Task information types related to data gathering in media studies
| Date | 16 November 2022 |
| Pages | 528-545 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2022-0082 |
| Published date | 16 November 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Laura Korkeamäki,Heikki Keskustalo,Sanna Kumpulainen |
Task information types related to
data gathering in media studies
Laura Korkeam€
aki, Heikki Keskustalo and Sanna Kumpulainen
Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine what types of task information media scholars need while
gathering research data to create new knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach –The research design is qualitative and user-oriented. A total of 25 media
scholars were interviewed about their research processes and interactions with their research data. The interviews
were semi-structured, complemented by critical incident interviews. The analysis focused on the activity of gathering
research data. A typology of information (task, domain and task-solving information) guided the analysis of
informationtypesrelatedtodatagathering,withfurtheranalysisfocusingonlyontaskinformationtypes.
Findings –Media scholars needed the following task information types while gathering research data to
create new knowledge: (1) informationabout research data (aboutness of data, characteristics of data, metadata
and secondary information about data), (2) information about sources of research data (characteristics of
sources, local media landscapes) and (3) information about cases and their contexts (case information,
contextual information). All the task information types should be considered when building data services and
tools to support media scholars’work.
Originality/value –The paper increases understanding of the concept of task information in the context of
gathering research data to create new knowledge and thereby informs the providers of researchdata services
about the task information types that researchers need.
Keywords Information types, Research data, Media studies
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The purpose of this study is to examine what types of information media scholars need in the
context of their real-world research processes. We focus on task information, which is
information that is specific to the task in question (Bystr€
om, 1999, p. 45). Furthermore, we
focus on the activity of gathering research data, which we consider as a subtask of knowledge
creation. Researchers gather research data to answer specific research questions and
formulate new ones. Therefore, data gathering is a key activity in knowledge creation. We
define data gathering broadly, involving searching, selecting and collecting research data.
Although searching, selecting and collecting are theoretically different activities, they can
intertwine and overlap in real-world situations (J€
arvelin et al., 2015). Especially searching can
be difficult to differentiate from other activities because it is sometimes a simultaneous
activity or even embedded in other activities (Late and Kumpulainen, 2022).
Media studies is an interdisciplinary field in the intersection of humanities and social
sciences (Jensen, 2012). Media scholars gather research data to study media-related
phenomena; their research interests range from media history to contemporary media.
However, media landscape is increasingly complex and dynamic, which can affect what
JD
78,7
528
© Laura Korkeam€
aki, Heikki Keskustalo and Sanna Kumpulainen. Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone
may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and
non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full
terms of this license may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ legalcode
This work was supported by The Emil Aaltonen Foundation and Academy of Finland (Grant
Numbers 326616 and 351247).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 14 April 2022
Revised 7 October 2022
Accepted 13 October 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 78 No. 7, 2022
pp. 528-545
Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-04-2022-0082
information media scholars need while doing research. This makes media studies a
particularly interesting domain for information interaction research. Information interaction
studies the interaction between people and information regardless of the mediating vehicle,
being it information technology, human being or a collection of books (Fidel, 2012, p. 17).
The significance of this research is threefold. Firstly, media landscape is quickly evolving,
making data gathering challenging in media studies. This makes media studies an important
and timely research area for information studies. Secondly, research data in media studies
can be nearly anything from archival sources in paper form to social media data. Therefore,
data gathering is complex and requires multiple types of information. It is important to study
what information media scholars need for data gathering in order to design tools and data
services that meet those needs. Thirdly, according to Bystr€
om (1999, pp. 45–46),
task information is needed only for the specific task, which makes it inherently different
from domain and task-solving information that are needed in several tasks alike. Bystr€
om
(2009, p. 175) also noted that the definitions of task, domain and task-solving information are
general in nature and saw the need for the development of subtypes in future studies. The
present study addresses this need by elaborating task information types.
This study is situated within information interaction research in information studies.
By studying data gathering and related task information types, we bring researchers’interactions
with their research data to the forefront. Our view is that the need for information may arise in the
information interaction situation of the subtask in question. Furthermore, we focus on specific
information activity (data gathering). This approach is consistent with a task-based information
interaction (TBII) model, where information interaction is defined by means of information
activities (J€
arvelin et al., 2015). The perspective of the present study is user-oriented because it
focuses on individual media scholar’s real-world research processes. This position differs from
system-oriented approach, where research might focus on studying the performance of
information retrieval systems (Ingwersen and J€
arvelin, 2005, pp. 114–115). User-oriented
perspective is also the opposite of data-centric perspective (e.g. how data travel between
organizations? or how data change when moved from one research site to the next?). This
perspective helps with transitioning the research focus from studying the data toward helping
their users. We analyzed interviews of 25 media scholars who were asked about their research
processes and interactions with their research data. Our study addresses the following research
question:
RQ1. What task information types do media scholars need while gathering research data
to create new knowledge?
2. Literature review
2.1 Research data in media studies
Research data can be called data, primary sources or research materials. A media historian,
for example, might prefer using the term primary sources (see Long et al., 2022, pp. 470–506).
In this study, we use the term research data. Because research data is a concept that is
difficult to define, we capture the concept by describing the various ways it has been
approached in the literature.
Research data are something that is used as evidence in research, for example, evidence of
phenomena (Borgman, 2015, p. 28) or evidence for knowledge claims (Leonelli, 2015).
Research data are also used for discovering new research questions (Gibbs and Owens, 2013).
Contextual information is also an important part of the research data. This includes, for
example, information about how the research data were created, how the research data have
been archived, for what purposes have the research data been used in the past, and what are
the terms of use of the research data (Faniel et al., 2019). Sometimes, there is only a fine line
between research data and reflective information. Reflective information, like keeping a
Task
information
types
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