The authors discuss the information seeking behaviour of four of its central characters - Donny, Walter, 'The Dude', and Maude - relating them to some interesting research into information seeking behaviour.
I summarise below how each of the characters shape up, and there are some illustrative clips from the film drawn from Box of Broadcasts.
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Donny
Donny has low-level information seeking skills. He uses inappropriate information sources (i.e. Walter and The Dude), who are not authoritative nor courteous or inclusive. They do nothing to help establish the self-confidence he needs to develop a more active information seeking strategy. He therefore is in a cycle of not knowing.
'So you have no frame of reference here, Donny'
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Walter
Walter seems to formulate a goal-oriented plan. However, he makes a number of false assumptions and mistakes. In the terms of 'personal construct theory' he has an 'indicative' attitude - he depends too heavily on the construct he currently holds, and rejects new information that conflicts with that view. As Dill and Janke suggest, "If one of Donny's failures is poor self-esteem, then one of Walter's is hubris."
His overconfidence is an indicator of incompetence - "he repeatedly dooms his searches to failure with quick assumptions and a lack of self-assessment." The clip below is just one of many instances of this (he happens to be right here, but more often he gets it wrong).
'Forget about the toe!'
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And here's Walter getting it wrong...
'This guy's a fake'
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The Dude
The Dude's information seeking behaviours are ultimately successful. Although, he is not a proactive information seeker, he has a 'invitational' attitude, which contrasts to Walter's 'indicative' attitude - he is receptive to "new shit." He also assimilates information from a variety of sources.
The Dude also exemplifies how a positive attitude can benefit an information search, enabling him to incorporate dissonant (conflicting) information.
'New shit has come to light'
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Maude
Maude exhibits the most successful information seeking behaviours. She has good self-esteem, clear goals, an 'invitational' attitude, and uses a variety of information sources. She also proactively seeks information to close her knowledge gaps - for example by obtaining the Logjammin' tape as shown in the clip below.
'Take a look at this, sir'
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So, what do we learn?
So, what do we learn? What are some of the aspects of more successful information behaviours? Having read the article a few times, and having watched the movie again to compile this post, here is what I think will improve your information behaviour:
Good self-esteem and a positive attitudeFrom my perspective, what is most interesting is that effective information behaviours seem not just to be about cognitive ability or knowledge, they are also attitudnal. Dill and Janke comment on this, suggesting that poor mood leads to poor information behaviour. They also suggest that it is the mood-enriching experience of coitus that helps 'The Dude' finally understand what is going on. Now, there's a suggestion for your essay schedule!
Choosing appropriately accessible and authoritative sources
Using a range of sources
Not being overconfident (not having a ‘indicative’ attitude - looking for information that supports your thesis, and dismissing information that doesn’t)
Being open to 'new shit' (i.e. having an 'invitational attitude')
Having clear goals
Being proactive
Being in a good mood
'Oh man, my thinking about this case has become so uptight'
This recording is to be used only for non-commercial educational purposes under the terms of an ERA Licence. For terms of use and to find and record more programmes please visit BoB National.
References
Dill, E. and Janke, K. (2011). “New Shit Has Come to Light": Information Seeking Behaviour in The Big Lebowski. The Journal of Popular Culture. Preprint, submitted September 21, 2011. [online] Available from: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00874.x [Accessed 17/01/2013].
The full movie is available here:
This recording is to be used only for non-commercial educational purposes under the terms of an ERA Licence. For terms of use and to find and record more programmes please visit BoB National.