Queer voices in the digital barricades: Exploring social media use in information resistance

Dreeszen Bowman, Rhys

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130770 Copy

Description

Title

Queer voices in the digital barricades: Exploring social media use in information resistance

Author(s)

Dreeszen Bowman, Rhys

Issue Date

2024-10-16

Keyword(s)

• Rural information seeking
• queer communities
• information resistance
• Information needs
• information seeking
• specific populations
• social media
• social justice

Abstract

This paper interrogates how queer people use the Facebook group Queer Exchange to build community and meet information needs. Research indicates that queer people face social exclusion in mainstream society, which leads to health injustices. Social media can then become a space to build inclusion, necessitating the study of queer virtual space. The study consists of 12 semi-structured interviews with queer adults living in rural communities in Western Massachusetts. The themes identified include community-sourced information, community building by identity, and reproducing offline oppressions. The paper uses de Certeau’s theory of tactics and Chatman’s small world theory to frame the research. The study concludes that Queer Exchange plays an essential role in the digital information worlds of rural queer people.

Publisher

Association for Library and Information Science Education

Series/Report Name or Number

Proceedings of the ALISE Annual Conference, 2024

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

• Conference Paper
• Presentation

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130770

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.alise.2024.1712

Copyright and License Information

• Copyright 2024 Rhys Dreeszen Bowman
• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

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