Toward an understanding of fiction and information behavior

Abstract

The study of information science and technology has expanded over the years to include more kinds of people, more kinds of behavior, more methods, and a broader inclusion of fields. There is at least one area, however, where very few information studies scholars have tread: entertainment, particularly fiction. Yet many fields indicate that information studies should consider fiction. In this paper, we discuss how fiction is an informative genre and reasons why information studies scholars have mostly ignored fiction. We also identify potential research directions for studying fiction. We provide a summary of works about fiction and information, discuss motivations for expanding (and not expanding) information studies beyond what it is and has been, and we use an exploratory study of one example of a fiction-interaction -reading Young Adult novels -to illustrate how fiction is important to information behavior.

Fiction as informative and its implications for information science theory

“…In an earlier paper (Broussard & Doty, ), we identified five fields whose research into reading fiction is particularly valuable for helping information science and information studies more broadly to appreciate reading fiction as an important information behavior. We also reported data from the first two participants in our study.…”

“…As noted in Broussard & Doty (), a particular contribution that philosophers make to our understanding of fiction is how readers use fiction to explore and make values or, as some put it, make meaning (e.g., Belfiore, ; Currie, 1994; Nussbaum, [many thanks to an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion]; Paskins, ). Meaning here does not simply imply the resolution of what the fiction says happened, but rather how fiction helps readers make meaningful lives.…”

Narratives of Fact and Fiction: Examining Studies of Information Experience and the Interpretation of Data.

“…The topic of fiction and information behaviour could be analyzed through frameworks of serious leisure, such as those discussed by Stebbins (2009) and Hartel (2003). Information behaviour, as it pertains to fiction, has been investigated through studies of information seeking in the contexts of book selection and access (Mikkonen & Vakkari 2016, 2017Moyer 2007;Ooi & Liew 2011;Saarinen & Vakkari 2013); through the information found when reading, intentionally or incidentally, (Ross 1999, p. 794-795); negotiation of sexual identities (Rothbauer 2004b(Rothbauer , 2004a; how fiction serves as a "roadmap" to inform real life situations (Broussard & Doty 2016, Doty & Broussard 2017; or more generally, how fiction reading serves other educational, recreational, or personal outcomes (Moyer 2007, Stobbs 2014. The study of fiction and information can add to the bodies of literature on serious leisure and information behaviour, but it can also expand and connect to discussions of information experience more broadly.…”

“…Information experience is a holistic concept that can be approached from various perspectives; it can encompass emotional, embodied, and other aspects of information use that go beyond seeking or skills and behaviours (Bruce, Davis, Hughes, Partridge, & Stoodley 2014, p. 8). The argument that fiction can inform (Broussard & Doty 2016, Doty & Broussard 2017, combined with the concept of information experience, frames this paper and my exploration of narrative methods and data as a way to understand information experiences related to fiction.…”

The information of story: the genre and information activities of ultrarunning race reports

“…On the conceptual ground, Turner (2010) has developed the concept of orally based information, which includes story. Putting this in its social context, Lloyd (2010) argues that story is a form of social information and is critical in constructing and navigating information worlds; Khazraee and Gasson (2015) argue that story is the mechanism by which networks of practice construct and manage knowledge; Lundh and Dolatkhah (2016) position engaging with story as a dialogic, information-laden practice; and other work has argued for fiction as a site of information behavior (Broussard and Doty, 2016). Offering an institutional perspective, Williams et al (2009) argued for the sociopolitical importance of story, particularly for indigenous communities.…”