Embodied information practices

Abstract

Information Science researchers have been relatively slow to consider the role of the body in understanding the relationship between people, information and technology. This panel will discuss how a consideration of the body can enrich information researchers' understanding of the complex relationship between people, information and technologies, old and new. Each panel member will briefly describe their own theoretical and methodological approach and how they have informed their understanding. This will be followed by a moderated discussion between the panel and audience members.

Untangling the knot: The information practices of enthusiast car restorers

“…This article examines the study of the information practices of enthusiast car restorers. It will highlight the central role of embodied information practices (Olsson & Lloyd, a) for participants' restoration work. The study's findings demonstrate that such embodied practices are not individual or idiosyncratic, but social constructs, whose importance is recognized and valued within the restoration community.…”

Representativity and Complementarity in Tai Chi as Embodied Documentation

“…When they have, it has almost exclusively been in the context of learning processes or information literacy practices, leading to the concept of "embodied information practice". Annemaree Lloyd and Michael Olsson presented their take on this particular field of inquiry at the 2016 CoLIS conference by drawing on their own extensive research on such diverse groups as nurses, firemen, refugees, archaeologists and actors, all professions and lifesituations in which sensual and bodily experiences play an important part in learning as well as in gathering and evaluating information in order solve a problem, perform a task or simply to move forward in life (Olsson & Lloyd, 2016). They define embodied information practice in terms of sites of knowledge which: -"are always situated (in situ); are expressed corporeally, and central to actors understanding the social and epistemic modalities of the landscape; act as a site for know-how knowledge, which cannot be expressed in written form (e.g.…”

Materiality in information environments: Objects, spaces, and bodies in three outpatient hemodialysis facilities

“…“Materiality,” refers to “…the ways in which physical and/or digital materials are arranged into particular forms that endure across differences in place and time” (Leonardi, , p.31). Materiality is important: objects, spatial arrangements, and physical experiences can be informative (Buckland, ; Cox, ; Godbold, ; McCreadie & Rice, ; Olsson & Lloyd, ; Wolf & Veinot, ). The term “sociomateriality” further clarifies that “materiality is intrinsic to everyday activities and relations” (Orlikowski & Scott, , p.455) and “takes on meaning when it is enmeshed with … social” phenomena (Leonardi, , p.38).…”