Wilson (2002a) that – although it was not explicitly mentioned – his 1981 paper
was strongly influenced by his reading of the work of Alfred Schutz, a
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phenomenological sociologist, which he discovered in 1973 or 1974. Schutz’
phenomenology stems from the philosophical tradition of Husserl and Heidegger.
(Perhaps it is because phenomenology was not named as an influence in the 1981 paper
– and most readers would not be sufficiently au fait with the topic to recognise its
influence – that Wilson notes in his 1994 review that he had been identified with the
cognitive approach to information behaviour, whereas his view was
“phenomenological in character”.)