Collaborative information seeking: A field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team

@article{Reddy_IPM_2007, abstract = {Multidisciplinary teams are an essential aspect of modern organizational work. These teams often work in informationrich environments but little is known about their collaborative information seeking (CIS) behavior. We have been studying the CIS behavior of teams in the context of medical care. We conducted an ethnographic field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team in an emergency department to identify (a) team information needs and (b) situations that trigger collaborative information seeking activities. We identified seven categories of information needs as expressed by questions asked by team members. The majority of questions focused on medical information, but there were a larger than expected percentage of questions focusing on organizational information. We also identified three triggers for CIS activities. These triggers are: (1) lack of expertise, (2) lack of immediately accessible information, and (3) complex information needs. The questions and triggers highlight the importance of face-to-face communication during CIS activities and how CIS activities could lead to interruptive workplaces. We also discuss organizational and technical implications for supporting CIS behavior of teams.}, address = {Tarrytown, NY, USA}, author = {Reddy, Madhu C. and Spence, Patricia R. }, citeulike-article-id = {2629594}, doi = {10.1016/j.ipm.2006.12.003}, issn = {0306-4573}, journal = {Inf. Process. Manage.}, keywords = {collaborative, health, ir}, month = {January}, number = {1}, pages = {242--255}, posted-at = {2008-04-04 13:50:54}, priority = {4}, publisher = {Pergamon Press, Inc.}, title = {Collaborative information seeking: A field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team}, url = {http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1314720.1315086}, volume = {44}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - Reddy_IPM_2007 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2629594 TI - Collaborative information seeking: A field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team JF - Inf. Process. Manage. VL - 44 IS - 1 SP - 242 EP - 255 AD - Tarrytown, NY, USA PB - Pergamon Press, Inc. SN - 0306-4573 N2 - Multidisciplinary teams are an essential aspect of modern organizational work. These teams often work in informationrich environments but little is known about their collaborative information seeking (CIS) behavior. We have been studying the CIS behavior of teams in the context of medical care. We conducted an ethnographic field study of a multidisciplinary patient care team in an emergency department to identify (a) team information needs and (b) situations that trigger collaborative information seeking activities. We identified seven categories of information needs as expressed by questions asked by team members. The majority of questions focused on medical information, but there were a larger than expected percentage of questions focusing on organizational information. We also identified three triggers for CIS activities. These triggers are: (1) lack of expertise, (2) lack of immediately accessible information, and (3) complex information needs. The questions and triggers highlight the importance of face-to-face communication during CIS activities and how CIS activities could lead to interruptive workplaces. We also discuss organizational and technical implications for supporting CIS behavior of teams. KW - collaborative KW - health KW - ir AU - Reddy, Madhu AU - Spence, Patricia PY - 2008/01// UR - http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1314720.1315086 ER -