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Part of the book series: Information Science and Knowledge Management ((ISKM,volume 8))

5. Conclusion

Our findings in this respect raise a concern over knowledge building. The real problem is that the (false) sense of engagement and action associated with online searching/surfing makes the consumer feel that something is being achieved, while this may not always be the case. People tend to want fast knowledge and not just fast access to information.

Our chapter plainly addresses the wider issue of information behavior and provides data which provide full justification for the employment of the term human information-seeking behavior, not just because we have captured a wide range of users on a number of different platforms, but most importantly because we have examined a wide range of consumer activities. In recognition of this we have also introduced our own term, the digital information consumer, and studying this digital information consumer is an important and much needed new direction in HIB studies.

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Nicholas, D., Huntington, P., Williams, P., Dobrowolski, T. (2006). The Digital Information Consumer. In: Spink, A., Cole, C. (eds) New Directions in Human Information Behavior. Information Science and Knowledge Management, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3670-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3670-1_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3667-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3670-5

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