Challenges for Human Information-Seeking Research In the Emerging Communication Environment

This paper discusses the challenges of understanding human information seeking from the framework of Case’s examination of thousands of studies and Hantula’s plea for “newer understanding of the wisdom of older theories.” This review of the opportunities, and the difficulties, of conducting communication research in the constantly evolving digital media environment uses news seeking from media organizations as the case study. The authors describe the unique challenges presented to researchers attempting to understand news seeking behavior and offer insights into “older” theories that may be successfully applied.