Link between user studies and the paradigms of information science: from users to postmodern subject

Abstract

The Information Science can be characterized by three distinct paradigms: physical, cognitive and social. In turn, the area of user studies can be seen through these paradigms, defended by Capurro, which dialogue with to the classifications of specific approaches that field of study: traditional, alternative and sociocultural. Thus, we make a historical-conceptual trajectory of Information Science and of user studies, emphasizing in each moment the understanding of information, and users and own Information Science. The expansion of the area called the sociocultural approach also leads to other reflections of the area, such as speeches and effects of postmodernity in Information Science and in the user studies