Music information seeking via social Q&A: An analysis of questions in Music StackExchange community

Abstract

In this paper we report preliminary findings based on a quantitative analysis of data from a music social Q&A site, Music StackExchange, focusing on real-life music information needs, uses, and seeking. Eight major topic categories and a two-level taxonomy for question type/intent and the characteristics of questions in each category are presented. Our findings suggest that Q&A sites are a fruitful resource for identifying users' music information needs, how these needs are expressed, and intended uses for the information. On Music StackExchange, users' questioning behaviors were motivated by the recognition of knowledge gaps, lack of resources, need for others' opinions, or interest in research issues, spanning different topics. This study is explorative in nature and the results could improve the understanding of everyday life music information seeking. The findings can inform music librarians and general-purpose music information systems designers of the needs, requirements, and approaches to enhance music related controlled vocabularies, and improve search engines and online knowledge sharing communities to categorize and provide users with more relevant music information.