From serious leisure to eudaimonic wellbeing: A research narrative

This paper reflects on the past four years of my ongoing research program at Charles Sturt University and maps it into an emerging conceptual framework. As an information scientist, I began my research with a few exploratory questions about how people seek, share, organise and use information during their leisure time. Among all types of leisure, I focused on Serious Leisure, including hobbies, volunteering, and amateurism. I limited my scope to the serious leisure perspective because previous studies indicated hobbyists, volunteers, and amateurs typically need to search, browse, collect, share, exchange, and produce a wide range of information resources to pursue their interests. However, my findings up to this stage reveal that information practices in serious leisure usually serve a bigger goal for the participants and help them develop a form of holistic and eudaimonic wellbeing which means constructing a more purposeful, meaningful, and joyful life.