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A New Look at the Internet Effect
What effects has the internet had on the information seeking behaviors of younger people? Ever heard of ‘Horizontal Information Seeking’ and ‘Squirreling behaviour’? Here is the first longitudinal study of the question, by the British Library and University College London. Also, there is reaction from Eric Lease Morgan and 3 Quarks Daily.
I’m not sure that this is as indicative of generational differences as much as it is a portrait of a typical life span. Consider this: perhaps after the typical university age (22-25) people rely less on visting a library, and after a decade of work they stop taking/needing referrals from people.
Sure, some of the trends might hold but I think we can count on GoogleScholar changing the most. I find it impossible to believe it’s the only thing people from 36-45 are paying attention to.