Information behaviour of architecture students in creative design projects
| Date | 16 July 2018 |
| Published date | 16 July 2018 |
| Pages | 414-433 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-02-2018-0030 |
| Author | Anika Meyer,Ina Fourie |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Information behaviour of
architecture students in
creative design projects
Anika Meyer and Ina Fourie
Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory study of third-year architecture students’
information behaviour. It focusses on information activities, personal experience, resource usage, preferences
in working individually or collaboratively, preferences for information resources inspiring creativity and
physical spaces to be creative.
Design/methodology/approach –It was a mixed methods study with a strongly qualitative component
and limited descriptive quantitative data. Data were collected in October 2016 at a South African university
using individual self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured individual interviews; 19 out of 60
(response rate 32 per cent) third-year architecture students doing a design project participated.
Findings –Creativity is important in architecture projects, as is information resources in stimulating
creativity. Students preferred to work individually during their design projects; at times collaboration was
needed for idea generation. Information activities included: information gathering, encountering, use and
sharing. A range of theoretical, technical, artistic and practical skills and knowledge must be integrated to
produce creative outcomes, in addition, to information searching and information usage. Factual information
is also required. Students can benefit from a supportive information rich creative space (physical or virtual).
Research limitations/implications –The study was conducted at only one institution with a small
number of participants. Although generalisation of findings is not possible, issues for further research
can be noted.
Practical implications –Designers of physical and virtual creative spaces must take into account different
facets of information behaviour and the information resources and services required during creative
information-seeking activities.
Originality/value –Although there is literature on information behaviour and creativity, the authors could
not find any that explores architecture students’information behaviour in academic spaces of creativity.
Keywords Creativity, Students, Architecture, Information behaviour, Information activities,
Spaces of creativity
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds
for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards”(France, 1920). The turn of the twenty-first
century signalled a shift in the new skillsets and technologies required by students to
flourish in a rapidly advancing world (Koh and Abbas, 2015). Spaces of creativity,
such as makerspaces, became increasingly important for educational spaces to support
STEAM-related studies (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics)
(Abram, 2013; Barniskis, 2014; Burke, 2015; Hira et al., 2014; Peppler and Bender, 2013).
Education literature reports many skills associated with creativity, such as critical
thinking, imagination, holistic thinking, information literacy, problem solving and active
learning (Kostagiolas et al., 2015; Medaille, 2010; Torun et al., 2011). Studies on academic
contexts and library services and information literacy highlight the importance of creativity
(Chang and Hsu, 2015; Plemmons, 2014). In academic disciplines, such as architecture,
creativity is significant to set a design apart from competition (Sidawi, 2013; Tzonis, 2014).
These disciplines require special supportive spaces (e.g. design studios, makerspaces)
and tools for creative tasks (Dayaratne, 2013; Siestrzewitowska, 2015). According to
Williams et al. (2010, p. 3), creativity requires a holistic approach. So, an understanding
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 70 No. 4, 2018
pp. 414-433
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-02-2018-0030
Received 10 February 2018
Revised 13 June 2018
10 July 2018
Accepted 18 July 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
414
AJIM
70,4
of information behaviour, based on a holistic approach including affective, cognitive and
physical components (Anderson, 2011; Case and Given, 2016; Kuhlthau, 1991, 1994;
Hepworth and Walton, 2013), might better inform the design of creative spaces and
information support (McCormick, 2014; Prince, 2012; Vogel, 2014).
Although many architecture studies mention the importance of creativity in academic
contexts, few covered information behaviour (Campbell, 2017; Makri and Warwick, 2010).
This paper therefore explores which information activities feature in architecture students’
information behaviour in academic design tasks. Findings can inform the design
of information rich creative spaces that can support students. The paper reports on
the information behaviour of architecture students during project design phases, which by
nature of architectural work calls for creativity. The focus is on information activities,
personal experiences, resource usage, preferences in working individually or
collaboratively, preferences for information resources inspiring creativity and physical
spaces to be creative. The full project is reported by Meyer (2016).
Clarification of concepts
Creativity
Naiman (2014), Founder of Creativity at Work, explained that “creativity is characterised by
the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections
between seemingly unrelated phenomena and to generate solutions”.
For the purpose of this study, creativity is defined as the “act of turning new and
imaginative ideas into reality”by “questioning assumptions and re-interpreting facts, ideas
and past experiences”(Goodman and Dingli, 2013, p. 54).
Information behaviour
According to Ingwersen and Järvelin (2005, p. 21), information behaviour refers to human
behaviour dealing with generation, communication and use of information and other
activities concerned with information, such as information-seek ing behaviour and
interactive information retrieval. Fisher and Julien (2009, p. 317) maintained that
information behaviour focusses on individuals’information needs; specifically, how they
seek, manage, give and use information, actively and/or passively, in various roles in their
daily lives, while Bates (2010, p. 2381) explained information behaviour as people’s
interaction with information. This paper accepts Wilson’s (1999, p. 249) definition
of information behaviour as “those activities a person may engage in when identifying his
or her own needs for information, searching for such information in any way and using or
transferring that information”, since it can include information activities mentioned in the
other definitions.
Background
Glăveanu (2010, p. 79) explained that creativity has been hypothesised and applied
throughout various domains of studies, such as psychological and behavioural science
(Auger and Woodman, 2016; Pelaprat and Cole, 2011); educational science (Ergen and
Akyol, 2012; Likar et al., 2015); building science (Dayaratne, 2013; Onsman, 2016);
health science (Bang, 2015; Smoyak, 2015); library and information science (Lotts, 2015;
Onuoha et al., 2015); fine arts and science (Lavranos et al., 2015; Medaille, 2010); and
economic and management sciences (Dean et al., 2016; Karim and Sarfraz, 2016).
Various authors argue that creativity is multidimensional (Lucas, 2016; Runco and
Pritzker, 1999; Sternberg, 2005; Williams et al., 2010), consisting of various components
(also known as the 4Ps of creativity) (Anderson, 2013) such as the creative individual
(personal factors), creative product (design, service and system factors), creative process
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Information
behaviour of
architecture
students
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