As perspectivas socioculturais em ambientes informacionais: a intersecção entre cultura e informação

Abstract

This research deals with the intersections between culture and information and the theoretical possibilities regarding these two phenomena in order to explore the extent to which sociocultural practices are intertwined with the context of information, using the theoretical contribution and scientific production in Information Science and related areas. To this end, the general objective was to highlight the theoretical conceptions about the intersection of culture and information in the scientific production of Information Science and to verify how these sociocultural theories have been reached in informational environments based on the literature in the area. Specifically, the aim was to present the theoretical approaches on the concept of culture and information, and to link sociocultural theories to the field of Information Science; to analyze the notions of cultural action, cultural mediation, cultural fabrication and animation present in the scientific productions analyzed; to identify the theoretical perspectives achieved in the practices of cultural mediators in informational environments explicit in the aforementioned scientific productions. The research is guided by the bibliographic method, with a qualitative-quantitative approach, descriptive level and use of content analysis as a procedure for data interpretation; with a corpus of analysis composed of 24 scientific articles. It is based on a systematic review of the bibliography, using the theoretical contribution of sociocultural studies in the scope of Social Sciences, especially in the theories of Information Science on the concept of information, the notions of information mediation and cultural mediation, as well as the philosophical perspective of the critical approach. The results indicate an alignment between Information Science and Critical Theory, evidenced in the theoretical contributions that underlie the reflections and practices that aim at processes of mediation and appropriation of information, interference actions and the valorization of the social protagonism of the subjects. From the data analyzed, it can be inferred that the conceptions about cultural mediation and information mediation discussed in the context of Information Science challenge power structures and question inequalities in access, appropriation, and representation of different groups, with emancipatory potential in conscious mediating actions. However, it was also possible to verify that, despite the identification of sociocultural theories in the scientific production that composed the corpus of analysis of this study, many of the mediating actions evidenced in this production show signs of having been carried out unconsciously. Therefore, it is concluded that there is an alignment of the theoretical conceptions of Information Science and sociocultural theories, and that the conscious action of mediators is a sine qua non condition for the achievement of these theories in informational environments.