Wu, D., Fan, S., Yao, S. and Xu, S. (2022), “An exploration of ethnic minorities’ needs for multilingual information access of public digital cultural services”, Journal of Documentation, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2021-0238
Abstract
Purpose
Ethnic minorities (EMs), who make up a sizable proportion of multilingual users, are more likely to browse and search in their native language. It is helpful to identify multilingual users’ information needs to provide public digital cultural services (PDCS) for making their life better.
Design/methodology/approach
The in-context interview is an efficient way to explore EMs’ information needs and evoke their daily experience with PDCS. The material from 31 one-on-one interviews with EMs in China was recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal that language proficiency is a critical factor influencing multilingual information access (MLIA) and multilingual users’ information needs. Moreover, language ability, digital literacy and cultural literacy are important components of multilingual information literacy (MLIL), which is helpful for EMs to access PDCS. In light of Kochen’s theory, the information needs of PDCS can be classified into the aroused need of resources, the recognized need of functions and services and expressed need. For the expressed need, it is necessary to develop a one-stop convergence platform of PDCS to process various requests of resources, functions and services in the future.
Originality/value
The findings will be valuable for governments, public institutions and social organizations in identifying, addressing and resolving these issues about PDCS.
摘要
目的
少数民族（EMs）在多语言用户中占相当大的比例，他们更有可能以母语浏览和搜索。识别多语言用户的信息需求有助于提供公共数字文化服务（PDCS），使他们的生活更美好。
设计/方法/方法
情境访谈是探索EM信息需求并唤起他们对PDCS的日常经验的有效方式。记录了31次与中国新兴市场一对一访谈的材料，并使用主题分析进行了分析。
发现
研究结果表明，语言能力是影响多语言信息获取（MLIA）和多语言用户信息需求的关键因素。此外，语言能力、数字素养和文化素养是多语言信息素养（MLIL）的重要组成部分，这有助于EM获取PDCS。根据Kochen的理论，PDCS的信息需求可以分为资源的唤起需求，功能和服务的公认需求以及表达的需求。对于所表达的需求，有必要开发PDCS的一站式融合平台，以处理未来各种资源，功能和服务请求。
原创性/价值
这些发现对于政府、公共机构和社会组织在识别、处理和解决有关PDCS的这些问题方面将是有价值的。