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Blog post 7: Reflections

 I really enjoyed this semester and especially the way this project remained an active element throughout the readings and lectures. It gave me a kind of focus point.  I used my chosen information community as a bit of a touchstone throughout the course. This really kept me grounded in the reality that everything an information professional does is meant to increase access to information for specific groups of people, and the individuals that make up those groups. The research I did on this community revealed that there is a great deal of work to be completed. The LGBTQIA community has unique information needs, as do the various subgroups within that community. This is a group with a rapidly changing status and nomenclature, and information resources that are current and useful tend to be community-based and online ones. There are several barriers to access for this group: Information dealing with LGBTQIA content is disproportionately filtered by internet filters so often foun...
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Blog Post 6: Emerging Technologies

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 In this, my first ever Youtube video, I discuss the LGBTQIA community's use of emerging technology, and specifically YouTube videos, as a way to share information and create community. Drawing on research regarding coming out videos and the use of social media to navigate queer identities; this video includes a brief discussion of the sources cited below.         References:   Alexander, J., & Losh, E. (2010). "A YouTube of one's own?": "Coming out" videos as rhetorical action. In  LGBT Identity and Online New Media (pp. 37-50). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Fox, & Ralston. (2016). Queer identity online: Informal learning and teaching experiences of LGBTQ individuals on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 635-642.  
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Blog post #5, an ethical dilemma: disclosure

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  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkEi6zlgtz8 The video above is historical footage of the first openly gay elected official- Harvey Milk. The opening shot pans close to a car with the top down, Harvey sits high enough to be seen by a cheering crowd and says, "Come on out! Let's come on out!" The footage continues with Milk giving a speech that begins with the line, "My name is Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you." The crowd roars at this. It's a joke, but he is also speaking in earnest. Antigay rhetoric often centers this idea of recruitment, insisting that gay adults recruit impressionable young people. Milk is not recruiting precisely, but he is urging every gay person to come out to everyone they know. "We are coming out of the closet! When are you coming out of yours?" In "Identity Concealment and Social Change: Balancing Advocacy Goals Against Individual Needs" the authors, Michael Pasek, Gabrielle Fillip-Crawford, and Jona...
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Blog Post #4, summary of a peer reviewed article

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   Fig. 1 Loftus, P. Gen Silent [digital image] Glaad.org The article I chose to focus on for this blog post is, "The Cascading Effects of Marginalization and Pathways of Resilience in Attaining Good Health Among LGBT Older Adults". The research is drawn from on a project founded by Karen I. Fredricksen-Goldsen called, "Aging with Pride." http://age-pride.org/   A brief note on terminology: throughout this blog post I will use LGBT simply because this is the form the authors use in the article. The authors are Amanda E. B. Bryan, Ph.D., Charles A. Emlet, Ph.D., Chengshi Shiu, Ph.D., HyunJun Kim, Ph.D., and Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen, Ph.D. These individuals are all associated with the University of Washington School of Social Work. Fredrickson-Goldsen and Emlet are professors at the University of Washington. Hyun-Jun Kim is a research scientist at the same institution. These three individuals are all associated with a longitudinal study of aging among LGBT individu...
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Information seeking behavior and information needs of the LGBTQIA community

 O'Brien and Greyson state (2018) "Information seeking is a natural course of action to reduce uncertainty, fill a knowledge gap, or make sense of one's world" (p.40). If we use this definition as it applies to this group, it becomes clear that information seeking will take many forms, and some kinds of information will be more crucial. This definition is broad enough to include individuals seeking other members of their community, those seeking information about their legal rights, those seeking health and safer sex information, and those simply seeking a way to know themselves and their history. The continued stigmatization of this group hinders the free flow of information and makes the information seeking process challenging.  Tracy Robinson, writing about the information needs of LGBTQIA and gender variant youth, notes the vital importance of internet resources, because youth can access them anonymously. Robinson cites several studies which conclude that LGBTQIA ...
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Twitter & Tear Gas

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  Zeynep Tufekci's,  Twitter and Tear Gas; The Power and Fragility of Networked Protests examines the ways in which shifts in information technology have fundamentally altered the social and political landscape for protest movements. Tufekci examines the ways in which technological advances and near-ubiquitous connectivity have changed how protest movements operate. The book examines the way protest culture has evolved in tandem with technology but also delineates some of the complexities and limitations that arise from that evolution. Tufekci charts a path through the protest movements of the past twenty years.   She charts the ways in which tactics and actions have changed largely as a result of advances in information technology, networked connectivity, and alterations to the ways in which information is disseminated. Tufekci compares more recent protest movements with iconic historical protest movements, such as the civil rights movement in the US, in order to c...
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LGBTQIA community as an information community

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  I've chosen to focus on the LGBTQIA community as an information community. The 2000 census suggests that some 2% of the adult population of the United States falls into this category, and this number may well be low due to underreporting. Bigotry against this population persists and undercuts the significant efforts at organization and advocacy by members of this group. I should more appropriately say- these groups. LGBTQIA represents a diverse coalition of non-heterosexual and non-cisgender individuals whose identity, gender history, gender presentation and/or sexual orientation differs from the cisgender heterosexual norm. This group thus contains a vast array of individuals, from a variety of backgrounds. Members of these groups come from all races, classes, and geographic locations. To say this group has diverse needs is a vast understatement. According to Fisher and Durrance, these five characteristics are the hallmarks of an information community: 1. Exploit the inform...
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