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Meaning‐making on gender: Deeply meaningful information in a significant life change among transgender people

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  • Aira Huttunen
  • Terttu Kortelainen

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report on the seeking of deeply meaningful information, also including embodied information, connected to significant, intensely personal life changes having lifelong impacts. The concepts of “meaning‐making,” “transitioning,” and information seeking in “deeply meaningful and profoundly personal contexts” are used in order to understand transgender individuals' information seeking in the contexts of gender identity formation. Based on the literature, emotions and information seeking connected to a significant life change were divided into four phases to study how they could be identified in the 25 qualitative interviews with transgender individuals from Finland between the ages of 15 and 72. Based on the findings of this study, in significant life changes, an individual needs reliable, sensible and identifiable information. Serendipitous encounters and embodied experiences characterize information seeking during transitional stages. Peer communities are important for minorities in order to find places where interviewees feel safe to share information and experiences. These communities can also be found online. The concept of “deeply meaningful information” highlights the effect information has on information seekers. Deeply meaningful information can serve as a trigger for life change, helping people forward during the transitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Aira Huttunen & Terttu Kortelainen, 2021. "Meaning‐making on gender: Deeply meaningful information in a significant life change among transgender people," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(7), pages 799-810, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:72:y:2021:i:7:p:799-810
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.24447
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    1. Jarkko Kari & Jenna Hartel, 2007. "Information and higher things in life: Addressing the pleasurable and the profound in information science," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 58(8), pages 1131-1147, June.
    2. Carol C. Kuhlthau, 1991. "Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 42(5), pages 361-371, June.
    3. Vanessa Kitzie, 2019. "“That looks like me or something i can do”: Affordances and constraints in the online identity work of US LGBTQ+ millennials," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 70(12), pages 1340-1351, December.
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    1. Vanessa L. Kitzie & Travis L. Wagner & Valerie Lookingbill & Nicolas Vera, 2022. "Advancing information practices theoretical discourses centered on marginality, community, and embodiment: Learning from the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and as," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(4), pages 494-510, April.

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