"Isms" in information science: constructivism, collectivism and constructionism

Purpose - Describes the basic premises of three metatheories that represent important or emerging perspectives on information seeking, retrieval and knowledge formation in information science: constructivism, collectivism, and constructionism.Design methodology approach - Presents a literature-based conceptual analysis. Pinpoints the differences between the positions in their conceptions of language and the nature and origin of knowledge.Findings - Each of the three metatheories addresses and solves specific types of research questions and design problems. The metatheories thus complement one another. Each of the three metatheories encourages and constitutes a distinctive type of research and learning.Originality value - Outlines each metatheory's specific fields of application.