Exploring contexts in consulting engineers’ collaborative information behaviour

Abstract

Reports on a narrative inquiry study exploring the complexity of engineering contexts and endeavouring to establish how engineering contexts shape consulting engineers’ collaborative information behaviour. Fifteen responding engineers recollected their experiences of an engineering project in narrative interviews. The collected data were re-storied and analysed thematically. Multi-layered contexts seem to affect consulting engineers’ information behaviour. These include engineering organisations and engineering projects. Engineering organisations determine the information individual engineers are exposed to and provide natural boundaries that delineate the activities taking place within them. Engineering projects not only determine the information needs of engineers but also the information activities that will provide in their information needs. Due to team relationships that develop throughout an engineering project, social networks develop naturally and become important resources of engineering information.