Tag analysis as a tool for investigating information behaviour: comparing fan-tagging on Tumblr, Archive of Our Own and Etsy

Purpose

This article describes the third part of a three-stage study investigating the information behaviour of fans and fan communities, the first stage of which is described in the study by Price and Robinson (2017).

Design/methodology/approach

Using tag analysis as a method, a comparative case study was undertaken to explore three aspects of fan information behaviour: information gatekeeping; classifying and tagging and entrepreneurship and economic activity. The case studies took place on three sites used by fans–Tumblr, Archive of Our Own (AO3) and Etsy. Supplementary semi-structured interviews with site users were used to augment the findings with qualitative data.

Findings

These showed that fans used tags in a variety of ways quite apart from classification purposes. These included tags being used on Tumblr as meta-commentary and a means of dialogue between users, as well as expressors of emotion and affect towards posts. On AO3 in particular, fans had developed a practice called “tag wrangling” to mitigate the inherent “messiness” of tagging. Evidence was also found of a “hybrid market economy” on Etsy fan stores. From the study findings, a taxonomy of fan-related tags was developed.

Research limitations/implications

Findings are limited to the tagging practices on only three sites used by fans during Spring 2016, and further research on other similar sites are recommended. Longitudinal studies of these sites would be beneficial in understanding how or whether tagging practices change over time. Testing of the fan-tag taxonomy developed in this paper is also recommended.

Originality/value

This research develops a method for using tag analysis to describe information behaviour. It also develops a fan-tag taxonomy, which may be used in future research on the tagging practices of fans, which heretofore have been a little-studied section of serious leisure information users.

“Write the story you want to read”: world-queering through slash fanfiction creation

Purpose

This pilot study explores how queer slash fanfiction writers reorient cis/heteronormative entertainment media (EM) content to create queer information worlds.

Design/methodology/approach

Constructivist grounded theory was employed to explore queer individuals' slash fanfiction reading and creation practices. Slash fanfiction refers to fan-written texts that recast cis/heteronormative content with queer characters, relationships, and themes. Theoretical sampling drove ten semi-structured interviews with queer slash writers and content analysis of both Captain America slash and material features found on two online fanfiction platforms, Archive of Our Own and fanfiction.net. “Queer” serves as a theoretical lens through which to explore non-cis/heteronormative perspectives on gender and sexuality.

Findings

Participants' interactions with and creation of slash fanfiction constitute world-queering practices wherein individuals reorient cis/heteronormative content, design systems, and form community while developing their identities over time. Findings suggest ways that queer creators respond to, challenge, and reorient cis/heteronormative narratives perpetuated by EM and other information sources, as well as ways their practices are constrained by structural power dynamics.

Research limitations/implications

This initial data collection only begins to explore the topic with ten interviews. The participant sample lacks racial diversity while the content sample focuses on one fandom. However, results suggest future directions for theoretical sampling that will continue to advance constructs developed from the data.

Originality/value

This research contributes to evolving perspectives on information creation and queer individuals' information practices. In particular, findings expand theoretical frameworks related to small worlds and ways in which members of marginalized populations grapple with exclusionary normativity.

Review of the Delphi method in library and information science research

Purpose

This article presents an introduction to the Delphi method and review of Delphi studies published in the literature of library and information science (LIS).

Design/methodology/approach

A review of Delphi studies published between the years of 1971 and 2019 is performed, using studies retrieved from the Library and Information Science Source database. A total of 122 articles were retrieved and evaluated based on the population studied, means of identifying experts, number of participants for each study round, type of Delphi, and type of findings.

Findings

General librarians (any type), academic librarians, and information science researchers are the most common populations in LIS Delphi studies. On average (middle 50 percent of studies), 14–36 experts are used in the first round of LIS Delphi studies (median n = 23). Employment in a specific role and publications in scholarly journals are the most common means of identifying experts. Variants of the e-Delphi (online survey/email) method are increasingly common, particularly in LIS Delphi studies that focus on general information science, rather than library, topics. Though LIS Delphi studies are relatively few in number, they have a consistent record of being published in some of the most prestigious LIS journals.

Originality/value

This paper provides an introduction to the Delphi method for LIS research and presents an overview of existing literature in LIS that utilizes the research method. No overview of this extent exists in the LIS literature, and, thus, this paper may serve as an important information source about the method for LIS researchers.

Information repertoires: media use patterns in various gratification contexts

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify prominent patterns of media use across six media (e.g. television, social media, public libraries) and four gratification contexts (e.g. studying, leisure activities), and second, to investigate whether media use patterns vary with six individual characteristics by introducing the construct of information repertoire.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by 811 adult internet users in the USA. Latent class analysis (LCA), including latent class regression, was performed to analyse the data.

Findings

The study found eight information repertoire profiles. The user characteristics associated with each profile, such as age, race and ethnicity, were identified. The profile with the most respondents was characterised by heavy use of TV and the internet for everyday leisure activities. Overall, the eight profiles do not show exclusive use of one or two media (such as a power-law pattern). However, the profiles do exhibit patterned behaviour, in which respondents use the same configuration of media in two or more gratification contexts. These findings suggest some level of gratification-based heuristic in media selection and use when respondents face contexts they deem to be similar.

Originality/value

In conceptual development, the study introduced the construct of information repertoire to capture media use profiles that account for multiple media use across multiple contexts. Methodologically, less-used LCA was applied, which allowed combining the 24 variables (6 media×4 gratification contexts) and the six demographic covariates in a single, unified analysis.