This research, beginning in September 2015, was a collaborative study with Alyssa Hyduk (my research assistant for 2015-16 and a MLIS student at the University of Alberta) investigating how the information and communication technologies used by immigrant and expatriate members of an online community interact with the information values and information sharing behaviours of community members and the cultural memory established by the community. We drew on Burnett and Jaeger's theory of information worlds and key concepts from the literature on cultural memory. This project was partially funded through a Start Up Grant provided to me by the University of Alberta Faculty of Education. Data collection and analysis for this project is complete and final writing up of our findings and conclusions is under way.
Publications and Presentations
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Hyduk, A., & Worrall, A. (2016). "Shorts last Sunday, snow pants today": Delving into the information values of immigrant and expatriate users of Twitter. In A. Grove (Ed.), Proceedings of the 79th ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Creating knowledge, enhancing lives through information and technology, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 14-18, 2016. Silver Spring, MD: Association for Information Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2016.14505301135 [View poster] (Authors contributed equally.)
Presents in-progress research on how the ICTs used by expat and immigrant members of Twitter interact with the information values of community members. Findings show information value determination and negotiation are important for immigrants and expats online, with cultural, contextual, and economic values being most frequently invoked both explicitly and implicitly. A strong role for boundaries and some establishment of common ground was observed, but further exploration is necessary.
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Worrall, A., & Hyduk, A. (2016). Information values, sharing, and cultural memory: Interactions with ICT use in an online immigrant community. In D. Fenske & J. Greenberg (Co-Chairs), iConference 2016 proceedings, Philadelphia, PA, March 20-23, 2016. Champaign, IL: iSchools. https://doi.org/10.9776/16505 [View poster]
Presents qualitative, multi-method research in its early stages examining how the ICTs used by immigrant and expatriate members of Twitter interact with the information values and information sharing of community members and the cultural memory established by their communities. (This updated version reflects late-breaking changes to the study.)
Consent Form
Here is a permanent link to the consent form that interview participants agreed to when participating in the research.