San Jose State University From the SelectedWorks of Christine Hagar

Farmers ' search for information during the UK foot-and-mouth disease crisis- what can we learn? Christine Hagar explores the information needs of a Cumbrian farming community in England during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. This paper reports on the findings of a study which explored the multiple information needs that faced the Cumbrian farming community in the north-west of England during the 2001 UK foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Findings highlighted the importance of: changes in information needs at different stages of the crisis, context in which information seeking took place, overlap of information and emotional needs, formal and informal channels of information seeking during the crisis, farmers as information providers as well as information seekers, sense-making approach to information seeking during the crisis, trusted information sources, need for a mix of ICTs during the crisis, ICTs as a catalyst for innovation during the crisis, place and space and new venues and meeting places for communities in a crisis, and providing a local response to a national crisis