The 2020 Information Seeking in Context conference is taking place this week and some of my work will be presented. The conference is hosted by the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria and will take place as a virtual conference between 28th September and 2nd October 2020.
This is the first time my work will be presented by someone other than me. That is because one of my co-authors, Peter Cruickshank, has the honour of attending the conference on our behalf. (Dr Gemma Webster is the other co-author.) This work combines elements from two projects I have worked on over the past couple of years related to digital proxies: (1) Social media by proxy: Strategies for managing the online profiles of adults with dementia and (2) DISIPRAC: Digital identity security information practices of citizens.
The work is technically a poster; however, the virtual nature of the conference has changed the format slightly. Rather than creating a visual poster for a poster session, Peter will present the poster findings as a short presentation.
You can access the full text of the poster abstract from Information Research here. A short poster abstract and Peter’s presentation slides are below.
ABSTRACT:
The increasing dependence on social media and other online systems as part of everyday life has grown considerably over the years. At the same time, the complexity and security of online systems have also been increasing, making it more challenging for some people to access the services they need. This impacts the information practices of many users, leading to several scenarios where individuals need assistance in information-related tasks, from registering for government services to updating social media content.
This poster presents findings from two studies that investigated how individuals who lack the skills to use digital tools and services might seek or be offered support from others including those working in an intermediary or digital proxy role on the account holder’s behalf.
Cite: Cruickshank, P., Webster, G., & Ryan, F. (2020). Assisting information practice: from information intermediary to digital proxy. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, 28-30 September, 2020. Information Research, 25(4), paper isic2017.
If you have any questions about this research, or my larger body of work, please contact me.