Creative information seeking Part I : a conceptual framework

Abstract

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for creative information

seeking drawing upon Weisberg’s argument that creativity exists in

everyone, and mapping the creative process described in the holistic model

of creativity to the information seeking activities identified in the

behavioural model of information seeking. Using scenarios of information

seeking behaviour, mappings between the creative process and the

information seeking activities were refined and six stages for creative

information seeking were proposed. These scenarios were also used to

provide theoretical justifications for each stage in creative information

seeking.

Evidence gathered from the scenarios seemed to indicate that the type of

information seeking task may have an impact on the extent to which the

information seeker exhibits all stages in the framework. This is on-going

research. Part II of this paper aims to conduct empirical studies and gather

evidence to verify the framework and examine this observation in more

detail.