Interaction with peers online: LGBTQIA+ individuals' information seeking and meaning-making during the life transitions of identity construction

IF 2.8 2区管理学 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology Pub Date : 2023-10-26 DOI:10.1002/asi.24837

Romy Menghao Jia, Jia Tina Du, Yuxiang (Chris) Zhao

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Abstract

People search for information and experiences and seek meaning as a common reaction to new life challenges. There is little knowledge about the interactions through which experiential information is acquired, and how such interactions are meaningful to an information seeker. Through a qualitative content analysis of 992 posts in an online forum, this study investigated lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTQIA+) individuals' online information interactions and meaning-making with peers during their life transitions of identity construction. Our analysis reveals LGBTQIA+ people's life challenges across three transition stages (being aware of, exploring, and living with a new identity). Three main types of online peer interactions were identified within: cognitive, affective, and situational peer interactions. We found that online peer interactions are not only a type of information source that LGBTQIA+ individuals use to acquire understanding about themselves but a unique space for transformation learning and meaning-making where they share self-examination and reflection, conduct assessments and assumptions, and obtain strength and skills to initiate and adapt life transitions. The findings have theoretical contributions to the development of information behavior models of transitions and practical implications on providing information services that support LGBTQIA+ individuals' meaning-making during the life transition.

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在网上与同伴互动：LGBTQIA+ 个人在身份建构的人生转变过程中的信息寻求和意义建构

人们寻找信息和经验，寻求意义，作为对新的生活挑战的共同反应。关于经验信息获得的交互作用，以及这种交互作用对信息寻求者有何意义，我们知之甚少。本研究通过对某网络论坛上992篇帖子的定性内容分析，探讨了女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别、双性恋、酷儿/质疑、无性恋(LGBTQIA+)个体在身份建构的生命转型过程中与同伴的网络信息互动和意义建构。我们的分析揭示了LGBTQIA+人群在三个过渡阶段(意识到、探索和以新的身份生活)的生活挑战。在线同伴互动主要有三种类型:认知互动、情感互动和情境互动。我们发现，在线同伴互动不仅是LGBTQIA+个体获取自我认识的一种信息来源，而且是一个独特的转型学习和意义创造空间，在这里他们分享自我检查和反思，进行评估和假设，并获得发起和适应生活转型的力量和技能。研究结果对转型期信息行为模型的发展具有理论意义，对提供支持LGBTQIA+个体在生命转型期意义建构的信息服务具有现实意义。

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来源期刊

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS-

CiteScore

8.30

自引率

8.60%

发文量

115

期刊介绍： The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST) is a leading international forum for peer-reviewed research in information science. For more than half a century, JASIST has provided intellectual leadership by publishing original research that focuses on the production, discovery, recording, storage, representation, retrieval, presentation, manipulation, dissemination, use, and evaluation of information and on the tools and techniques associated with these processes. The Journal welcomes rigorous work of an empirical, experimental, ethnographic, conceptual, historical, socio-technical, policy-analytic, or critical-theoretical nature. JASIST also commissions in-depth review articles (“Advances in Information Science”) and reviews of print and other media.