Information, makt och konspirationsteorier : En studie av informationskritiska användare

Sammanfattning: Purpose–This study has examined the information behaviour and perception of information in a group ofinformation users who have a critical approach to the media and the information supply. Some of them call themselvesor are being called conspiracy theorists. The purpose was to examine how their information behaviour is influenced by the belief that the information is biased or inaccurate and what the information behaviour looks like when the user searches for discrepancies rather than a response to a question. Method–The study is based on transcribed interviews and email responses to interview questions. The model used to analyze the source material is Christine Bruceʼs seven categories of information literacy as presented in Seven Faces of Information Literacy. The outcome is compared with other user studies. Subsequently, the source material has been studied through Michel Foucaultʼs discourse theory. Focus is on power, anti-discourses and institutions. Findings–The analyses have shown that the informants have a sufficiently uniform information behaviour to be studied as a user group. Their information behaviour is focused on different strategies for evaluating information and understanding courses of events. This behaviour is based on a critical approach to what is considered as "truth" in the discourse. Originality/value–The user group has not been studied before in LIS research. Paper type–This is a two years master’s thesis in library and information science in Archive, Library and Museum studies.