Page 166 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

Wenjie ZHOU, Hui YAN & Shenglong HAN / Exploring information divide based on a theoretical view of information source horizon 165

area (Schutz, 1964; Schutz & Luckmann 1973). Aiming to explore the extension of information
resources, Sonnenwald issued Information horizon procedure and analyzes the characteristics of
individual’s information behavior based on their nomination of information sources and asks them
to draw an information source map to show the distance between nominator and the information
sources (Sonnenwald, 1999; Sonnenwald & Wildemuth, 2001). Savolainen insisted that the process
of construction of individual’s knowledge, as Schutz issued, was connected to everyday life based
on the instant interest, and a concretive reflection was individual’s preference of information
sources and channels (Savolainen, 2007). Thus, based in Schutz’s theory and the idea of the
information horizon method issued by Sonnenwald, the theory of Information Source Horizon was
proposed.
Information Source Horizon theory maintains that the relevant region is filtrated by information
source preference criteria and forms three level structures: the most important information sources,
the second rate important information sources and marginal information sources. The information
source preference criteria include availability, accessibility, content of information (e.g., the quality
of information), the usefulness of information (e.g., information has been organized clearly), the
characteristics of the users (e.g., habit of the selection of the media) and context (e.g., lack of the
time) (Savolainen, 2007). Based on an empirical study, Savolainen found that individuals tend
to structure their knowledge in daily life to satisfy the instant interest. Thus, the relevance region
of individuals’ information behavior tends to be broadened. The structuring process also reflects
information agents’ assessment on the importance of information acquired from information
sources. In the process of seeking of information to satisfy their key interest, individuals are most
active. On the contrary, individuals will be less active when they try to seek information to satisfy
their marginal interest. Through empirical studies, Savolainen found that the selection process of
information sources was affected obviously by the information source preference. In their daily
life, information agents tend to select those information sources which are most familiar and
easiest to reach (Savolainen, 2007; Savolainen & Kari, 2004).

2 Research design

Interviews, including focus group and individual in-depth interviews, and questionnaire surveys
were selected as data collecting methods in this study.

2.1 Focus group

The purpose of focus group interview in our study is to communicate with the interviewees as
much as possible. Through this procedure, we aim to make sure that the question list is suitable
for the interviewers and collect empirical data from a relatively larger scale. In the real research