Two new articles on Information seeking - IS of Lithuanians in time of war; IS of business students

Wilson, T.D. & Maceviciute, E. (2025). Information seeking in a time of war: coping with stress in Lithuania during the Russia/Ukraine war. Journal of Documentation 81(7), 31-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-06-2024-0156 ; "A majority of participants experienced moderate to high levels of stress associated with the war in Ukraine. Information seeking and discussing information found with family members and friends played a significant role in helping to moderate stress. Most of the participants understood more than one language and, consequently, were able to compare local information sources with international sources. Only five participants were active users of social media, the rest were critical of these sources. All participants valued those sources they believed to be reliable and truthful."

Vinyard, M., Morales, I & Helton, E. (2024). Information seeking behavior of graduate business students: using a qualitative approach to determine the role of the library. Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship. https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2024.2435758 "Librarians interviewed 15 graduate business students to understand their information-seeking behavior. Google emerged as the primary research tool, though students encountered paywalls and credibility concerns. Their research skills were shaped by prior work experience, and the depth of research expertise varied according to their bachelor’s degrees. Students were more likely to seek assistance from classmates and professors than librarians. Faculty guidance and database usage varied significantly, impacting students’ use of library databases. Student’s ability to interpret financial and economic data was a significant issue."
Photo by Sheila Webber: another snowy scene from November 2024.

Nieman Lab - Predictions for Journalism, 2025

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard (University, USA) has published Predictions for Journalism, 2025 from "some of the smartest people in journalism and media" asking them "what they think is coming in the next 12 month". There is a North American focus, but a good number of different perspectives (and all fairly short reads) - for example Cristina Tardáguila writes about Getting beyond the fact-check "The global focus on disinformation is undeniable, and that’s a positive step. But the field has become overcrowded, with many players prioritizing performative actions over measurable results. After nearly a decade in this fight, we’re stuck in a cycle of rehashing old strategies and are in desperate need of a reset."
Go to https://www.niemanlab.org/collection/predictions-2025/
Photo by Sheila Webber: snow in November 2024 (it is also snowy at the moment, though not as snowy as this).

Extremism, conspiracy theories and the middle aged

SMIDGE is a Horizon Europe research project (funded by the European Union) focused on extremist narratives (including spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation) and people aged 45-65. The partner institutions are in Denmark, the UK, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Kosovo and Cyprus. They point out that this is an under researched group (with most attention going to younger people), and the project's activities include podcasts, webinars, conference presentations and an online survey (at time of writing I can see a document outlining the methods, but they hadn't posted results yet). Their latest newsletter  is here: https://shoutout.wix.com/so/16P6uI8ur?languageTag=en&cid=301b3122-0a42-4ea6-ac43-fdb7e0e03720
I was alerted to this by an article in The Conversation: Wilford, S. (2024, August 6). Middle-aged radicalisation: why are so many of Britain’s rioters in their 40s and 50s? https://theconversation.com/middle-aged-radicalisation-why-are-so-many-of-britains-rioters-in-their-40s-and-50s-236263
Photo by Sheila Webber: fragmented, November 2024

The Problem with “Perfect” Answers

A useful blog post reporting on interesting research: Munoz, R. (2024, October 15). The Problem with “Perfect” Answers: GenAI and Academic Research Tools. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2024/10/the-problem-with-perfect-answers-genai-and-academic-research-tools
Librarian Roberta Muñoz talks about the problem when people get so used to search engines, AI etc. delivering the answers they expect, that people get frustrated and baffled when they are presented with information that isn't exactly tailored to their preferences. This is drawing on some research by Xu et al., namely:
Xu, R., Le, N., Park, R., Murray, L., Das, V., Kumar, D. & Goldberg, B. (2024). New contexts, old heuristics: How young people in India and the US trust online content in the age of generative AI. https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.02522 "We conducted in-person ethnography in India and the US to investigate how young people (18-24) trusted online content, just as generative AI (genAI) became mainstream. We found that when online, how participants determined what content to trust was shaped by emotional states, which we term "information modes." Our participants reflexively shifted between modes to maintain "emotional equilibrium," and eschewed engaging literacy skills in the more passive modes in which they spent the most time. We found participants imported trust heuristics from established online contexts into emerging ones (i.e., genAI). This led them to use ill-fitting trust heuristics, and exposed them to the risk of trusting false and misleading information. While many had reservations about AI, prioritizing efficiency, they used genAI and habitual heuristics to quickly achieve goals at the expense of accuracy. We conclude that literacy interventions designed to match users' distinct information modes will be most effective."

Also linked from Muñoz's blog post is a  news report on Xu et al.'s research
Rogers, A. (2024, April 25). The secret digital behaviors of Gen Z. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-most-trusted-news-source-online-comment-sections-google-2024-6
Unfortunately, although I was able to read this free a couple of days ago, it is now asking me for money, so I'm relying on my memory for what was in it. I think the author of the research paper is quoted as saying that initially they were investigating information literacy, but then they discarded that idea because what the Gen Zers were doing wasn't information literacy. That seems a bit narrow, since it seems to me that what Xu et al. have done is Information Behavior research, which could be used to engage with the participants to develop ideas of context-appropriate IL (which wouldn't involve them totally changing their IB, but being more aware of what they are doing, which could bring shifts in behaviour).
Photo by Sheila Webber: Winter in the Botanic Gardens, December 2024