Reference no: EM133391701

Case Study: Sensemaking has been considered from a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Each approach shares a foundation of focusing on users and audiences in phenomenological and interpretive ways but differ in attending to both issues of agency and structure. However, this approach shows promise towards solving persistent research difficulties associated with interdisciplinary research and opposing theoretical paradigms, since the Methodology is known for shifting from a system-centered to user-centered approach in information science. Rooted in the field of communication, Sense-Making Methodology centers on how people seek, use, and benefit from information. Sense-Making focuses on the ways messages are understood by information receivers, and how these receivers then communicate the information in their life contexts. From an interpretive perspective, Sense-Making recognizes that there are differences in people's understandings, expertise, social positions, situations, and other factors that impact sense-making.

Questions:

1. Sense-Making assumes that reality is neither complete nor constant but rather filled with discontinuities or gaps, thus information is subjective. To what extent do you agree with these epistemological assumptions of information?
2. How did reading this piece stimulate your own research interests (How a public library creates a bridge for barriers in the underserved communities ? Where could you find yourself in this work?
3. What is the relationship between Sense-Making and ethnography?
4. At the core of SMM is the interpretive philosophy that instructs the interviewer to allow the interviewee to construct, interpret, make-sense of their own experience. To what extent does this remove the potentiality of researcher bias?
5. How does approaching research with a Sense-Making methodology influence what you're looking for (Public Librarian) and what is found from research?