Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

A comparative analysis s of web information seeking behavior among students and staff at the University of Zululand and Durban University of Technology: A

Literature Review

Ntando Nkomo⁴⁵ ([e-mail])

Department of Library and Information Science

University of Zululand

South Africa

Abstract

This paper reviews literature on the web information seeking behaviour of students and staff at the University of Zululand and Durban University of Technology. Seeing as information services delivered via the World Wide Web continue to significantly permeate the work and leisure spaces of students and staff at institutions of higher learning, it is of paramount importance that higher education institutions understand the web’s impact on information seeking behaviour. The aim of the study was to comprehensively understand web information seeking behavior in order to serve as a theoretical and professional base for user-centered service and system designs. An attempt was made to identify a range of web information seeking/searching behaviours inherent in the higher education environment.

The literature review seeks to obtain answers to the following questions; what is web information seeking behaviour, how is it manifested, channels used, challenges faced, and the nature of information sought, with particular reference to higher education.


Keywords: Information seeking, Information seeking behaviour, Web information seeking/behaviour, User behaviour, Higher education.