Death of the user: Reconceptualizing subjects, objects, and their relations

Ronald E. Day

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2011, vol. 62, issue 1, 78-88

Abstract: The article explains why the concept of the user in Library and Information Science (LIS) user studies and information seeking behavior is theoretically inadequate and it proposes a reconceptualization of subjects, objects, and their relations according to a model of ‘double mediation.’ Formal causation (affordances) is suggested as a substitute for mechanistic causation. The notion of ‘affective causation’ is introduced. The works of several psychoanalysts and continental and Anglo‐American philosophers are used as tools to develop the model.

Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jamist:v:62:y:2011:i:1:p:78-88

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