Waiting for chiropody: contextual results from an ethnographic study of the information behaviour among attendees at community clinics

The importance of including contextual factors when studying information be haviour is illustrated using findings from a recent field study in which et hnographic methods and social network theory are used to investigate the fl ow of human services information (HSI) among nurses, the elderly and other individuals at community-based foot clinics. Four types of contextual facto rs are identified: physical environment, clinic activities, the nurse's sit uation, and the senior's situation. While each type of factor has particula r implications for the participants' information behaviour, it is shown how the interaction of multiple factors led to the conceptualization of such n otions as an information ground, which may be used for guiding further rese arch on the flow of information in community settings. This concept of an i nformation ground is further based on a social constructionist definition o f human services information. The implications of the researcher's presence at the field site as an additional contextual factor are also discussed. ( C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.