THE INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR ON INFORMATION SHARING ACROSS CULTURAL BOUNDARIES IN DEVELOPMENT CONTEXTS

By Ann Lee[6]

Sharing of information across cultural boundaries does not always live up to expectations. Information behavior is an underlying factor, which can contribute to poor use or non-use of the information or information services at the disposal of indigenous people in a development context.

Sharing information in the broadest sense implies that both the sender and the receiver of information must have more or less the same understanding of a concept or topic. The act of understanding is made possible through the ability to link incoming concepts with existing knowledge or with understanding of the concept. More value is added when information is linked to real-life experiences or situations. People's understanding or sense making is further influenced by their norms, values and beliefs. Hepworth (2007) refers to these as the affective factors that influence information behavior.

When information sharing takes place across cultural boundaries between people originating from literate and oral cultures, the chances are good that the information behavior of the receivers may determine to what extent the messages will be accepted. Then sharing of information for development purposes is no longer a simple act of passing on factual information and leaving it to the receivers to make sense of it.

The following case serves as an example of information sharing that took place with the receiver's world-view in mind. Its outcome proves that the desired goal of the development project was successfully achieved. That is, the newly introduced information was accepted and implemented by the target group.