Abstract

A scientific ethnography (click for Research Methods) was conducted to explore information phenomena in the hobby of gourmet cooking. This (now-online) poster presents results that pertain to the relationship between time and information behavior in that hobby. Gourmet cooks undergo three temporal arcs: linked streams of experience through different periods of time. They pursue a long-running hobby career (Stebbins, 2001) that evolves over many years or an entire life. For shorter periods they pursue culinary subjects to deepen ability and knowledge. Finally, they perform numerous hands-on cooking episodes that generate an edible outcome. Temporally unpacking the hobby reveals three important insights about information behavior: #1.) Each arc serves as a distinct context for different information behaviors. #2.) Any moment in the hobby pierces all three arcs, and therefore information behaviors likely interact in complex ways. #3.) Holistic information research (in any domain, not just hobbies) should extend beyond short term time frames to consider all temporal arcs.

Click to see the original ALISE Poster or for a copy of the Handout (Microsoft Word Document).

 

Three Temporal Arcs in the Hobby of Gourmet Cooking

[click on each Arc, below, to learn more]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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