1 - The digital consumer: an introduction and philosophy

Summary

We have chosen the title of this book with care, adopting the more general ‘digital consumer’ rather than the more specific ‘digital information consumer’ descriptor in recognition of the fact that, although the book focuses on the behaviour of people visiting the virtual space for information, the internet has redefined and widened the information domain. Because the internet is an encyclopedic, multi-purpose platform that people use, rather like a superstore, to obtain a whole range of things (often at the same time), it is now almost impossible to say what information is and what it is not, what is information seeking and what is not. Being a digital consumer does not simply mean choosing or buying e-documents or information services. Information is also fundamental to the process and success of e-shopping. As Chris Russell in Chapter 3 explains, first a person is a digital information consumer and then an e-buyer. Thus people shopping at the John Lewis e-store will be using the internal search engine to find what they want, navigating through the site employing browsing menus and opening another window on a cross-comparison site to make sure they are getting value for money. It is not surprising therefore that looking for information is one of the two most common web activities – the other is e-mail; the digital consumer is essentially an information consumer. There is another reason for employing the more general form of the descriptor and it is because information seeking is not conducted in a vacuum and many factors shape it. Therefore it is important that it is embedded in a wider world of epublishing, e-shopping and communication theory.

Why this book now?

Because this book is a first, it fills a yawning gap in our professional knowledge and shows us how we can overcome an insularity that is plainly an obstacle to professional development. Amazingly, despite the fact that we are ten years into an information consumer revolution occasioned by the arrival of the internet, which is changing society, education and commerce on a massive and global scale, this is the first time, as far as we can discover, that information or digital consumers have figured in a book title issued by a publisher providing books for the information professions.