be explained fully in later chapters of this book. Consider this chapter to be a preview of what is to come.
Every day of our lives we engage in some activity that might be called information seeking, though we may not think of it that way at the time. From the moment of our birth we are prompted by our environment and our motivations to seek out information that will help us meet our needs.
This chapter will consider five common situations in which information seeking behaviors are in full swing. That is, these are scenarios that face millions of people(at least in developed nations) each year, in which decisions and choices are made that require a great deal of data information, and understanding. Each will underscore the complexity of information seeking and the strategies we use to make it simpler.
All of the stories here involve not only the search for information but the choice of which data to retain and consider. Four of the tales can be characterized as decision making as well, a narrower type of behavior that is studied in its own right and is not always considered in studies of information seeking.
Let's first consider a very familiar type of activity: shopping.