Wilson's Information-Seeking Behavior Models (1981, 1996, 1999)
Devendra Dilip Potnis · Advances in knowledge acquisition, transfer, and management book series/Advances in knowledge acquisition, transfer and management book series · 2015
This chapter analyzes and compares the goals, key concepts, key features, strengths, and weaknesses of Wilson's information-seeking behavior models. Wilson's models grounded in multi-disciplinary research serve as milestones shaping the information behavior research. The models steered the direction of information behavior research from “system-centric” to “person-centric” inquiries by proposing information-seeking behavior as a new lens in combination with information use to study the dynamic process experienced by users for satisfying information needs. Wilson also introduced “observations to be the “root” method of data collection. The ability of Wilson's models to continue serving as frameworks for developing and testing new combinations of information behavior constructs and theories illustrate the rigor, relevance, and utility of the models in rapidly changing landscape of information environments. As researchers from diverse disciplines employ Wilson's models as a basis for solving the problems of information behavior experienced by well-defined groups from different parts of the world, the models are likely to evolve in the future.