Information value across cultures and communities

Abstract

The value of information within and across communities varies; however, even slight variations in this value may define boundaries between different worlds. The Theory of Information Worlds offers a framework for understanding social information behaviors in these settings. This poster reports on the operationalization of the concept of Information Value and its implications for an ongoing project focusing on the development of codebooks intended to be effective across diverse research contexts and methodologies. Specifically, the concept of Information Value is operationalized and discussed through the lenses of three different dissertation projects focusing on South Korean political discourse on Twitter, Ernestine Rose and the Harlem Library, and the digital literacy practices of role-players in a new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Implications of Information Value on research on communities and cultures are also briefly discussed before describing the project's next steps.