Information Behavior as Research Lens for Life #ASIST24HR

I'm attending, and later presenting at, the ASIS&T 24 hour Global Conference. The last section of the conference is for African and European time zones. I'm afraid I did not get up in time for the absolute beginning of this part (which started at 6am my time) but I joined in time for a keynote Information Behavior as Research Lens for Life: Our Challenges, Joys, and Opportunities from Ina Fourie, University of Pretoria, South Africa. This was a rich and complex talk, and I may be misinterpreting, and also did not capture all the ideas. However, hopefully this gives a flavour of Fourie's ideas. 

Fourie started by talking about the scope and importance of information behaviour (IB). She identified IB as exploring all facets of life, and with increased attention to issues such as temporality. Fourie reflected on how it was difficult to read all one should (that could be related to IB) and to bring different aspects together. She urged information behaviour researchers to get together to explore the meaning of information behaviour and its relationship with information literacy, information practice etc. Fourie advocated for deeper collaboration on IB research, and stressed its importance in making a difference to people's lives.
She defined a research lens as being about what you can do and want to see, paying attention to what previous researchers have discovered, using the available tools and methods, and reflecting carefully on what perspective you will take, and which research questions you will explore. Fourie urged us to think about all the different emotions that each person goes through every day, the different challenges and opportunities.
She used the example of her own previous day with its interwoven mixture of personal things to organise, work responsibilities and practical issues of managing her health and presence. Fourie emphasised the affective elements in the experience. She noted that "Contemporary society [is] more intense, more driven, more complex and intermingled" - with the pandemic having at this stage increased pressures (e.g. to be more driven, more efficient) and at the same times "increasing overbearing pressure" with more anxieties about health, employment etc.
She felt it was this complexity that researchers needed to explore. Information Behaviour research can contribute in making a difference in a lot of ways - e.g. through influencing systems and product design, through action research, in the areas of information and digital literacy. She argued for deeper immersion in the specific research context we are researching, with new contexts (such as streaming social media) emerging.
She also urged researchers to explore and reflect more about who is involved in the research and how research can create safe spaces. Fourie identified the timing of data collection as being a delicate issue, as exploring people's IB in the midst of intense experience can be intrusive, but may also provide insights which would be useful to others. Social networking and IT had brought new values and challenges. Fourie saw one goal as helping others to see IB as a lens on their lives, to make a difference to their quality of life.
Fourie suggested that one way of exploring this new landscape was to include the researcher themselves more prominently, for example, using analytic and collaborative autoethnography and that can be a starting point to connect with others. Each IB researcher needs to reflect on their own personality, beliefs, experience etc. and what that means for their identity as a researcher. Fourie's ideas for developing as an IB researcher included: "reading beyond the borders", exploring multiple methods, researching yourself, and working collaboratively, and creating a third space for research (which included being collaborative, sharing, participate, exploring creatively).