Elaborating the sensory and cognitive-affective aspects of information experience

Abstract

Drawing on pragmatist ideas proposed by John Dewey, the study elaborates the picture of information experience by examining how researchers have characterized the ways in which people receive, acquire and interpret sensory and cognitive-affective information. To this end, a conceptual analysis was conducted by concentrating on 43 studies pertinent to the topic. The findings indicate that so far, the construct of information experience has remained quite vague. This is mainly due to that experience - the fundamental constituent of information experience – has not been sufficiently reflected in the context of informational phenomena. Information experience studies have mainly contributed to information behaviour research by describing how people receive and acquire sensory information, while the picture of experiencing cognitive-affective information has remained quite vague. There are also gaps in studies examining how sensory and cognitive-affective information are interpreted as an integral part of information experience. The study also identifies topics of further research dealing with the elaboration of the construct of information experience.