
Professor Ian Ruthven
Computer and Information Sciences
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Tony Kent Strix Memorial Award Recipient 6/12/2020 IJIDI Outstanding paper award Recipient 2020 Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) Recipient 2010 JASIST Best Paper Award 2019 Recipient 30/9/2
Area of Expertise
- information seeking theory
- interface design for information access
- user studies
Prize And Awards
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Can you feel it? The information behaviour of creative DJs Munro Keith, Ruthven Ian, Innocenti Perla Journal of Documentation Vol 79, pp. 830-846 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2022-0106 Contemporary spiritual seeking : understanding information interactions in contemplation and spirituality Nangia Pranay, Ruthven Ian Journal of Documentation Vol 79, pp. 922-936 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2022-0145 Exploring older people's challenges on online banking/finance systems : early findings Thomas Dain, Chowdhury Gobinda, Ruthven Ian CHIIR 2023 - Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval 2023 ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (CHIIR), pp. 333–337 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1145/3576840.3578324 Informational features of WhatsApp in everyday life in Madrid : an exploratory study Martínez-Comeche Juan Antonio, Ruthven Ian Journal of Information Science Vol 49, pp. 122-132 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551521990612 The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on public libraries in the UK : findings from a national study McMenemy David, Robinson Elaine, Ruthven Ian Public Library Quarterly Vol 42, pp. 92-110 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2022.2058860 The physicality of early-stage information needs Ruthven Ian ASIS&T SIG-USE Symposium (2022)
Publications
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University of Pretoria Visiting researcher 1/1/2021 Scottish Library and Information Council (External organisation) Advisor 1/11/2017 ISIC : The Information Behaviour Conference Keynote/plenary speaker 20/9/2016 SIGIR Chair 17/7/2016 Information Seeking in Context Conference Series (External organisation) Member 2016 Information Processing and Management (Journal) To be assigned 2/2015
Downloading a new normal - privacy, exclusion, and information behaviour in public library digital services use during COVID McMenemy, David (Principal Investigator) Ruthven, Ian (Co-investigator) 18-Jan-2020 - 17-Jan-2022 DoSSIER: Domain Specific Systems for Information, Extraction and Retrieval (H2020 MSCA) Azzopardi, Leif (Principal Investigator) Halvey, Martin (Co-investigator) Ruthven, Ian (Co-investigator) 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2023 Understanding the Information Needs of Young First Time Mothers from Areas of Multiple Deprivation Buchanan, Steven (Principal Investigator) Ruthven, Ian (Co-investigator) "Information informs, guides, and empowers; but persistent barriers to access and use are societally divisive and as yet not fully understood, particularly amongst marginalised groups. Addressing enduring issues of information poverty, this project seeks to better understand the information needs of young first time mothers (YFTM) aged 21 or under from deprived areas, and associated barriers, by identifying and better understanding the: everyday information needs, seeking preferences, and challenges of YFTM; and the +/- factors influencing YFTM engagement with supportive services, and the appropriate assistive intervention points and methods.
The UK has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe, with associated conception rates correlated to multiple deprivation indexes. At risk groups are disadvantaged and disengaged, with significant health and wellbeing issues reported for both mother and child. Intervention programmes focus on early parenting needs with on-going holistic educational support considered key to long-term social inclusion/reintegration; however, there is evidence that mainstream services are failing to provide such support with significant unmet YFTM information needs reported, and overarching concerns raised regarding equity of access to information in both the physical and digital space.
A significant challenge in addressing holistic YFTM information needs relates to our limited understanding of young peoples' everyday information needs, preferences and seeking behavior generally, and more specifically, in impoverished and/or marginalized circumstances (limiting effective tailored service design and delivery considered key to access and use). There are complex and as yet not fully understood access barriers and internalised behavioural barriers to consider, the former influenced by digital divide and information literacy issues, the latter by social structures and norms; barriers that we believe put YFTM, and in turn their children, at greater risk of becoming impoverished information outsiders, living a stratified and disengaged existence. This project, recognising the importance of information access to economic and social mobility, and health and wellbeing; will comprehensively identify and investigate YFTM information needs, seeking preferences and challenges, and advance our understanding of the +/- factors influencing engagement of marginalised groups in both the physical and digital space, including appropriate assistive intervention points and strategies to not only meet immediate needs, but to foster independent lifelong learning and on-going social inclusion. Output will guide both policy (what to provide and from whom) and process (how to provide) of public information service providers (including collaborative aspects).
This project, which will bring together theories of social capital and social networks with theories and models of information behaviour to address issues of information poverty in both the physical and digital space; aligns with ESRC strategic priority influencing behaviour and informing interventions, and associated questions: how to understand behaviour and risks at multiple levels and a variety of contexts; how and why do behaviours change; and how does the interplay of child, family, community and wider society influence inequalities in wellbeing?"
01-Jan-2015 - 30-Jan-2017 Scottish Network on Digital Cultural Resources Evaluation (ScotDigiCH) Ruthven, Ian (Principal Investigator) Damala, Areti (Principal Investigator) The network brings together academics from different disciplines and professionals from Scotland's key cultural organisations in order to investigate how cultural digital resources are used by diverse user groups, how to record their impact on learning, research and community engagement and how to maximize their potential. 15-Jan-2015 - 30-Jan-2016 Re-design of interactive exhibits using low cost technology for proof of concept prototypes Ruthven, Ian (Principal Investigator) 01-Jan-2014 - 30-Jan-2015 Scottish ESRC Doctoral Training Centre DTG 2011 | Breslin Davda, Frances Buchanan, Steven (Principal Investigator) Ruthven, Ian (Co-investigator) Breslin Davda, Frances (Research Co-investigator) 01-Jan-2013 - 21-Jan-2021
Professional Activities
Projects
The UK has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe, with associated conception rates correlated to multiple deprivation indexes. At risk groups are disadvantaged and disengaged, with significant health and wellbeing issues reported for both mother and child. Intervention programmes focus on early parenting needs with on-going holistic educational support considered key to long-term social inclusion/reintegration; however, there is evidence that mainstream services are failing to provide such support with significant unmet YFTM information needs reported, and overarching concerns raised regarding equity of access to information in both the physical and digital space.
A significant challenge in addressing holistic YFTM information needs relates to our limited understanding of young peoples' everyday information needs, preferences and seeking behavior generally, and more specifically, in impoverished and/or marginalized circumstances (limiting effective tailored service design and delivery considered key to access and use). There are complex and as yet not fully understood access barriers and internalised behavioural barriers to consider, the former influenced by digital divide and information literacy issues, the latter by social structures and norms; barriers that we believe put YFTM, and in turn their children, at greater risk of becoming impoverished information outsiders, living a stratified and disengaged existence. This project, recognising the importance of information access to economic and social mobility, and health and wellbeing; will comprehensively identify and investigate YFTM information needs, seeking preferences and challenges, and advance our understanding of the +/- factors influencing engagement of marginalised groups in both the physical and digital space, including appropriate assistive intervention points and strategies to not only meet immediate needs, but to foster independent lifelong learning and on-going social inclusion. Output will guide both policy (what to provide and from whom) and process (how to provide) of public information service providers (including collaborative aspects).
This project, which will bring together theories of social capital and social networks with theories and models of information behaviour to address issues of information poverty in both the physical and digital space; aligns with ESRC strategic priority influencing behaviour and informing interventions, and associated questions: how to understand behaviour and risks at multiple levels and a variety of contexts; how and why do behaviours change; and how does the interplay of child, family, community and wider society influence inequalities in wellbeing?"
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Contact
Professor
Ian
Ruthven
Computer and Information Sciences
Email: ian.ruthven@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3704