Smartphones, Current Events and Mobile Information Behavior: Consuming, Reacting, Sharing, and Connecting Through News

Smartphones and Information on Current Events provides unprecedented insights into young people’s news consumption patterns and the ecology of mobile news. Advancing our knowledge of mobile behaviour, the book also highlights the ways in which mobile news impacts the lives of the general public.

Using a multi-faceted research model on mobile news consumption behaviour, Oh and Tang examined a wide spectrum of mobile news consumption activities, outlined the key characteristics of mobile news, as well as captured users’ near real-time evaluation of and emotional reactions to news stories. The book also shows that the process of using smartphones to receive, read, find, share, and store news stories has resulted in new behavioural patterns that enable people to consume news in a multifaceted way. Analyzing the extent and various methods of mobile news sharing can, Oh and Tang argue, help us understand how such exchanges reshape contemporary society. Demonstrating that mobile news consumption is now an integral part of people’s daily lives, the book clearly shows that its impact on people’s day-to-day activities, and their political and social lives, cannot be underestimated.

Smartphones and Information on Current Events will be useful to scholars, students, and practitioners who are studying library and information science, journalism and media, digital communication, user behaviour, information technology, human-computer interaction, marketing, political science, psychology, and sociology.

Dr. Kyong Eun Oh is an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. Her research interests include personal information management, information behavior including mobile news information behavior, and information organization. She studies how people manage and organize their digital files and how people use and interact with information in everyday life.

Dr. Rong Tang is a full Professor at School of Library and Information Science, Simmons University. She is a Co-Leader for the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA) and for the Data Services Continuing Professional Education (DSCPE) program. Professionally, Rong Tang serves as the President for Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2022-2023. Her research interests include mobile news information behavior, research data management services, open government data, usability and UX, social support during the pandemic, and paradigm shift in the field of information.