{"title":"Conceptions of place in the information practices of the Mahamewnawa Asapuwa Temple community","authors":"H. Yerbury, Pethigamage Perera, M. Olsson","doi":"10.47989/irisic2237","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The findings of a study of the information practices of devotees and monks associated with a Buddhist temple are used to examine the way place is understood, and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the conceptualisations presented in the literature. An insider approach facilitated the collection of data through interviews of monks and devotees, observations and analysis of websites and social media platforms produced by the temple community. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts, the researcher’s field notes and online content. Place can be physical, modified by time, symbolic, created through the affordances of technology and organisational. Three categories of information practices emerged, being cultural, everyday life and organisational information practices. Existing conceptualisations of place in information research, including information grounds, information landscapes and space of flows were insufficient to cover the ways that place was expressed in this study. Understandings of place and associated information practices are tied to cultural knowledge and beliefs. The outsider researcher may only make sense of data through the use of metaphor or analogy. Further analytical and empirical work is essential to develop guidelines for establishing appropriate metaphors.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2237","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The findings of a study of the information practices of devotees and monks associated with a Buddhist temple are used to examine the way place is understood, and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the conceptualisations presented in the literature. An insider approach facilitated the collection of data through interviews of monks and devotees, observations and analysis of websites and social media platforms produced by the temple community. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts, the researcher’s field notes and online content. Place can be physical, modified by time, symbolic, created through the affordances of technology and organisational. Three categories of information practices emerged, being cultural, everyday life and organisational information practices. Existing conceptualisations of place in information research, including information grounds, information landscapes and space of flows were insufficient to cover the ways that place was expressed in this study. Understandings of place and associated information practices are tied to cultural knowledge and beliefs. The outsider researcher may only make sense of data through the use of metaphor or analogy. Further analytical and empirical work is essential to develop guidelines for establishing appropriate metaphors.
期刊介绍:
Information Research, is an open access, international, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, dedicated to making accessible the results of research across a wide range of information-related disciplines. It is published by the University of Borås, Sweden, with the financial support of an NOP-HS Scientific Journal Grant. It is edited by Professor T.D. Wilson, and is hosted, and given technical support, by Lund University Libraries, Sweden.