Research

My research lies at the intersection of information behavior and the learning sciences, and focuses on the social aspects of youth information interaction.  Through this research, I seek to understand how and why young people work together to solve information problems, as well as the social and intellectual outcomes of this work.  I propose in my work that information literacies originate not only in the classroom, but in the process of social life.  Thus, I situate my scholarship on the social aspects of youth information interaction in two complementary areas:  the formal context of school, and the informal contexts that compose everyday life interactions.

My dissertation, titled The Nature and Impact of Group Information Problem Solving, investigates a specific aspect of this research agenda in the formal educational context of middle school using a mixed-method design.   This research, currently in progress, compares the processes and products of students in grades 7-8 (ages 12-14 years) solving complex information problems individually and in small groups of 3-4 students.  Through a microanalysis of the students’ processes, I examine their collaborative behaviors, search moves, and discourse patterns to ascertain how the nature of group problem solving differs from that of individuals.  Through analysis of the resulting products, I assess the impact of working in small groups on performance measures compared to how these students solve comparable problems as individuals.  The findings extend current theoretical models of information behavior, add an important population to the emerging empirical work in this area, and inform pedagogical interventions designed to improve information skills in young people.

Extending my investigation of the everyday life information behavior of youth, I am exploring how preteens engage with new web-based shared virtual environments using a cognitive ethnographic approach.  This research explores the complex social and technical aspects of how children use these worlds, how adult stakeholders and institutions affect these interactions, and how different value propositions are manifest in immersive virtual environments.   The guiding questions for this research include:  How do preteens construct meaning, authority, identity, and expertise in virtual space?  How do online social networks affect the information seeking and sharing practices of preteens?  More broadly, how will growing up in virtual space affect our notion of what it means to be "literate" in the 21st Century?