COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study
Introduction. The goal of this paper is to understand who shares information used by the general public about COVID-19 and how they decided what information to share. Method. Our qualitative work is based on semi-structured interviews conducted from April 2022 through December 2023 with 23 people...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Borås
2024-06-01
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| Series: | Information Research: An International Electronic Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://informationr.net/infres/article/view/845 |
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| author | Togzhan Seilkhanova Theodore Dreyfus Ledford Jodi Schneider |
| author_facet | Togzhan Seilkhanova Theodore Dreyfus Ledford Jodi Schneider |
| author_sort | Togzhan Seilkhanova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction. The goal of this paper is to understand who shares information used by the general public about COVID-19 and how they decided what information to share.
Method. Our qualitative work is based on semi-structured interviews conducted from April 2022 through December 2023 with 23 people who have provided COVID- 19 information through paid and volunteer roles. We used the critical incident technique. We also asked participants about their information gathering and credibility checking processes; their role in spreading information; and their typical audience for sharing.
Analysis. We transcribed interviews and conducted thematic analysis in MAXQDA software.
Results. We conceptualise the information space as consisting of the audience, communities, sharers, and experts. We illustrate three distinct exemplars of sharers. We describe how personal and historical experiences create boundaries around individuals (sharers and audience), which determine what sources of information are trustworthy, and how our participants share the information with their audience.
Conclusion. For COVID-19 information, the audience may be identified first or the information service may be formed first. Fact-checkers and science journalists’ job is to report truthful and verified information, and they do not tailor it to a specific community as much as people-centered sharers, such as patient advocates. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4ab5ac038a244dbc86c52eb0d17a2120 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1368-1613 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Borås |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Information Research: An International Electronic Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-4ab5ac038a244dbc86c52eb0d17a21202025-02-03T10:10:34ZengUniversity of BoråsInformation Research: An International Electronic Journal1368-16132024-06-0129252554510.47989/ir292845842COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview studyTogzhan Seilkhanova0Theodore Dreyfus Ledford1Jodi Schneider2University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignIntroduction. The goal of this paper is to understand who shares information used by the general public about COVID-19 and how they decided what information to share. Method. Our qualitative work is based on semi-structured interviews conducted from April 2022 through December 2023 with 23 people who have provided COVID- 19 information through paid and volunteer roles. We used the critical incident technique. We also asked participants about their information gathering and credibility checking processes; their role in spreading information; and their typical audience for sharing. Analysis. We transcribed interviews and conducted thematic analysis in MAXQDA software. Results. We conceptualise the information space as consisting of the audience, communities, sharers, and experts. We illustrate three distinct exemplars of sharers. We describe how personal and historical experiences create boundaries around individuals (sharers and audience), which determine what sources of information are trustworthy, and how our participants share the information with their audience. Conclusion. For COVID-19 information, the audience may be identified first or the information service may be formed first. Fact-checkers and science journalists’ job is to report truthful and verified information, and they do not tailor it to a specific community as much as people-centered sharers, such as patient advocates.https://informationr.net/infres/article/view/845information sharingsemi-structured interviewscredibilitycovid-19trustpersonal experiencepeople-centred information sharing |
| spellingShingle | Togzhan Seilkhanova Theodore Dreyfus Ledford Jodi Schneider COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study Information Research: An International Electronic Journal information sharing semi-structured interviews credibility covid-19 trust personal experience people-centred information sharing |
| title | COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study |
| title_full | COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study |
| title_short | COVID-19 information spaces, boundaries, and information sharing: an interview study |
| title_sort | covid 19 information spaces boundaries and information sharing an interview study |
| topic | information sharing semi-structured interviews credibility covid-19 trust personal experience people-centred information sharing |
| url | https://informationr.net/infres/article/view/845 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT togzhanseilkhanova covid19informationspacesboundariesandinformationsharinganinterviewstudy AT theodoredreyfusledford covid19informationspacesboundariesandinformationsharinganinterviewstudy AT jodischneider covid19informationspacesboundariesandinformationsharinganinterviewstudy |