5) Tuominen: A social constructionist approach to the study of information use as discursive action.

Tuominen's A social constructionist approach to the study of information use as discursive action argues that language is not random or an "abstract system" (Tuominen 1999, pg. 82), but rather a lens through which people make sense of the world. This is a completely different method of studying information behavior; rather than basing the model on the context of the information need situations, like sense-making and Kuhlthau's ISPs, or the cognitive models.

In Extract 1, Tuominen makes an interesting claim: we try to make our opinions as factual as possible by affecting an air of disinterest and thus impartiality. To relate this is library and information science, we draw upon our vast array of previous experience when we interact with information, and we turn that information into knowledge in order to be able to use it in our conversations. In the example that Tuominen gives, the mother refers back to things she's watched and read to defend her opinion that long hair is out of style. Her interaction with this information was converted into knowledge which she then exploited to try to convince her son to cut his hair. I believe that since social constructionism asserts that we use language to construct our individual realities, it is possible that in this scenario, the mother has interpreted the information to fit her original reality.

Since reality is therefore inconsistent, possibly even incorrect, and each person creates his or her own reality, this concept seems to fit in with our previous readings that champion user-centered systems. Each person - or user, in the case of information science - is not only coming from different backgrounds and has different situations that need to be solved, but each has a different constructed reality. What she or he needs and expects are complex puzzles that shouldn't be simplified into generalizations or demographics.

I believe that Bates' berrypicking method would fit in very well with this theory, as Bates' method never makes assumptions about the user or his/her background, situation, or reality. Unlike some IR systems which make assumptions about the user, making judgments about what s/he is really looking for, the berrypicking method relies completely on the decisions that the user makes.