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A participative approach to understanding the hidden curriculum: Lessons from three virtual information needs workshops�

Paper presentation

Dr David Brazier and Marina Milosheva (presenting author)

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Rationale

Information needs may be recorded or elicited through participative design workshops with an emphasis on card sorting exercises (Brazier, 2019)
There is a need for more information about information needs (Borlund & Pharo, 2019)
The ‘hidden curriculum’ (e.g. Alsubaie, 2015) provides the background needed to study learning in everyday settings that is: informal; self-directed; socially mediated
Research was inspired by Taylor's conceptualisation of information needs and Ruthven (2019)

Research question:

What are PhD students' and early career researchers' information needs in the context of the hidden curriculum?

Methodology

Why participative design? Co-design of artefacts, workflows, and work environments suits virtual collaboration and knowledge exchange (e.g. Spinuzzi, 2005).
Individual and self-reflective exercises; group discussions; card sorting
Pre-workshop and post-workshop questionnaires with free text response boxes

The workshops: Group values and rules

Problem clusters

Sub-topics within the chosen problem cluster �and voting example

Causes and effects

Information needs, Information sources, Skills needed

Findings

The good	The not-so-good	Implications for future workshops
Tangible outputs	Participant attrition	Expectation of high engagement should be communicated early
Identification of information needs	Technical issues, delays, lack of access to features	Structured activities are beneficial, as are frequent breaks; small groups are best
Format received well	Spontaneous collaboration is more challenging online	Use of information proxies and voting features is feasible whenever access is restricted
Increased knowledge of information needs and hidden curriculum
Increased confidence in looking for information

A participative approach to understanding the hidden curriculum: Lessons from three virtual information needs workshops�

Paper presentation

Dr David Brazier and Marina Milosheva (presenting author)

Thank you!

References

Alsubaie, M. A. (2015). Hidden curriculum as one of current issue of curriculum. Journal of Education and practice, 6(33), 125-128.
Borlund, P. & Pharo, N. (2019). A need for information on information needs. In Proceedings of CoLIS, the Tenth International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science, Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 16-19, 2019. Information Research, 24(4), paper colis1908. http://InformationR.net/ir/24-4/colis/colis1908.html
Brazier, D. (2019). English as a second language user’s Information Interaction in an e-Governmental context. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/39954/1/Brazier.David_phd.pdf
Ruthven, I. (2019). The language of information need: Differentiating conscious and formalized information needs. Information Processing & Management, 56(1), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2018.09.005
Spinuzzi, C. (2005). The methodology of participatory design. Technical Communication, 52(2), 163-174.
Taylor, R. S. (1968). Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries. College & Research Libraries, 29(3), 178-194. https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/38236

Further reading on the role of participative design in information behaviour research

Barbosa Tavares, R., Hepworth, M., & De Souza Costa, S. M. (2011). Investigating citizens’ information needs through participative research: a pilot study in Candangolândia, Brazil. Information Development, 27(2), 125-138.
Meyer, A., Fourie, I. & Hansen, P. (2020). A participatory design informed framework for information behaviour studies. Information Research, 25(4). https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2004