Table Of ContentACCIDENTAL
INFORMATION
DISCOVERY
C
HANDOS
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ACCIDENTAL
INFORMATION
DISCOVERY
Cultivating Serendipity
in the Digital Age
Editedby
TAMMERA M. RACE
STEPHANN MAKRI
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We dedicate this book to those who aspire to make room for
serendipity—when acquiring information and in everyday life.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
S.Ford
Innovation&EngagementforFusion,anABC-UnivisionJointVenture,NewYork,NY,
UnitedStates
S.Makri
CityUniversityLondon,London,UnitedKingdom
A.McBirnie
UniversityofSurrey,England,UnitedKingdom
L.McCay-Peet
DalhousieUniversity,NovaScotia,Canada
J.Nutefall
SantaClaraUniversity,SantaClara,CA,UnitedStates
T.M.Race
NewCollegeofFlorida,Sarasota,FL,UnitedStates
P.M.Ryder
GeorgeWashingtonUniversity,WashingtonD.C.,CA,UnitedStates
xi
BIOGRAPHY
Tammera M. Race is the Systems, Metadata, and Assessment Librarian at
New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL, United States. She has presented
on scientific gray literature and access, the application of Functional
Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), social media tools and
citizenship, and native plant conservation. Tammera is also the author of
“Resource Discovery Tools: Supporting Serendipity” for Planning and
Implementing Resource Discovery Tools in Academic Libraries.
Stephann Makri is a Faculty Researcher and Lecturer at City University
London. He has worked on a d1.82m UK Research Council project on
accidental information discovery (SerenA: Chance Encounters in the
Space of Ideas). His research on the topic has been published in the Journal
ofDocumentationandJournaloftheAssociationforSocietyforInformationScience
and Technology. This research has also received extensive media coverage,
includingfromtheBBC,ReadersDigest,andTheSundayTimes.
Lori McCay-Peet is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information
Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Her research focuses on people’s perceptions and uses of digital informa-
tion environments such as social media, particularly in the context of
knowledge work. She has developed two self-report scales: one to mea-
sure perceptions of serendipity and the other to measure how well a
digital information environment facilitates serendipitous experiences. She
continues to work on the wicked problem of support for serendipity in
digital information environments and has published a number of journal
papers and conference proceedings on the topic.
Phyllis Mentzell Ryder is an Associate Professor of Writing in George
Washington University. Her research and teaching interests focus on
first-year writing pedagogy, including service-learning and information
literacy. Her book, Rhetorics for Community Action, introduces a theory of
public writing, along with a framework for service-learning writing
classes. She has published multiple articles about teaching critical research
to first-year students; these have been co-written with Jennifer Nutefall
(University Librarian, Santa Clara University; and Bill Gillis, Instructional
Librarian, George Washington University).
xiii
xiv Biography
Jennifer Nutefall is University Librarian at Santa Clara University. Prior to
joining Santa Clara she was Associate University Librarian for Innovative
User Services at Oregon State University Libraries; Instruction
Coordinator at the Gelman Library, George Washington University; and
Reference/Instruction Librarian at the State University of New York
(SUNY), College at Brockport. She holds a BS in Journalism and an
MLS from Syracuse University, and an MA in Education and Human
Development from George Washington University.
Abigail McBirnie is a UK-based analyst and information specialist who
works primarily in higher education and research. Alongside serendipity,
she is interested in networks, data (big and small), and the art and science
of analysis.
Sam Ford is a VP at Fusion and head of the Fusion Media Group’s Center
for Innovation and Engagement. He is a research affiliate of the MIT
Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing and teaches in the
Western Kentucky University Popular Culture Studies Program. He is
co-author, with Henry Jenkins and Joshua Green, of the 2013 book
Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture and
has written about media fandom, professional wrestling, the US soap
opera, transmedia storytelling, the marketing and corporate communica-
tion industry, and a range of other subjects about media, audiences, and
publics.
PREFACE
Information Retrieval at its traditional core is about precision and
relevance. People look for information and digital information tools to
give them exactly what they need. Search tools continue to excel at
this—becoming better and better at helping people find the information
they are looking for. Introducing “accidental” results into the mix seems
at best an oxymoron, and at worst, a waste of time. But it is often useful,
energizing, and delightful to stumble upon information that we were not
looking for. Accidental information discovery can propel us in exciting
new directions, surprising us along the way. This is the potential of
serendipity—“happy accidents”—in the context of information discovery.
Serendipity is an inherently positive experience, creating opportunities
for creative thinking and innovation. The paradox is, we can’t schedule
serendipity; it finds us—just like the information we discover when we
make an accidental information discovery. While we cannot summon ser-
endipity at will, we can open our minds to it and seize potentially seren-
dipitous opportunities when they present themselves—making room for
the phenomenon in our lives. And while we cannot “design serendipity”
into physical information environments (eg, libraries) or digital ones
(such as “search” engines or library catalogs), we can design these envir-
onments to enable people to make their own accidental discoveries
of information. This book discusses how this can be achieved from a
multidisciplinary perspective.
This book itself is a manifestation of accidental discoveries, a tribute
to the possibilities of serendipitous connections now available to us. For
Tammera, the seed of accidental information discovery was planted at an
environmental writing workshop, before she had become a librarian. For
Stephann, his interest in serendipity came from accidentally discovering it
as an important theme in several of his early studies on information-
seeking, shaping his future research.
Our authors come from diverse geographic locations, academic back-
grounds, and fields of expertise. But they share a deep interest in seren-
dipity in the context of information discovery. We have come together in
one space, Accidental Information Discovery, to discuss why serendipity
in the context of information discovery is important, where it occurs,
how we can encourage it, and what we should dowhen it strikes.
xv
xvi Preface
Chapter “Introducing Serendipity” reviews the history of serendipity
as a broad concept, and discusses research on the topic in information sci-
ence. Chapter “Making Room for Serendipity” considers the internal
and external characteristics and factors that can help us to “make room”
for serendipity. Chapter “Teaching Serendipity” examines teaching seren-
dipity in the context of writing and information literacy. Chapter
“Serendipity in Current Digital Information Environments” discusses the
role of digital tools and the possibilities for cultivating accidental informa-
tion discovery in digital environments. Chapter “Serendipity in Future
Digital Information Environments” closes with essays that explore the
future of serendipity, in different information environments.
Research into serendipity is expanding in many fields—for example,
information science, human(cid:1)computer interaction, business, creativity
studies, education, computer science. This book is intended as an intro-
duction to thinking about why we should and how we can cultivate acci-
dental discovery as we interact with information, especially in digital
environments. We hope that, while reading it, you become “serendipi-
tized”—through it encouraging you to reflect on the importance of ser-
endipity for your interactions with information, and for your life in
general. We also hope it contributes (albeit perhaps indirectly) to you
having many useful “happy accidents” of your own.
Tammera M. Race and Stephann Makri, 2016
