Content-Type: text/html Advertising and the Consumer's Hunt for Information: Traditional and Internet Sources Advertising and the Consumer's Hunt for Information: Traditional and Internet Sources AEJMC Advertising Division Special Topics Catherine Ilse Pfeifer University of Wisconsin - Madison 519 Louisiana Street Lawrence, KS 66044-2232 (785) 865-3619 [log in to unmask] April 1st, 2000 Abstract: Advertising and the Consumer's Hunt for Information: Traditional and Internet Sources Catherine Ilse Pfeifer University of Wisconsin - Madison In advertising, timing customer information is crucial. If we know consumer's information seeking strategies, we can place information so that they will stumble across it at the right moment. Using hunting metaphors (hunting, fishing, trapping, tracking, poaching, herding, breeding, and driving) this paper provides a typology of consumer information seeking strategies depending on whether the consumer knows where to look for information, will contact an information source, and search for information themselves. Advertising and the Consumer's Hunt for Information: Traditional and Internet Sources Introduction "The advertising world is changing." This is a statement that has been uttered since the dawn of marketing, but it is also becoming truer as time passes. The marketplace is experiencing a shift in both the target audiences and the media. This change in the advertising and marketing situation needs to be accompanied by changes in thinking about how to contact customers. Rapp and Collins (1990) suggested that with a new perspective, we can adjust to this new reality in the marketplace and thus become "open to the opportunities made possible by using the new electronic media and by using the established media in new ways - not just for the sake of novelty but to locate, contact, activate, and cultivate customers in the most accountable, cost efficient way." The mass market of the post-World War II era has shattered into millions of pieces. Part of this marketplace shift is that the consumer target groups are becoming smaller, more diverse, more complicated, and less visible (Peppers and Rodgers, 1995). The Normal Rockwell all-American family of brand loyalists - breadwinner father, housewife mother, two and a half children - has almost become an endangered species. As Joel D. Weiner described it "the mythological homogeneous America is gone. We are a mosaic of minorities" (Schiller, 1989). America's constantly-changing demographic mix means that the target audiences that were there yesterday are simply not here today (Reese, 1997). The following trends have changed the target markets and are continuing to expand: households are dwindling to one or two members, women are working outside the home, women are pursuing more professional careers, meals are eaten away from home or are ready-prepared foods, consumers have less time for shopping (thanks to two-income families), and purchasing power is in the hands of more mature Americans (Rapp and Collins, 1990). Along with changing target markets comes a changing media environment. Network TV is losing its domination over the national advertising landscape. "Because of the escape routes provided by independent stations, cable TV, the VCR, and the hand-held remote control device - as well as the demands on personal time_ - the audiences for network television commercials keep going down, down, down" (Rapp and Collins, 1990). This decline has very serious implications for national advertisers. According to J. Tylee Wilson, chairman of RJR Nabisco, "Gone forever is the great electronic funnel through which we could pour our products into the mainstream of American awareness" (Levine, 1986). Eiseman (1989) expands on this concern by stating, "_ viewers are not just abandoning the networks for cable or Fox Broadcasting, or for rented videocassettes, but are simply shutting their sets off for the sake of other, unknown pursuits." One of the pursuits that consumers are abandoning TV for is the Internet (Robinson, Levin, and Hak, 1998). The number of homes with PCs continues to grow slowly and steadily by a few percentage points a year (Kate, 1998). Children of computer-owning parents watch less TV thanks to access to a home computer (Kate, 1993). New multimedia technologies enable the variety of converged media products such as the marriage of the television to the computer (Stipp, 1998). Such combinations would further change the nature of communicating with the consumer (Cravatta, 1998). Many innovative ways of learning about Internet consumers are being implemented. For example, NetZero is providing no-fee Internet access in exchange for detailed information about the user and willingness to read ads (Lach, 1999). Also, marketers are tracking web traffic through the use of cookies, bits of code deposited on web browser's hard drive when a particular page is loaded (Eggers, 1997). This practice is controversial because these computer files can potentially be shared with any site that they visit and ultimately invade the user's privacy. Yet, these techniques do not take into account the actual processes that consumers use to seek information. A new approach is needed to find the consumer who is preparing himself or herself for a purchase in this new marketing environment. The approach that this paper suggests is to examine the strategy used by the customer who is looking for information and to put the information that the marketer wants to present in a place where the customer will find it. By doing this, the marketer blends his efforts with the consumers' information seeking strategies. This is a very cost-effective approach for the marketers in terms of time, effort and money. Such an approach is a complete turnaround of traditional approaches of advertising. Traditionally, advertisers find out where the potential consumers of their particular products are and send the message to that place. Instead, the advertisers could find out where the search for information usually leads consumers and could put the message where the consumers eventually will be. This new approach need not usurp the traditional one, but instead could augment it by focusing on the highly-involved, ripe-to-purchase information seeker. To develop this new approach to advertising, it will be necessary to create a definition of information seeking, explore previous studies, and develop an overview of the type of information seeking. A hunting metaphor is applied to consumer information seeking to describe possible strategies employed. Definition of Information Seeking According to Krikelas (1983), information seeking behavior refers to "any activity of an individual that is undertaken to identify a message that satisfies a perceived need" (p. 6). Atkin (1973) defined information seeking as "seeking behavior that is purposefully initiated in response to an explicit question about a topic." The full definition of information seeking can be found in its origins, the cognitive dissonance theory. Festinger (1964) discussed pre-purchase decisions by hypothesizing that when an individual needs to make a decision, his behavior is largely oriented towards making an objective and impartial evaluation of the merits of alternatives. This behavior takes the form of collecting information about these alternatives, evaluating this information in relation to himself and the situation, and establishing a preference ordered between the alternatives. Establishing this preference order does not immediately result in a decision. The individual will continue to seek new information and to re-evaluate old information until he acquires sufficient confidence that his preference order is correct and will not be reversed by additional information. The majority of the information seeking strategy studies were conducted in mass communications and marketing. Donohew and Tipton (1973), the most prominent mass communication information seeking scholars, state that there are two strategies that individuals might use in information seeking: the broad-focus and the narrow-focus. A broad-focus strategy initially involves identifying potential sources of information and using them on a relatively non-selective basis. Then the broad-focuser reviews his information, selects the best, and organizes his other information around it. Image, pressures for closure, availability of sources, and other factors are taken into consideration in this organization. A narrow-focus strategy is one in which one source of information is focused on. Sources and ideas are added as they are found. An example is two students working on a term paper. One student might take the broad-focus strategy by looking up the general topic in the card catalog or computer indexes and compiling a long list of titles. Only then would s/he look at specific content. The narrow-focusing student would begin with one key article (or book), check footnotes and bibliography for titles and work outward from that center (Donohew and Tipton, 1973). While Donohew and Tipton (1973) present these strategies as opposites, they recognize that broad-focus and narrow-focus should, more realistically, be viewed as extremes of a continuum. Most information-seekers use a combination of these two strategies. This strategy concept, while useful, does not identify variables that lead an individual to adopt approach or the other. Donohew, Tipton, and Haney (1978) then extended Donohew and Tipton's (1973) theory in a horse racing game to identify different information-seeking behavior styles among students. Variables tested in this procedure included: self-esteem, dogmatism, sensation-seeking, prior knowledge, amount of information bought for the game, broad or narrow focus strategy, risk taking, amount of time before closure was achieved, success, perceived availability of information, and mood. The four distinct types of information seekers in this study were: Loners, Formal seekers, Risky seekers, and Informal seekers. Loners had less prior knowledge than any of the others going into the game, seemed to be more affected by mood, and interacted less with other people in giving and receiving information. Formal seekers consistently scored higher than all other types in seeking information. They perceived more information as being more available, bought more information, pursued a broad focus strategy, bought about closure later, and chose safer courses of action. Risky seekers had more previous experience than the other groups. Perhaps as a consequence, they took a narrow focus path of information seeking and placed bets sooner than the others. Informal seekers reported the highest need for variety and were higher than all the others on interpersonal communications. They also reported giving information to and receiving it from more persons than those of other types. The Informal seekers also bought the least amount of information (Donohew, Tipton, and Haney, 1978). On the marketing side, Guiltinan and Monroe (1979) examined multidimensional shopping strategies to identify shopper types. Six strategies for grocery shopping were identified: in-store economy (will shop more than one store for best price), apathetic or mechanistic, involved traditional (positive on the shopping experience all the way around), economy planners (wants good prices, uses coupons, will not switch stores), homemakers (brand name believers, plan grocery trips and menus), and convenience. To them, shopping strategies represent sets of activities that reflect the motives and decision processes governing shopping behavior. Thus, shopping strategies represent the amount of external and internal search, the objectives of the search activity, and the planning activities prior to a shopping trip. Midgley (1983) extended information seeking research to a product which is socially symbolic not simply utilitarian. A survey of fashion purchasers was conduced and through cluster analysis, five distinct patterns of search were identified. These patterns were: minimal external search-deliberate, peer assisted, extensive external search, spouse assisted, and minimal external search-decisive. Furse, Punj, and Steward(1984) also used cluster analysis of questionnaire data to identify distinctive external information search patterns among purchasers of new automobiles. A Brief Overview of Information Seeking Of the theories that incorporate information seeking behavior, two types of information seeking behaviors are recognized: pre-decisional and post-decisional. In pre-decisional information seeking, biasing influences such as opinion reinforcement are not in evidence before the information seeking process has begun. In post-decisional information seeking, it is predicted that the individual will actively avoid or be less receptive to information that contradicts their existing attitudes, behaviors and choices and individuals will seek out or be more receptive to supportive material (Tan, 1986). Within the pre-decisional information seeking approach, there are two types of searches: informal and formal. In a formal information search, a structure is provided such as a library environment or computer program. Structures are provided to aid the seeker and thus the number of choices available to the individual is limited (Garvey and Griffith, 1968; Skelton, 1973). Informal searches are free-form searches within a wider environment. These channels are frequently created by the individual for their own use. Their primary characteristic is that they are current but they also benefit the individual by being redundant, relevant, and open-ended. They also allow the user to be selective and to direct communications as well as receiving critical feedback (Garvey and Griffith, 1968). There is occasionally a distinction between internal and external sources in information seeking literature. One of the most through treatments of this subject is by Moore and Lehmann (1980). They state than an internal search is more closely related to information processing than actual searching behavior. Experiences and knowledge recalled in an internal search might include: stored knowledge, previous requirements of object usage or task performance, previous experiences, previous choices in a similar situation, and previous satisfaction of outcomes. External search is related to the environment and situation in which the information must be found. This paper will focus primarily on the informal, external information search strategies when describing traditional sources but there will be no hesitation to incorporate formal or internal information seeking theory where it might be helpful. Internet sources operate in an extended computer network. Search strategies in this environment are, by definition, formal and external. Information Seeking as a Hunting Activity Hunting is used here as a metaphor for the information seeking process. The different hunting activities describe the different approaches taken. Although an individual might favor one of these search strategies, it is more likely that different strategies are used simultaneously or in different circumstances. This information seeking theory can be divided into three types of information search strategies: hunting, fishing, and trapping. These basic strategies have five modifiers; tracking, poaching, herding, breeding, and driving (See Table 1). The processes of information seeking will be illustrated using traditional sources with a hypothetical consumer named Diana Johnson. Diana was on a trip when she had a car accident. She suffered some back damages and has some medical costs that need covering. This entire process is complicated by the accident not happening in her own state. She wants a lawyer who is both local to where the accident took place and knowledgeable about state automobile and insurance laws to handle her case. The discussion of Internet information sources will not be limited to this hypothetical situation due to the growing and changing nature of these sources. It would be a shame to not present a search strategy example simply because it might not yet apply to or best be illustrated by finding information about legal professionals on the Internet. Information Seeking Strategies Hunting Hunting is the most common type of information seeking. It is characterized by the fact that the hunter knows where to look, thus making it an efficient and effective problem solving technique. It is divided into two types: stalking and still hunting. In stalking, the information seeker knows where the information might be and travels to that place looking for it. Diana might contact the American Bar Association or the Bar Association in the state where she had the accident for help in finding a lawyer. Looking in the appropriate city's yellow pages under "attorney" would also be a form of stalking. Stalking information on the Internet is not much different from stalking for information from more traditional sources. If Diana knew about the American Bar Association's website www.abanet.org, she might stalk the information about a lawyer by accessing that website's lawyer referral and information service. This would allow her to access the website of the Bar Association for the appropriate state or even find a firm according to city and specialty. Because of its directness, stalking conserves effort. Grunig (1974) stated that individuals will not attempt to acquire information that is out of their reach or impractical. Dervin (1989) concurs when she states that information is judged entirely on whether it was useful. This direct Occum's Razor approach will be a general assumption for the rest of the approaches mentioned in this paper with the exception of the driving strategy modifier. Still hunting is when the information seeker knows where the information might be and plants himself or herself in a place where it might pass by. For example, Diana Johnson remembers that she saw an ad for an injury lawyer on television last night so she is going to watch the same show on television tonight hoping that the ad will be shown again. She is putting herself in the information's way. On the Internet, Diana might still hunt by going to a lawyer-oriented chatroom, newsgroup, or message board and "lurk" until information about a lawyer in the appropriate city appears. Lurking on the Internet happens when an information seeker looks at the information available at a site, whether it is watching a chat scroll by or reading all of the messages on a board, but does not post any messages herself or himself. For example, Diana might go to the auto accident message board at www.lawyers.com and read all of the messages that are posted until she sees one that is relevant and mentions the city where she had the accident. She might then contact that message poster through e-mail. In another less efficient Internet still hunt, Diana might go to a place where others are asking questions and just wait for a question about lawyers to appear. For example, on the search engine www.askjeeves.com there is a feature that allows the user to see what other users are asking. Diana might look at the questions that others are asking on www.askjeeves.com until a question about lawyers appears. Still hunting has a low cost to benefit ratio, particularly if this source is one that the individual would attend to anyway such as watching a favorite T.V. program. Atkin (1973) predicts that "an individual will select a mass media message when he estimates that the message reward value exceeds the expenditures incurred in obtaining it." Cost attributes of information include monetary expenses, length, comprehensibility, clarity, prominence, and accessibility. Fishing Fishing is characterized by the information seeker being blind as where the information is. This usually results in the information seeker looking in places that they would visit for other reasons. Fishing is divided into two types: trolling and still fishing. In trolling no particular place is identified as being a good spot to fish, thus the information seeker asks for information in the places that they would travel to anyway. Diana Johnson does not know anyone in the city where she had the accident so she asks everyone where she is going anyway such as a cab driver, the hotel clerk, the salesperson, or anyone else that she comes across. Trolling can also be asking those information sources that you would communicate with anyway. Dervin (1989) identifies an information search where people rely first on their own cognitive resources. If these resources are not sufficient, the seekers reach out to sources closest to them or those they are habitually in contact with. According to Miller (9172) a person seeking information is most likely to gravitate toward familiar sources. In fact, communication efforts will be more effective if information is attributed to familiar sources. Like stalking, trolling is also high conservation of effort search pattern. The difference between the two is that trolling requires no change of routine whereas stalking is minimal activity for job completion. To troll on the Internet, Diana would ask everyone that she would normally contact for other reasons for a referral to a lawyer. For example, she might add a signature to all of her e-mails asking them if they know of a good lawyer in the appropriate city. She might also go to a chatroom that she frequents and ask everyone there the same question. Unrestrained trolling on the Internet is considered very bad manners. For example, if she were to post requests for a lawyer on a Shakespeare newsgroup, the other members of the group would object to the posting of inappropriate material. A large scale trolling effort is called "spamming" and is considered to be such inappropriate behavior that many Internet organizations have policies against it. In still fishing, the information seeker is simply keeping his/her ears open since s/he does not know where to look. S/He is sensitized to the issue and is waiting for the issue to be mentioned by anyone. When the topic is presented, then questions are asked for specific information. Still fishing and the above-mentioned still hunting fit Atkin's (1973) definition of information seeking that states "information seeking is any effort used to gather information, including sitting still for it." Diana has no clue as to where to go or who to ask, this while in the city, she keeps her ears open to any mention of lawyers. For example, when a couple near her at the bank is discussing the auto accident law suits, Diana might then ask if there are any lawyers that they would recommend. Diana might use the Internet as she normally does paying special attention to the content of the e-mail and websites for some mention of lawyers or the town where her accident happened. Trapping In trapping, the search is performed remotely, thus the individual concerned with gathering the information does not perform it. In exchange for this "stillness," the information seeker will have to invest some other resource to conduct the search such as money, calling in a favor, or loss of privacy. Trapping is divided into two types: path trapping and random trapping. Path trapping is composed of finding there's someone with the information you seek is likely to travel and snaring him or her. There is a heavy element of knowing where to look in this method. An excellent example of this exists at Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. One end of the Park has a lovely garden with many different types of flowers. Barely visible in the flower beds are little signs that ask for volunteer gardeners. This is an excellent example of path trapping because generally only gardening enthusiasts are likely to be so interested in the flowers that they would be that close to read the signs. In Diana Johnson's case, she might want to insure that very complete information regarding how to contact her is left in the police report (such as how long she will be in town and her home address) and wait for the lawyers who gain contacts by combing police records to contact her. On the Internet, Diana might post a message on a lawyer newsgroup or discussion board describing her situation and legal professional needs with an e-mail address where someone can contact her. She might also take out a classified ad, which are offered on some websites. To be path trapping, the classified ad would be on a website or from an e-publication that targets lawyers or legal issues. In random trapping, a signal is sent out but the information seeker does not know where to send it so the signal is not strongly directed. To use this method, Diana might place an ad asking for a local lawyer in the classified section of the newspaper. She also might put up posters on telephone poles around town asking for an auto accident lawyer in the appropriate city. An example of computer random trapping is the Delphic form of computer search that was common on pre-Internet computer bulletin boards. In this method, an information seeker places a request for information on a computer bulletin board and leaves an address where an answer can be sent. The frequent computer bulletin board callers pick up the message and place it on different bulletin boards or, if it is connected through a network, it is downloaded once a week to other similar topic bulletin boards. Anyone who sees the notice and wants to share what they know might send you a message. This process is a random trap only if the search is about a topic that the bulletin board users would not ordinarily know about and it is not the topic of a specialty bulletin board; otherwise it is a path trap. On the Internet, random trapping might be to put message on a website that has classified ads which aren't specifically targeted. Diana might also put her request on a non-targeted website where anyone can leave a message that is read by other website visitors. One example of this is the guestbook function of www.antigo.com. Information Seeking Strategy Modifiers Tracking Tracking is a modifier of many of the above-mentioned techniques characterized by traveling from one source to another by asking each source for clues along the way. Networking is a good example of tracking. Diana Johnson might call a friend or relative who lives or has lived in the city where she had the accident. They may not know the answer to her question but they suggest that she call the family lawyer in her home town who might know. She then calls the family lawyer who doesn't know an injury lawyer but went to school with a tax lawyer who practices in that city. This process continues until the required information is gathered. Tracking is the most common information search strategy used on the Internet. Internet information seekers often use directories, websites such as www.yahoo.com that have long orderly lists of websites, or search engines, websites such as www.altavista.com that search for any word occurrence in a large number of other websites, to learn about where to find salient information. Diana could go to a search engine such as www.altavista.com and type in "attorney or lawyer" and the name of the city where the accident occurred to find a lawyer. She might also find a directory or search engine that deals specifically with attorneys or the city where she had the accident and search from these more focused lists. Tracking on the Internet is not limited to the use of search engines and large directories. In fact, most websites have a links section that gives the information seeker access to a list of other websites that the webmaster likes. These lists of links might be related to a specific topic or just a list of favorite websites. Tracking is not just limited to websites, though. The user can click on the www.Amazon.com icon that appears on many websites and track information through book lists. A user can also look at auction websites like www.ebay.com and if they want to learn more about a class of items, such as Oriental antiques, they can go to the website of a specialty seller or check the user profiles of fellow buyers and start a dialogue with them. A webring, where the user is led through a circle of similarly-themed websites, is also a form of tracking. Poaching According to George Bernard Shaw, "Good swiping is an art in itself." Poaching is an information seeking approach or, perhaps more precisely, a way of reaching closure which involves taking information from another. The information seeker might use any of the above-mentioned methods to find out what information that another information seeker has. Ethical problems are frequently encountered when this approach is employed. Diana Johnson might use poaching in her search for a lawyer by hiring her opponent's lawyer. Poaching is a basic premise behind computer hacking. Information such as corporate records, credit card numbers, and computer software are pilfered "using skills that most people can't comprehend to take technology that many fear" (Sandberg, 1995). Poaching is one of the highest forms of information seeking energy conservation (Grunig, 1974). In response to growing public alarm over computer poaching incidents, the Department of Justice recently set up an extensive website at www.cybercrime.gov. Herding In herding, the information seeker has foreseen the need for a certain type of information and has been gathering information on that topic before the need arises. This activity is frequently performed for the most important types of information. A family might have a list of emergency numbers next to every telephone or a business person might keep newspaper clip files on topics that might affect their business - alternative suppliers, competitor intelligence, or market trends. Diana might have found information on lawyers in this city before she arrived or she might subscribe to a traveler's assistance service, like AAA, which offers auto accident lawyer referrals. Joining organizations that specialize in a body of information is a common form of herding. Bookmarking, adding a website to a list of favorite websites on an Internet browser program, is a common form of herding information. Diana might have already have a list of lawyer websites bookmarked or she might bookmark the best sources as she gathers information. A simple way of herding information on the Internet is to join a newsgroup, mailing list or discussion board and archive the information from these sources. Many newsgroups already have an archives and some of them are well-organized by topics and frequently asked questions (FAQs). Breeding In breeding, the information seeker creates the information source to fulfill future needs but this source develops a form of gestalt thus becoming greater than a collection of facts. The information is applied in such a way or enough information is amassed that new information arises from it. For example, some third world communities will select a child to become the community physician. This child will prepare for this job all of his/her life and money will be saved to send this child to school. This child will then return home, care of the community, start a clinic or hospital, and teach others about medicine. The census is a classic example of breeding information. The amount of information acquired by the census makes it so rich that other types of information can be generated from it, such as psychographics. Internet breeding can also take the form of a special bibliography or database that gains so much information that it generates new information itself. For example, the reporting in news articles of how many hits a topic generated on a popular search engine as a measure of the popularity of that topic is no longer considered unusual. An unusual example of a database that is breeding information is the website called www.blackvault.com. It contains over 7,000 documents about unidentified flying object and other unexplained phenomenon gathered from the United States Federal Government sources. This database consists of scanned pages of government documents, including hand written material and blacked out pages, and is so extensive that, in addition to those who use it for those who consult it for UFO government conspiracy information, it has been used by journalism researchers to study the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. Driving Driving is a form of searching that is very thorough. It is the identification of an informational resource and a complete investigation of it. For example, Diana might look in the yellow pages for a lawyer and call every firm asking them about fees, specialties, and success records. She might then call the Bar Association and inquire about the firms that look most attractive. She would continue this process until she could not find any more information. This is the antithesis of the conservation of effort and low cost to benefit approaches, rather it is a completeness approach. This approach also permits the seeker to identify the best information by triangulating in from many sources. Driving is an excellent approach to use if the topic is particularly salient or risky. Metasearch engines like www.dogpile.com are a way to drive information on the web because they seek information on a number of search engines and newsgroup with a single search. Internet agents, a small program that can travel through network systems and look for an occurrence of a work or a phrase, also make driving information increasingly easy and efficient (Krakowka, 1997). As an agent travels it either gathers pertinent information or stores the locations of information, reports its findings upon return (Mossberg, 1994). Some websites such as www.monster.com allow users to develop their own agents to report daily fresh job postings on that website that fit the user's pre-programmed specifications. Agents are becoming more common. They are also becoming so sophisticated that they not only gather and deliver the researched material but can "analyze incredibly large amounts of seemingly unrelated data and produce results that can be used to predict consumer trends" (Krakowka, 1997). When used in this way, agents are not only used to drive information but can also breed it. Conclusion Knowledge of these various information seeking strategies might help advertisers to provide appropriate information to the consumer at the right time. Not all of these information strategies can be addressed by the advertiser at once: some of the strategies will be easier to address than others; some will be more appropriate for different advertisers and products. Ironically, some advertisers are addressing information-seeking issues unknowingly. In order for advertisers to keep up with consumers, the theoretical formulation of information seeking must continue to be developed, tested, and implemented. The categories of information seeking strategies described here need more development and exploration. They need to be integrated with other theories such as diffusion of innovation (Rogers, 1962), schema research (Meyers-Levy and Tybout, 1989), or personal influence in the adoption process (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955). Changes in consumer information seeking strategies that follow from changes in technology are a continually expanding frontier for research. These information seeking categories also need testing and more specific definition. For example, they could be studies through a series of in-depth interviews using Dervin's methods (1983) to determine how seekers acquire information to reach a final decision. Using an experimental method, the use of cookies could also be used to track subject's Internet searches and determine their strategies. 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Don't Know Place: The seeker does not know where the required information is. Travel: The seeker initiates contacts with the information source. Sit Still: The seeker waits for the information to come to him or her either purposefully or serendipitously. Acting Remotely: The seeker leaves a message and waits for the information source to contact her or him. Information seeking strategy modifiers Tracking: Traveling from one source to another by asking for clues along the way. Poaching: Taking information from another. Herding: Gathering information on a topic before the need arises. Breeding: A collection of information that spawns new information. Driving: A very through information search.