How individuals value information and where they gather trusted information can say a great deal about them. While the academic community puts an emphasis on sources that are regulated and have a more obvious and believable path to follow if verification is needed, there is still a large part of the population who put more faith in sources closer to home. In the instance of Wayne Wiegand's mother, she felt more comfortable making a decision based on the comfortable advice and information provided by friends and her deceased husband. Without this comfort level and familiarity she found it difficult to go with a solution supplied by an impersonal data source. Wiegand brings up an important concept in his analysis of his mother's decision regarding her car and how the process of getting a car became an declaration of how she wanted to live her life and her process of aquiring trusted information.
Through this analysis, the consensus appears to be that there is not a simple answer to why an individual will choose one information source over another. However, there are more appropriate ways to approach the process of trying to identify what some of the factors may be. Without this attempt, those working in the information seeking industry will be putting themselves at a disadvantage by limiting the range of patrons and users they are willing to work with or respectfully try to understand. The message in this article is one that needs to be heard. Thankfully, the use of a personal relationship brings it closer to home.
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