Analyzing uncertainty tolerance in information discovery and use

✍ Scribed by Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 27 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0044-7870
• DOI: 10.1002/meet.14504301311

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This short paper/poster discusses the role uncertainty plays in judgments of the meaning and significance of ideas and texts encountered by scholars working with networked information systems. Uncertainty is often associated with risk, fear and danger. However, the perception and strategic use of uncertainty can be both a positive and negative influence on behavior. This poster discusses an investigation of the nature of uncertainty in the context of scholarly research and the use of networked information systems in the ongoing research activities of two informants. What forms do positive and negative perceptions of uncertainty take in this context? How much uncertainty are people in such a context prepared to tolerate? The themes presented here are based on a process‐oriented, longitudinal study of these judgments. This poster invites discussion about the complexity surrounding searcher experiences of uncertainty by demonstrating how working through uncertainty becomes a mediating strategy for knowledge generation.