Characteristics of information needs for television broadcasts of scholars and students in media studies

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on an explorative study of information need characteristics in a television broadcast context. Nine in-depth interviews are conducted with scholars and students within the academic field of Media Studies, and we identify four characteristics. Firstly, broadcasts are needed as objects of analysis in empirical research. Secondly, the needs are related to three broadcast dimensions: 1) Transmission; 2) Archive; and 3) Reception. Thirdly, four fundamental types of information needs are verified in a television broadcast context: 1) Known item; 2) Factual data; 3) Known topic or content; and 4) Muddled topic or content. Fourthly, the interviewees' needs consist of four phases: 1) Getting an overview of transmitted broadcasts; 2) Identification of borderline exemplars; 3) Selection of specific programmes; and 4) Verification of facts. In this way, the present paper presents novel research on characteristics of information needs in a television broadcast context. This knowledge is imperative for the design and construction of future broadcast retrieval systems.

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Index Terms

• Information systems

  • Information retrieval

  • Information storage systems