. The study explores the situational experiences of refugees and asylum seekers engaging with the integration processes and systems through individual semi-structured interviews. Dervin's sense-making methodology was used to elicit the information gaps. The findings reveals refused asylum situation during integration and highlight information needs embedded in processes and systems of refugee integration. The results have implications for reducing the complexity of service provision during refugee integration. In addition, the approach expands previous studies and highlights the depth a situational investigation can bring to information behaviour studies. KeywordsHuman information behaviour, refugee integration, sensemaking, situational information behaviour.
With over 65 million forcibly displaced persons reported by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) ¬-an 8% rise from 2014, a 50% increase in five years and an increase of more than 75% in the last two decades -the current refugee crisis represents the most important humanitarian crisis of all time. Over 80% of the displaced live below the poverty line in host countries, and integration of refugees is undoubtedly of global concern.Of course, host societies prepare integration processes and systems to support refugees; however, to the traumatized refugee in an unfamiliar territory, these processes are complex and complicated. Refugees are therefore unable to navigate them sufficiently for sustenance in the new territory, resulting in their marginalization. It is also likely that the sheer size of the refugee population is a major marginalization factor.Refugee integration is indeed a complicated phenomenon: it is an attempt to deal with the sociological and psychological consequences of forced displacement. It cuts across legal, economic and socio-cultural dimensions, and it is operationalized as an all-inclusive integration service with numerous processes and systems. How well do these processes and systems match the actual needs of refugees, if at all? This was the question on my mind at the start of my investigation.During the literature search, I looked through academic literature, practitioners' reports such as UNHCR, World Bank, Council of Europe, ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles) and those of national refugee councils. I also attended seminars on migration. In the course of this search I Special Section N E X T P A G E > N E X T A R T I C L E > < P R E V I O U S P A G E C O N T E N T S BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY -FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 -VOLUME 43, NUMBER 3 63 EDITOR'S SUMMARYThe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports 65 million refugees around the world, a 50 percent increase over the last five years and a 75 percent increase over the last 20 years. With over 80 percent of refugees living below the poverty line, new ideas and innovations are desperately needed to assist with refugee integration into host countries. This information behavior investigation is an attempt to identify information needs, both individually and publically, in refugee integration. Concepts considered in this investigation include the hierarchy of needs, social capital, accessibility and quality of information and sense-making. One main goal of the investigation was to determine situations where refugees experienced a lack of information during the integration process. Using the materials for this investigation, Olubukola Oduntan created and submitted the winning video for the first ASIS&T Doctoral Student Research Video competition. KEYWORDS Annual Meeting Coverage
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