University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Information Research in Leisure: Implications from an Empirical Study of Backpackers

Chang, Shan-Ju L.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/13656

Description

Title
Information Research in Leisure: Implications from an Empirical Study of Backpackers
Author(s)
Chang, Shan-Ju L.
Issue Date
2009
Keyword(s)
  • Leisure studies
  • Travel
  • Backpacking
  • Information seeking
Abstract
In the modern, increasingly flat world, many individuals have seen an increase in the amount of leisure time they have available. This leisure time is used for different purposes, often including travel and tourism. Among the many types of travel and tourism, backpack or budget travelling is becoming more and more popular. This increasingly common leisure activity presumably involves intensive information search activities. This study places the backpackers’ search for travel information in an everyday life information seeking (ELIS) perspective. The search for information by backpackers can be seen as a three-stage information search process. In each stage, depending on the type of task, backpackers use various information resources for different purposes. Such sources may be used for more than one purpose and in more than one information search stage. However, their relative importance varies depending on the characteristics of the source of information and the information search stage in which the source is being used. In this article I suggest that studies of leisure information behaviors and leisure activities show theoretical and practical value for both the information seeking public and the information science community. We also suggest that library and information science scholars and practice communities direct attention and research resources to leisure research in general, and the concept of serious leisure and its structured information acquisition and sharing activities in particular.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/13656
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2009 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 57 (4) Spring 2009: Pleasurable Pursuits: Leisure and LIS Research PRIMARY
Library Trends 57 (4) Spring 2009: Pleasurable Pursuits: Leisure and LIS Research. Edited by Crystal Fulton and Ruth Vondracek.