Coming across information serendipitously – Part 2

Abstract

City Research OnlineComing across information serendipitously: Part 2 -A classification framework Purpose: In 'Coming across information serendipitously: Part 1 -A process model' we identified common elements of researchers' experiences of 'coming across information serendipitously.' These experiences involve a mix of unexpectedness and insight and lead to a valuable, unanticipated outcome. In this article, the elements of unexpectedness insight and value form a framework for subjectively classifying whether or not a particular experience might be considered serendipitous and, if so, just how serendipitous.Design/methodology/approach: The classification framework was constructed by analysing 46 experiences of coming across information serendipitously provided by 28 interdisciplinary researchers during Critical Incident interviews. 'Serendipity stories' were written to summarise each experience and to facilitate their comparison. The common elements of unexpectedness, insight and value were identified in almost all the experiences. Findings:The presence of different mixes of unexpectedness, insight and value in the interviewees' experiences define a multi-dimensional conceptual space (which we call the 'serendipity space'). In this space, different 'strengths' of serendipity exist. Our classification framework can be used to reason about whether an experience falls within the serendipity space and, if so, how 'pure' or 'dilute' it is.Originality/value: Our framework provides researchers from various disciplines with a structured means of reasoning about and classifying potentially serendipitous experiences.

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“…It was a number of months before the team recognised the patterns in the data as a research finding and began to consider its wider meaning. Makri and Blandford (2012) propose that serendipity should be considered as a 'conceptual space rather than a discrete concept' (p. 721) and that its subjectivity should be embraced. The serendipitous findings in this article are, nevertheless, grounded in the real-world experience of the researchers and recorded as empirical data through field notes, video and photographic material.…”

”Älä jätä käyttämättä sattuman tarjoamia mahdollisuuksia” – Serendipisyys tiedonhaun ilmiönä

“…(esim. Agarwal, 2015;Erdelez, 1997;Foster & Ford, 2003;Lawley & Tompkins, 2008;Makri & Blandford, 2012b, 2012aMakri, Blandford, Woods, Sharples, & Maxwell, 2014;McBirnie, 2008;McCay-Peet & Toms, 2011;Rubin ym., 2011;van Andel, 1994). Kuitenkaan ilmiötä ei vielä ymmärretä yksityiskohtaisesti (Makri & Blandford, 2012b, ss.…”

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“…A key component in practice-based research is the aspect of serendipity as defined by Makri and Blandford [17,18]: "a process of making a mental connection that has the potential to lead to a valuable outcome, projecting the value of the outcome and taking actions to exploit the connection, leading to a valuable outcome" [18] (p. 2, emphasis original). For any researcher, serendipity is likely to occur during the research process, as the confluence of this newly generated data and the expertise required to recognize its significance is the crux of knowledge generation.…”