The information behaviours of maximum security prisoners

Abstract

Purpose: to advance our understanding of the information behaviours of prisoners, providing insight into their information needs and information seeking preferences, and the factors influencing their behaviours; to inform education and rehabilitation programmes. Design/methodology: in-depth qualitative study. Theoretical framework was provided via Chatman's (1996) concepts of information poverty. Participants were adult male prisoners in a Scottish maximum-security prison, and prison staff. Data collection method was semi-structured interviews. Findings: prisoners have a broad range of information needs, many sensitive, and many unmet. Interpersonal information sources are predominantly used due to a combination of natural preference and restricted access to other information sources. Issues of stigma and trust influence information behaviours. Further issues include restrictive social norms, and disinformation to incite violence. A significant degree of risk is therefore inherent within interpersonal information interactions, fostering self-protective acts of secrecy and deception amongst prisoners. Unmet emotional needs appear particularly problematic. Research limitations/implications: highlights the need for further research exploring issues of unmet emotional needs in prisoners; in particular, assistive methods of need recognition and support in the problematic context. Practical implications: identifies significant unmet information needs in prisoners that impact upon their ability to cope with incarceration, and prepare for successful release and reintegration. Originality/value: addresses an understudied group of significant societal concern and advances our understanding of information need in context, providing insight into unmet needs and issues of affect in the incarcerated small world context.

Affective Factors in Human Information Behavior: A Conceptual Analysis of Interdisciplinary Research on Information Behavior

“…Eight texts mentioned general affective factors (e.g. Behesti et al, 2014;Canning & Buchanan, 2019;Meyer & Fourie, 2017;Zanganeh & Hariri, 2018). However, the authors tried to be more specific when analyzing the results of the research (e.g.…”

“…Emotions are usually divided into primary and secondary or positive and negative. Negative emotions, such as those associated with depressive disorders, receive particular attention (Campbell et al, 2018), as do negative emotions (fear, anxiety) determining the passive information behavior of the incarcerated (Canning & Buchanan, 2019), or the frustration of scientists in the process of information retrieval (Ashlee, 2015). The role of emotions and moods was considered in the studies of the relationship between primary and secondary emotions, and of the mood as the reaction during online information search.…”

Everyday Information Behavior of Marginalized Communities in the Global South: Informal Transportation as Example

“…These theories were introduced by Elfreda Chatman (1987, 1996, 1999). More recently, information poverty has been analyzed (Haider & Bawden, 2007) and has been reconsidered and reinterpreted by scholars such as Canning and Buchanan (2019), Gibson and Martin (2019), and Kitzie et al (2022). The potential value and possibilities provided by these particular lenses will be considered.…”

Taking Chatman back to prison: rethinking the theory of life in the round

“…It is unknown if she planned to extend or test her theories of information behaviours had her death not intervened, however as noted by Miksa (2021, p. 239), “if she were with us today she probably would have re-tested and refined all of them.” Despite this lack of opportunity for development, her work has proven useful in understanding prisoner information behaviours and has been cited by many researchers of this topic. Examples include Rafedzi and Abrizah’s (2016) study of the information needs of boys living in correctional schools in Malaysia and Canning and Buchanan’s (2019) exploration of the information behaviours of maximum-security, Scottish male prisoners. Chatman’s work is commonly cited in the literature review sections of scholarly papers exploring information behaviours, but her work is seldom drawn upon to interpret or understand research findings or in the discussion sections of these papers.…”

“…Chatman’s work is commonly cited in the literature review sections of scholarly papers exploring information behaviours, but her work is seldom drawn upon to interpret or understand research findings or in the discussion sections of these papers. Canning and Buchanan (2019) use her theory more expansively than most and provide a strong example of exploring findings through Chatman’s theoretical lens. No papers that either merely note the existence of Chatman’s theory of “Life in the Round” or seek to apply it more deeply challenge the strength of the theory in a way that Chatman would most likely have done (Miksa, 2021) had she had the chance.…”