Manifestations of belongingness in information activities

In this article I explain some manifestations of belongingness embedded in various information activities. It is a topic which has received little attention from most scholars in information science, and we know little about it. However, I identified the role of belongingness as one of the key motivations in various information activities ranging from information seeking and sharing to information encountering. My research shows that among various information activities, information sharing is the most joyful activity because information sharing is one of the major manifestations of belongingness. People tend to share information with their family, friends and like-minded people. Also, they expect other members of the group share information with them. Sometimes the manifestation of belongingness is obvious and explicit. However, most of the time it remains implicit. For example, reflect on one of your recent information activities, whether is it information seeking, sharing, gathering, etc., and think about the embedding desire of belongingness in that scenario. Ask yourself how does this activity manifest your need or desire to have a sense of belonging?