Researchers are increasingly encouraged to undertake collaborative research that stretches beyond their home discipline, and engages community, industry, and government stakeholders. This transdisciplinary research approach explores complex societal challenges, requiring researchers to navigate knowledge and organizational boundaries, including how best to integrate qualitative, quantitative, experimental, and textual methodologies. Transdisciplinary researchers must also engage effectively with external stakeholders, who bring a wealth of professional expertise to study designs and implementation, but typically lack formal research training and are unfamiliar with many research processes. This tutorial will explore how researchers in human information interaction and retrieval can work effectively across transdisciplinary boundaries. This tutorial introduces human information interaction and retrieval researchers to the powerful insights that can be gained by working effectively across research paradigms, including involving qualitative social scientists and humanities scholars in human-focused research design. The session also examines how to navigate these research designs with external partners, particularly those with limited research experience.

Abstract While technology affords creation of digital collections, and promises access to all, the reality is that many cultural data collections exist in a precarious ecosystem, where erratic funding, fragmented support, and disconnected expertise threaten their continued existence. As a significant branch of the broader information ecosystem, cultural data collections range in size and scope, from national institutions to bespoke local collections supported by individuals. This exploratory, qualitative study engaged cultural data experts in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom to map the broad cultural data ecosystem and to identify opportunities for healthier growth. The development and maintenance of cultural data collections requires integration across the spheres of expertise of creators, curators, subject matter experts, information science, and computing and technology. The foundational structural elements of the ecosystem include funding, policies, access to existing data, community context, and technological infrastructure. The key elements of a healthy data ecosystem are clarity of purpose, user‐focused design, sustainability, allied coproduction, and reciprocal interconnection. A healthier cultural data ecosystem means more collections and initiatives will have positive impacts for research, knowledge, and diverse communities, contributing positively to the broader information ecosystem and to society, at large.

Abstract Many researchers in library and information science have claimed that studies that are holistic are critical to understanding various phenomena. On closer examination, however, the term “holistic” is used mainly as a rhetorical device in the literature, rather than as one that embraces the epistemological tenets of a holistic paradigm, and applies these to research design. This paper examines this rhetorical use, and explores what it would mean, and why it would matter, to adopt substantively holistic approaches to research. We review relevant literature in library and information science to position past uses of holistic and compare these to the conceptual intentions of holism. We also outline the concept of holism, itself, with a focus on methodological and ontological holism, which can most deeply inform research design in our discipline. Greater methodological diversity, including much wider adoption of interpretivist and critical approaches, can address the concerns underlying the use of holistic rhetoric. We illustrate this central conceptual argument with a roadmap illustrating holistic considerations throughout the research process. The paper demonstrates that it is possible to shift away from predominantly rhetorical use of holistic, toward paradigmatically holistic research, which will provide for richer analyses of critical phenomena in the discipline.

The set of articles in this special issue bring together a diverse set of scholars concerned with research that illuminates people's experiences with and perceptions of information within the traditions of information behavior (Wilson, 1999) or information practice (Savolainen, 2007).\nWhile there is a well‐established body of frameworks and models (Case & Given, 2016; Fisher, Erdelez, & McKechnie, 2005) which support theorizing information behavior and information practice, there are questions about how these help conceptualize the changing relationship between technology and information. In proposing this special issue, we were particularly interested in new theoretical perspectives and theoretical developments. These include the “practice‐turn,” affordances and sociomateriality (Gibson, 1977; Orlikowski, 2007; Schatzki, Knorr‐Cetina, & von Savigny, 2001). We were particularly interested in the ways in which these theories contribute to information studies and demonstrate that the discipline offers a fertile landscape for expanding these theories. We expected that scholars would present articles that used or developed these theories to focus on the ways people engage with information technology and the way it changes how people interact with information. What we found, however, was that most of the submissions looked towards other forms of materiality and interaction providing a theoretically rich, stimulating, and novel set of alternative understandings.

Agricultural research in developing countries often involves collaboration between dispersed multicultural teams of scientists from developed and developing countries. The teams use information and computing technologies (ICTs) to communicate between team members, who originate from different cultures using different languages. This paper investigates the usability and utility of a range of ICTs used for communication between team members from different cultures. The research used an intercultural heuristic evaluation tool, or I‐CHET, to evaluate nine ICTs used by Australian and Lao scientists for team communication. The evaluation showed that asynchronous ICTs (e.g., e‐mail) were preferred by non‐native English speakers, while synchronous media (e.g., audio conferencing, instant messaging, Skype) presented considerable problems between team members from different cultures. Most ICTs evaluated in the study demonstrated little consideration for non‐native English speakers and for inexperienced ICTs users. However, all evaluated ICTs demonstrated the ability to transmit information and encourage communication between information users in scientific collaborations. The I‐CHET assessment tool highlights the ongoing need for a “toolbox” of communication ICTs for research collaborations that can be adapted to suit the cultural and professional needs of multinational teams, worldwide.

Digital tools offer new affordances and methodologies to humanities scholars' research. This study used a constructivist grounded theory approach to examine humanities scholars' research practices, including their use of a wide range of resources and digital technologies. Using in‐depth study, several themes emerged from the research relating to the role of technology in shaping humanities scholars' research practices. The themes include: (a) humanities scholars' research approaches and technology tools; (b) the humanities scholar as tool developer; (c) the role of data preparation as a meta‐level research practice; (d) data visualization versus numeric outputs—one size does not fit all; (e) the importance of flexibility and agency; (f) technology tools in support of the researcher as writer; and (g) working alone/working together—technology tools and collaborative practice. The heterogeneous nature of humanities scholars' research practices are explored and the resulting implications for digital tool design. Two new research practices—tool development and data preparation—are proposed. The diverse digital technologies humanities scholars use support the traditional ways of working within their discipline, as well as creating potential for new scholarly practices.

Abstract Although technology can often correct spelling errors, the complex tasks of information searching and retrieval in an online public access catalog (OPAC) are made more difficult by these errors in users' input and bibliographic records. This study examines the search behaviors of 38 university students, divided into groups with either easy‐to‐spell or difficult‐to‐spell search terms, who were asked to find items in the OPAC with these search terms. Search behaviors and strategy use in the OPAC and on the World Wide Web (WWW) were examined. In general, students used familiar Web resources to check their spelling or discover more about the assigned topic. Students with difficult‐to‐spell search terms checked spelling more often, changed search strategies to look for the general topic and had fewer successful searches. Students unable to find the correct spelling of a search term were unable to complete their search. Students tended to search the OPAC as they would search a search engine, with few search terms or complex search strategies. The results of this study have implications for spell checking, user‐focused OPAC design, and cataloging. Students' search behaviors are discussed by expanding Thatcher's (2006) Information‐Seeking Process and Tactics for the WWW model to include OPACs.

Abstract This study explores an image‐based retrieval interface for drug information, focusing on usability for a specific population—seniors. Qualitative, task‐based interviews examined participants' health information behaviors and documented search strategies using an existing database ( www.drugs.com ) and a new prototype that uses similarity‐based clustering of pill images for retrieval. Twelve participants (aged 65 and older), reflecting a diversity of backgrounds and experience with Web‐based resources, located pill information using the interfaces and discussed navigational and other search preferences. Findings point to design features (e.g., image enlargement) that meet seniors' needs in the context of other health‐related information‐seeking strategies (e.g., contacting pharmacists).