Information Needs
Information need is an individual or group's desire to locate and obtain information to satisfy a conscious or unconscious need. The ‘information’ and ‘need’ in ‘information need’ are an inseparable interconnection. Needs and interests call forth information. The objectives of studying information needs are:
- The explanation of observed phenomena of information use or expressed need;
- The prediction of instances of information uses;
- The control and thereby improvement of the utilization of information manipulation of essentials conditions.
Information needs are related to, but distinct from information requirements. An example is that a need is hunger; the requirement is food.
Read more about Information Needs: Background
Famous quotes containing the word information:
“Computers are good at swift, accurate computation and at storing great masses of information. The brain, on the other hand, is not as efficient a number cruncher and its memory is often highly fallible; a basic inexactness is built into its design. The brain’s strong point is its flexibility. It is unsurpassed at making shrewd guesses and at grasping the total meaning of information presented to it.”
—Jeremy Campbell (b. 1931)