Positive information science: An emerging area of research, policy, and practice

In this presentation, I reflect on the past four years of my ongoing research program about human information behaviour in the context of serious leisure, and I explain how the concept of “Positive Information Science” emerged from my research and led my program towards new directions. The term initially was coined in a panel discussion at the ASIS&T conference 2009 by Jenna Hartel, Jarkko Kari, Robert Stebbins, and Marcia Bates. However, it has been mainly neglected in the LIS scholarship afterwards. It is a multidisciplinary concept with solid links with positive psychology and wellbeing studies highlighting the role of “Positive Information Experiences” in our overall wellness. The empirical data from my past and present projects illustrate the concept’s applicability in the LIS research, policy, and practice, and I share some examples of each category. I also explain how Positive Information Science can provide LIS scholars with a multidisciplinary conceptual framework for their future studies. The framework can enable them to conceptualise and contextualise empirical data to better understand human information experiences in various contexts. Furthermore, the framework is a productive ground to design and develop more interdisciplinary studies in the LIS research.