Transcript Immigrant Information Seeking Behaviour: Policy

Immigrant Information
Seeking Behaviour:
Policy Considerations for
Information Provision and Access
Nadia Caidi & Danielle Allard
Faculty of Information Studies
University of Toronto
Overview
What we know:
– Information needs and uses theories
– Rethinking ‘social inclusion’
– Social capital/social networks
What we are learning:
–
Ongoing studies:
• IPEC
• DA’s dissertation - Living “Here” and
“There”
• HRSDC Report - What Role do ICTs Play?
Stages of Settlement and
Associated Needs
Settlement Process involves (Mwarigha, 2002):
– Stage 1: Pressing matters / Survival needs:
• Food, shelter, orientation in city, language,
health, etc.
– Stage 2: Navigating the system and institutions:
• Municipal and legal services, long-term
housing, health services, education,
employment, etc.
– Stage 3: Sense of Belonging and Equal
participation:
• Not only do new immigrants need to know
how to survive in their new home, but they
also need to feel as though they belong
and can contribute to the society in which
they live.
Immigrants’ Information
Behaviour
• Little is known about the information behaviour of immigrants
because they are a heterogeneous group at different stages
of the immigration process.
• New immigrants are at greater risk of lacking access to
information sources because they may be unfamiliar with
Canadian information environment
• New immigrant are at risk of becoming “information
poor”
• Social networks are significant information
sources for ‘vulnerable’ populations, but many
new immigrants do not have social networks when
they arrive in Canada.
Information Use Framework
• Everyday life information seeking (ELIS):
individuals require and seek information
on a daily basis in order to manage their
daily lives (Savolainen, 1995)
• Information Poverty: lacking necessary
resources such as adequate social
networks, social capital, and information
finding skills that enable everyday life
information seeking (Chatman, 1996)
• Social Capital: “resources embedded in
social networks accessed and used by
actors for action” (Lin, 2001)
Social Networks
• Role in mediating access to information resources
• Contributes to our understanding of the social and
cultural context of the information practices of
newcomers
• Newcomers may not have a fully
developed social network upon
arrival to Canada
Social Networks (2)
• Social networks may not be adequate
(i.e., in terms of the size, density and
strength of network ties) to facilitate
newcomer transition to their adopted
society.
• Social networks are significant
information sources for ‘vulnerable’
and low income populations
• Social networks are assets that
information providers must take into
account
Information and Social Inclusion
• Lack of information or lack of
meaningful access to information is
a fundamental facet of social
inclusion: those without proper
access to information risk being
socially excluded.
• Information provision is a key
component of social inclusion
(Caidi & Allard, 2005)
Social Inclusion
• Social inclusion can be viewed as a
multifaceted process
• Requires individuals to be included into
society and their communities on various
fronts (economic, cultural, social, political,
etc.)
• Need for reorganizing of institutional
infrastructures and practices
• Access to information is imperative for large
scale social inclusion (cultural relevance,
usability, literacies and skills, etc.)
What we know…
• Immigrants tend to prefer to seek information from
other human sources, particularly other immigrants
(Fisher et al, 2004; Silvio, 2006)
• Trust may play a large role in selecting information
sources (Fisher et al, 2004; Sligo &Jameson, 2000)
• Information practices build local
networks (Chien, 2005; Dechief, 2006)
• International sources such as websites
may create feelings of closeness with
home (Sampredo, 1998)
What we are learning…
Ongoing Studies
1. Information Practices of Ethnocultural Communities (IPEC)
2.
DA’s dissertation - Living “Here and
There”: Exploring the Transnational
Information Practices of New
Immigrants to Toronto
3.
HRSDC Report - Including Immigrants
in Canadian Society: What Role do
ICTs Play?
IPEC
Aim:
To study how immigrant communities in the
Greater Toronto Area find and use information
they need in their everyday lives
2 Objectives:
– to explore the impacts of culture on
information practices: how does one’s
culture affect information seeking behavior
and use? Does “relevance” mean different
things in different cultures?
– to examine the influence of the
characteristics of social networks on the search
for information among new immigrants to Canada
IPEC
Methods:
In-depth questionnaire of 300 new
immigrants to Canada (arrived
within 5 years) from:
• China
• India
• Iran
Inquiring about:
• Information sources
• Information practices – how do
new immigrants seek information?
• Social networks
IPEC: Cultural Relevancy
• Newcomers and immigrant
groups have varied
backgrounds and different
experiences with information, its
institutions and its technologies
• We need to understanding
metaphors associated with
libraries and information systems
(e.g. health) across cultures
IPEC: Immigrant Social Networks
New immigrants tend to
have small local networks
…but what about their
transnational network
ties?
Living “Here and “There”:
Transnationalism
• Immigrants live their lives simultaneously
“here” and “there” (Smith, 2001)
• Immigration is a process of “ties and
connections” whereby many immigrants
will sustain relationships (i.e. ongoing
communication, remittances, and
political participation etc.) with their
home country
• Transnational network ties may provide
access to resources not available
through local ties
Living “Here and “There”
Objectives:
• to examine the composition of new
immigrant local and transnational
networks
• to examine how new immigrants
mobilize the resources in their
networks during settlement
• to examine the settlement
information seeking context of new
immigrants
Method:
• Questionnaire & In-depth interviews to
new immigrants to Toronto from India
(arrived within 3 years)
What Role do ICTs play?
Objective:
• to examine immigrant uses of
ICTs
• to determine how ICTs
contribute (or not) to social
inclusion
Method:
• Literature Review
• Interviews with employees at ICT
providing organizations in 5
Canadian cities
What Role do ICTs play?
The impact of ICTs:
 Immigrants are less likely to be
digitally connected.
 ICTs have changed the nature and
frequency of contact with home

ICTs provide new types of cultural
consumption (online newspapers,
newsgroups, chat rooms, and
access to home country Internet
sites).
 ICTs have changed employment
seeking practices and opportunities
What Role do ICTs play?
Preliminary Findings:
• Immigrants use ICTs for a range of
purposes including:
• Developing skills for Canadian context
• Maintaining ties and connections with home
• Internet training for new immigrants is
needed at all skill levels
• Public spaces where ICTs are being
accessed also contribute to social
inclusion because they contribute to
social network building
• Further funding and resources are
needed in this area
In lieu of a conclusion….
• Information providers must take
into consideration the complex
location of immigrant lives including the resources they
have, barriers they face, and their
understandings of the world.
• A social inclusion approach will
draw on the strengths within
immigrants’ lives to facilitate their
inclusion into a world shaped and
articulated by immigrants and
“native born” alike.
References
Caidi, N. & Allard, D. (2005). "Social Inclusion of Newcomers to Canada: An
Information Problem?." Library & Information Science Research, 27(3), 302324.
Caidi, N. & Allard, D. (2005). Policy Matters Series, No. 23, CERIS publication.
(http://ceris.metropolis.net/PolicyMatter/2005/PolicyMatters23.pdf)
Caidi, N; Allard, D., Dechief, D. & Longford, G. (2007). “Including Immigrants in
Canadian Society: What role do ICTs play?”
Report to HRSDC, Strategic Policy Division.
Chien, Elise. (2005). “Informing and Involving Newcomers
Online.” MA Thesis, Faculty of Information Studies,
University of Toronto.
Dechief, Diane. (2006). “Recent Immigrants as an “alternate
civic core”: Providing Internet services, gaining Canadian
experiences.” MA Thesis, Communication Studies.
Concordia University.
Contact
• Nadia Caidi and Danielle Allard
Faculty of Information Studies
(University of Toronto)
• Phone: 416-978-4664
• Email: [email protected];
[email protected]
• URL:
http://www3.fis.utoronto.ca/facul
ty/caidi/home.html