Everyday research in the knowledge society: Who uses ICTs to find job and health information?

Abstract

If we take a broad definition of 'research' such as 'to search or examine with continued care', or 'close careful study' (widely accepted meanings), then those who 'research outside the walls' includes just about everyone: both those following a 'academic' mode such as industrial research staff or public/civil servants, and those involved in other research modes, like service workers, consultants and ordinary people in 'everyday life'. This report focuses on this last category. It uses data from two waves of a longitudinal European ICT (Information and Communication Technology)-focused household panel survey to explore the extent to which 'ordinary people' in 6 'European' countries (UK, Norway, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy and Israel) are carrying out information seeking and 'research' in order to find job and health information.