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someone. Thirdly, information theory is concerned with the effect that
information has on the receiver. In other words, does the perceived meaning
of the message affect conduct in a desired way?
3.4 Information needs
Julien (1995:1) illustrates that information needs and uses in library and
information science (US) may broadly be defined as that which is concerned
with information seeking, determining users' needs for information and the
subsequent use of information. More specifically, Wilson (1981) identifies a
need as a subjective experience that only occurs in the observer's mind and
can therefore only be discovered by deduction. Wilson argues that in spite of
the subjective nature of needs, various types of needs have been defined
through deduction, for example, Morgan and King in Wilson (1981) argue
that needs emerge from three kinds of motives:
(i) Physiological motives (for example hunger and thirst)
(ii) Unlearned motives (including curiosity and sensory stimulation) and
(iii) Social motives (the desire for affiliation, approval or status, or
aggression).
According to Wilson (1981) the aforementioned categories are interrelated
and an individual may therefore engage in information seeking behaviour to
satisfy all these needs. The author goes on to explain that the context of any
one of these needs may be the person himself/herself, the role/demands of
the person's work or life, or the environments (political, economic,
technological etc) within which that life or work takes place.
In this study, this principle by Wilson assists in determining why rural
women seek specific types of information and how the environment (as
determined by social factors such as illiteracy and poor infrastructure) limits
their scope and access to information. For example, the need by rural
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