B – The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future

Rowlands I, Nicholas D, Williams P, Huntington P, Fieldhouse M, Gunter B, Withey R, Jamali HR , Dobrowolski T, Tenopir C. The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings. 2008;60(4):290 – 310

DOI: 10.1108/00012530810887953

This study aims to identify how the specialist researchers of the future (those born after 1993) are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years’ time. The impact of digital transition on the information behaviour of the Google Generation is investigated and results show that ICTs on the young are generally overestimated. The study claims that although young people demonstrate an apparent ease and familiarity with computers, they rely heavily on search engines, view rather than read and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the web.