摘要 : Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to elaborate how source preference criteria are defined in thecontext of everyday projects that require the seeking of problem-specific information. Morespecifically, to find out how informat... 展开 Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to elaborate how source preference criteria are defined in thecontext of everyday projects that require the seeking of problem-specific information. Morespecifically, to find out how information seekers explain their preference criteria by characterizing theperceived strengths and weaknesses of diverse sources.Design/methodology/approach - The approach takes the form of qualitative content analysis ofempirical data gathered by semi-structured interviews with 16 prospective home buyers in 2008. Thesource preference criteria were elicited by making use of the construct of information source horizon.Findings - Networked sources were favoured most strongly, followed by printed media, humansources and organizational sources. Content of information was the primary source preferencecriterion. Availability of information was a fairly important criterion, while user characteristics,usability of information and situational factors were fairly marginal in this regard. In the definition ofthe preference criteria, more emphasis was placed on the perceived strengths than weaknesses ofsources. Positive qualities such as "provides updated information" were referred to particulariy whilejudging the relevance of the networked sources. Negative qualities like "outdated information" wereprimarily associated with printed media and organizational sources.Research limitations/implications - The study is exploratory, drawing on a relatively smallsample recruited through a web-based service. Thus, the findings cannot be generalized to prospectivehome buyers.Practical implications - Prospective home buyers tend to favour web-based information sourcesand services. They should provide the customers with detailed information about the property,including photos.Originality/value - The paper specifies the picture of user-defined relevance judgment in thecontext of everyday life information seeking. 收起