pts (including models, theories or frameworks);
  • Understanding the position of opportunistic discovery and related concepts within the broader framework of human information behaviour;
  • The opportunistic discovery of information in various academic or practical domains (e.g., education, medicine, architecture, art, media, retail, entrepreneurship, etc.);
  • Understanding factors that enable and/or inhibit opportunistic discovery;
  • Methodologies for research;
  • Opportunistic discovery and individual differences;
  • Measurement of individuals' propensity for experiencing and engaging in opportunistic discovery.
  • Opportunistic discovery and social networking;
    • Design and evaluation of interactive information retrieval systems (or other tools/artifacts) aimed at encouraging, supporting or facilitating opportunistic discovery.

    Your paper should be prepared in accordance with the Author Instructions at http://informationr.net/ir/author2.html and the Style Manual at http://informationr.net/ir/StyleManual.html. Note that Information Research does not use ad hoc initialisms and acronyms, so please do not refer to the 'opportunistic discovery of information' as ODI. Similarly, please always spell out abbreviations such as LIS, IR etc.

    Submit your paper as a Microsoft Word .doc or .docx file through the journal management system with the top line annotation Submission for Special Issue on Opportunistic Discovery of Information by May 31, 2011.

    All papers will be initially screened by the special issue editors and then sent out for peer review. This will be a 'double blind' review process, so please mark any self-citations and references simply as 'author,' with no further details in the reference list (see the journal management system for detailed instructions). Please also include a separate cover sheet with the names and contact information of all authors and contact information (including e-mail) for two potential reviewers.

    Call for papers

    CALL FOR PAPERS


    Special issue on Information by Chance: Opportunistic Discovery of Information To be published in September 2011; Submission deadline: May 31, 2011

    Guest Editors: Dr. Sanda Erdelez
    School of Information Science and Learning Technologies University of Missouri, USA sanda@missouri.edu
    and
    Dr. Stephann Makri
    UCL Interaction Centre University College London, UK S.Makri@ucl.ac.uk

    Much existing information research has focused on information-seeking (i.e., actively looking for information, usually facilitated by searching or browsing activities). However, there are many situations where we discover information that we were not actively seeking at the time; for example, we might stumble upon an article that is useful to our research that has been left on the photocopier by one of our colleagues, or come across a webpage that is relevant to one of our interests whilst searching the web for a different topic entirely. These are examples of the Opportunistic Discovery of Information where information is discovered accidentally, fortuitously, unintentionally and/or unexpectedly – often resulting in a beneficial outcome. Related concepts include information encountering, accidental acquisition of information, incidental finding of information, and serendipitous information discovery.

    In recent years researchers in library and information science, human-computer interaction, sociology, psychology, business, and many other fields have started to systematically study opportunistic discovery and related concepts. By developing an increased understanding of these phenomena we hope to find out how they can be facilitated by interactive information retrieval systems with the vision of contributing to the economic and social benefit of all. The purpose of the special issue of Information Research is to provide a central venue for researchers to present various conceptual and research perspectives on opportunistic discovery and related concepts and to inform the research audience about the current state of research in this emerging field.

    Authors are invited to submit original, unpublished work that is not under consideration by other journals. The work should focus on theoretical, empirical or applied aspects of opportunistic discovery of information (defined broadly and inclusively). Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to, work in the following areas:

    1. Understanding cognitive, process-based or behavioural aspects of opportunistic discovery and related concepts (including models, theories or frameworks);
    2. Understanding the position of opportunistic discovery and related concepts within the broader framework of human information behaviour;
    3. The opportunistic discovery of information in various academic or practical domains (e.g., education, medicine, architecture, art, media, retail, entrepreneurship, etc.);
    4. Understanding factors that enable and/or inhibit opportunistic discovery;
    5. Methodologies for research;
    6. Opportunistic discovery and individual differences;
    7. Measurement of individuals' propensity for experiencing and engaging in opportunistic discovery.
    8. Opportunistic discovery and social networking;
      9. Design and evaluation of interactive information retrieval systems (or other tools/artifacts) aimed at encouraging, supporting or facilitating opportunistic discovery.

    Your paper should be prepared in accordance with the Author Instructions at http://informationr.net/ir/author2.html and the Style Manual at http://informationr.net/ir/StyleManual.html. Note that Information Research does not use ad hoc initialisms and acronyms, so please do not refer to the 'opportunistic discovery of information' as ODI. Similarly, please always spell out abbreviations such as LIS, IR etc.

    Submit your paper as a Microsoft Word .doc or .docx file through the journal management system with the top line annotation Submission for Special Issue on Opportunistic Discovery of Information by May 31, 2011.

    All papers will be initially screened by the special issue editors and then sent out for peer review. This will be a 'double blind' review process, so please mark any self-citations and references simply as 'author,' with no further details in the reference list (see the journal management system for detailed instructions). Please also include a separate cover sheet with the names and contact information of all authors and contact information (including e-mail) for two potential reviewers.