Brenda Dervin

Brenda Dervin (1938–2022) was a professor of communication at Ohio State University,^[1] working in the fields communication and library and information science. Her research about information seeking and information use led to the development of the sense-making methodology.^[2]

Life

Dervin was born in 1938.^[3] She received a bachelor's degree in journalism and home economics from Cornell University, with a minor in philosophy of religion, and her M.S. and PhD degrees in communication research from Michigan State University. In 1986 she acted as the first president of the International Communication Association. Dervin reviewed articles and was on editorial boards for communication and library and information science journals.^[4]

She died in Seattle on 31 December 2022.^[5][6]

Publications

• Dervin, B. (2003a). Audience as listener and learner, teacher and confidante: The sense-making approach. In B. Dervin, L. Foreman-Wernet, & E. Launterbach (Eds.), Sense-making methodology reader: Selected writings of Brenda Dervin (pp. 215–231). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.
• Dervin, B. (2003b). Information as non-sense; information as sense: The communication technology connection. In B. Dervin, L. Foreman-Wernet, & E. Launterbach (Eds.), Sense-making methodology reader: Selected writings of Brenda Dervin (pp. 293–308). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

References

Further reading

• Neill, S. D. (1992). The dilemma of the subjective in information organization and retrieval. Dilemmas in the study of information. Westport: Greenwood Press.
• Ross, C. S., Nilsen, K., & Dewdney, P. (2002). Conducting the reference interview. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

External links

• Sense-Making [archived outdated content]
• Sense Making references/bibliography^{[permanent dead link]}
• Sense-Making Methodology Institute: A collection of Dervin’s published papers