State of the art review
Human information behavior during the Covid-19 health crisis. A literature review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2021.101122Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Understanding information behavior during crisis allows LIS to address and contribute to today's society's problems.

  • Research on Human Information Behavior (HIB) during the Covid-19 crisis was searched in LISTA and GS and reviewed.

  • Most research on HIB during the pandemic is quantitative and draws on web surveys and massive datasets.

  • Further research is needed on marginalized communities and the limitations of ICT.

  • Experiential and local knowledge turned out to be highly relevant during the crisis, deserving further attention.

Abstract

The research carried out on human information behavior (HIB) during the Covid-19 health crisis was reviewed, with the premise that HIB and information practices allow humans to adapt to the changing circumstances of existence. A literature search was run on the LISTA and Google Scholar databases from middle March 2020 up to the end of March 2021. After filtering retrieved results, 52 studies were selected. Results are summarized into seven main themes, including the use of traditional and social media, infoveillance of search engines and social media activity, misinformation, disinformation and infodemics, and uncertainty and emotions. Results point to the need to carry out additional research in specific contexts and addressing vulnerable and marginalized groups. Further areas of inquiry include the interplay of emotions, knowledge and behaviors during the information seeking process, a better understanding of local knowledge and experiential knowledge, and the need to comprehend the limitations of ICT.

Keywords

Human information behavior
Covid-19 pandemic
Information and communication technologies
Emotions
Experiential knowledge

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Michela Montesi obtained her PhD in information science from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is currently Professor of library and information science (LIS) at the same university. Her lines of research cover information behavior, health information sources, scientific communication and the social impact of research activities, and gender differences in scientific communication and information practices. Her research has been published by several LIS international journals, such as Journal of Documentation, Information Processing and Management, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology or Journal of Information Science. She leads a Service-Learning project with elderly centers in Madrid and is member of two research groups (Politecom and Biblioteca y Sociedad).