This document discusses information experience (IX) as an object of study and provides examples of IX research. IX attends to how people feel, think and interact with information within specific contexts. The document outlines three key elements of IX research findings: 1) the people involved, 2) the context, and 3) what informs people and what they do with information. Examples of categories of information experience for new mothers on social media are provided, such as advice, reassurance, and evaluations of information. The document calls for more explicitly drawing out the cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions of IX and defining IX as an object of study.

1. Defining and describing
information experience
Towards a shared approach
Dr Kate Davis | Senior Research Fellow | University of Southern Queensland
@katiedavis | kate.davis@usq.edu.au | katedavis.info

2. ‘a complex of information
experiences, as contextualized
instances of using information. It
integrates all information-related actions,
thoughts, feelings, and has social and
cultural dimensions’ (Hughes, 2014, p.
34)
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3. As an object of study, information
experience attends to affect, cognition
and behaviour – it explores how people
feel and think as they interact with
information within their broader
experience of the world, usually within a
specific context.
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4. A snapshot of IX research

5. Lee (2019) Miller, Partridge
& Davis (2019)
Davis (2015) Partridge &
Yates (2015)
Bunce,
Partridge, &
Davis (2013)
Haidn, Partridge
& Yates (2014)
Object of
study
People’s
everyday
information
experience in
using mobile
devices for
health and
wellness
Everyday life
information
experiences in
Twitter for
people leaving in
Boston,
Massachusetts
New mothers’
information
experience in
social media
Information
experiences in
social media
during times of
natural disaster
Information
experience in
social media
during the
Brisbane floods
of 2011
Information
experience
during the 2012
Queensland
state election
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6. What do IX research findings
look like?

7. Three elements
The intersection where the phenomenon occurs
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8. 1 The people element
Who are the participants?
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9. 2 The context element
What is the context?
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10. Lee (2019) Miller, Partridge &
Davis (2019)
Davis (2015) Partridge & Yates
(2015)
Bunce, Partridge, &
Davis (2013)
Haidn, Partridge &
Yates (2014)
Object of study People’s everyday
information
experience in
using mobile
devices for health
and wellness
Everyday life
information
experiences in Twitter
for people leaving in
Boston,
Massachusetts
New mothers’
information
experience in social
media
Information
experiences in social
media during times of
natural disaster
Information
experience in social
media during the
Brisbane floods of
2011
Information
experience during the
2012 Queensland
state election
People People who use
their mobile
devices for health
and wellness
Participants were
Twitter users living in
Boston,
Massachusetts
New mothers residing
in Australia who use
social media regularly
People who were in
some way effected by
the 2010-11 Brisbane
floods or Cyclone Yasi
Residents of Brisbane
City and surrounding
suburbs who resided
in areas affected by
the 2011 Brisbane
floods
Residents of South
East Queensland
Context Everyday life;
mobile devices
Everyday life; Twitter Everyday life; social
media
Everyday life; social
media in natural
disasters
Everyday life; social
media in natural
disasters
Everyday life; the 2012
Queensland state
election

11. 3 The information element
What informs participants? What do participants do with information?
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12. Lee (2019) Davis (2015)
Object of study People’s everyday information experience in
using mobile devices for health and wellness
New mothers’ information experience in social
media
People People who use their mobile devices for health
and wellness
New mothers residing in Australia who use
social media regularly
Context Everyday life; mobile devices Everyday life; social media
Information • Typology of information (what is
experienced as informing)
• Typology of information interactions (the
‘things people do with information’)
• What is information (what is experienced as
informing)
• Experiences of information (the ‘things
people do with information’)
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13. Information as experienced by new
mothers in social media
• Advice: Information that recommends an approach or a course of action
• Ideas: Thoughts, suggestions or inspiration that suggest options or things to think about
• Reassurance: Information that validates, comforts or heartens
• Recounted experiences: Women’s narratives about mothering
• Proper information: Information that is verifiable and grounded in medicine, science or psychology
• Nothing information: Information that may not mean anything to those other than the sharer
• Announcements: Personal or administrative information that announces or reveals something
• Instinct: Internal information in the form of an innate impulse
• Own experience: Prior experience, accumulated experience builds up as a sort of knowledgebase and
informs future action
• Child’s behavior: The way a child responds to stimulus or the environment

14. Things new mothers do with information
in social media
• Creating: Information is created, co-created, adapted and built upon
through social interactions
• Discovering: Information is actively sought out, encountered, and
provided without solicitation
• Referring: Information is shared
• Storing: Information is stored for later use, builds up a knowledge bank, is
bookmarked until needed
• Evaluating: Information is assessed for quality, reliability and validity, with
information based on personal experience being valued most highly
• Using: Information is applied in making decisions or taking action

15. 3 The information element
What do we call the ‘things people do with information’?
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16. The experience perspective
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17. Categories (of experience)
Narrative exploration of themes with lots of illustrative quotes
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18. I was sitting in
the dark alone,
just alone
overcoming isolation

19. Categories (of experience)
The three elements of people, context and information are visible across
the categories
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20. Categories (of experience)
The cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions are often implict
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21. To consider

22. Surfacing the affective,
cognitive and behavioural
dimensions
How can we explicitly draw attention to these dimensions?
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23. Defining and describing IX as
object of study
What kind of work do we need to do to support this?
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24. Dr Kate Davis | Senior Research Fellow | University of Southern Queensland
@katiedavis | kate.davis@usq.edu.au
katedavis.info