12.4: Social Media for LGBTQ+ Studies Research

For LGBTQ+ topics, social media may be a good source of information. You might be surprised to learn that researchers, scholars, activists, and others that you might encounter during your research may also be active on social media. Blogs, Twitter, or YouTube can help you find emerging research in the field. Researchers and scholars may post presentation materials from academic conferences, scholarly journal articles, book recommendations, or critiques of other people’s research. Social media can help students and people new to an academic or professional field get to know other researchers and relevant organizations in their field. These researcher and organization accounts might also point you toward job postings, graduate programs, or conferences. Social media can also have its dark side; harassment and algorithmic bias are problems that you should be aware of if you decide to work with social media for research purposes.^[19]

Researchers can conduct basic keyword searches or tag and hashtag searches on most social media platforms. Twitter in particular has sophisticated advanced search features.^[20] Because of the many LGBTQ+ terms and abbreviations that are used, it may be necessary to repeat the hashtag search for the most comprehensive results. Conducting academic research using social media brings a unique set of challenges. Although these conversations are happening in public, they are not necessarily public statements. Think about any random conversation you have had that occurred in a public place. Would you want a researcher to quote you without your knowledge? Consider the following when using social media for research.

• What is the source of the content? The researcher should be mindful of whether they’re quoting an individual, a nonprofit organization, a for-profit organization, a news agency, a government source, or some other source. As with any source, the researcher must evaluate the source in terms of its authority on the issue at hand, potential bias, and other questions such as those found in the later “Evaluating Information Sources” section and associated resources (such as the guide from Pennsylvania State University^[21]).
• How can I use this content? Researchers should remember that not all social media networks are public. A post that appears in one researcher’s social media feeds may be viewable by only certain accounts. Even users with public social media presence may have some expectation that their posts will not be republished without their consent.^[22] If your research project will be published in a public forum where others could see this content, it is good practice to contact the creator, inform them of your research project, and ask permission to use their content. User-created content may also be protected by copyright. The University of Michigan Library provides information on what types of videos are appropriate to use for openly published research projects, as well as where to find those videos.^[23]

In addition to these more socially focused platforms, another platform with a highly social infrastructure is designed for information creation and research: Wikipedia.

Wikipedia for LGBTQ+ Studies Research

Wikipedia can serve as a starting point for research on LGBTQ+ topics. It is also a major source of information for many people, including researchers who do not have access to databases or research libraries. Let’s examine how to use Wikipedia to research LGBTQ+ topics.

An efficient way to search for LGBTQ+ content on Wikipedia is to visit the LGBT Portal. The portal compiles news related to LGBTQ+ issues and has a section for daily featured LGBTQ+ content (figure 12.4).^[24]

Figure 12.4. The LGBT Portal on Wikipedia at https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:LGBT. (CC-BY-SA Wikipedia.org.)

To evaluate the content of a Wikipedia article, you must first understand how knowledge production works on Wikipedia. Wikipedia does not publish original content. Instead, creators summarize and synthesize content already published in another venue. Wikipedia editors strive to meet certain expectations for an article.^[25] Reviewers identify articles that need editing or that they believe should be deleted, and creators can then defend the article or help improve it so that it can remain in Wikipedia. This process has its shortcomings, however. For example, articles about important yet underdocumented individuals or topics (including articles about LGBTQ+ people of color and LGBTQ+ people from non-English speaking countries) may be marked for deletion because of the lack of published information about them, despite their importance to the LGBTQ+ community or the world. For more on bias in Wikipedia (and the world), see Wikipedia’s page on systemic bias.^[26] When a relevant article exists and is identified, you must review several parts of the article to determine whether the content is appropriate for academic research. One of us, Rachel Wexelbaum, developed a subject guide on how to evaluate Wikipedia articles for research.^[27]

When you find instances of bias or underrepresentation on Wikipedia, remember that you can participate in the process! Wikipedia is a living resource that depends on global community participation and collaboration, and thus students and professors can put their LGBTQ+ studies research skills to good use by adding information to existing articles, creating articles, and improving articles that are partial starts, or stubs.

Evaluating Information Sources

Carefully consider each source that you find while researching to determine whether it adds useful, accurate information to your research. See the Penn State University Libraries guide on evaluating information and the associated rubric for more good questions to ask to determine the quality of a source.^[28]

Some specific questions may shape your evaluation of sources focused on LGBTQ+ topics:

• Is the source authoritative? Authority can derive from the author having studied the topic, but it can also come from having experience with the topic. Academic authors, even those who identify as LGBTQ+, may offer insights that are different from LGBTQ+ individuals writing in other venues. A consideration of authority will also help weed out bad-faith actors and insufficiently informed perspectives.
• Is the source biased? Although all authors are influenced by their perspectives, sometimes the strength of that viewpoint can lead to an incomplete, misleading, or untrue presentation of information. For example, information presented by the anti-LGBTQ+ group Focus on the Family or the pro-LGBTQ+ group the Human Rights Campaign may have a political agenda. When evaluating information related to LGBTQ+ issues, be sure to pay extra attention to questions related to point of view or bias.^[29]
• Is the LGBTQ+ terminology used in the source appropriate for your research? Sometimes a source will use terminology and information that is not current. Consider the scope of your topic. If you are conducting historical research, different terminology may have been in use. There is also a history of reclamation of derogatory terms by marginalized communities. Then consider whether the source was one that was likely to have been written in good faith. Is it by members of the LGBTQ+ community writing about themselves or by well-informed LGBTQ+ allies? Or is it by a group or individual that is hostile toward LGBTQ+ individuals? Historical sources require an evaluation process similar to more current sources, but you may need to conduct a little research about the particular time period before you are able to fully evaluate a historical or archival source.

All these questions will give you some idea of the relative trustworthiness of a source, although further scrutiny may of course be necessary. You may also need to go back and reevaluate your determination of accuracy as you learn more about your topic.

Biases and LGBTQ+ Information Availability

Depending on your research topic, you may retrieve multiple results that seem good enough. At the same time, you may not be able to construct a complete picture from your findings because of the overrepresentation of certain types of information and the underrepresentation of others. This will affect the LGBTQ+ information available to you, and it may result in rendering particular people, histories, cultures, or events invisible.

A wealth of LGBTQ+ studies scholarship is published in English-speaking countries, composed by people (predominantly white, cisgender, and able bodied) from those countries. These scholars have more often had the freedom, institutional support, and access to publishing platforms necessary to disseminate their research than have scholars in some other countries. Although LGBTQ+ studies is emerging as a discipline in other countries, research conducted in languages other than English often remains local. This means that the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in non-English-speaking countries often do not get heard, and information about non-English-speaking LGBTQ+ cultures may be more difficult to find. This bias is reflected in other places as well or perpetuated by Wikipedia’s practices.

Tip

Compiling and Organizing Content Retrieved from Library Catalogs and Databases

After locating helpful resources for your research, you need to store the content somewhere. You also need to organize the content so that you can transform it into a bibliography or works-cited page for your research assignment. Using a citation manager is the safest, most efficient way to save and manage research resources. Mel Johnson of the University of Maine Raymond H. Fogler Library has produced a clear subject guide on how to select and use a citation manager (https://libguides.library.umaine.edu/CitationManagers).

Search engines such as Google can be powerful tools in your search process, but the processes underlying searching online require some critique. How Google’s search algorithm works is a closely guarded secret, because Google is a company designed to create profit through services such as search. Remember that algorithms are created by people and cannot therefore be neutral; instead, they re-create human biases, which can creep into your information retrieval process. Because you do not know how the algorithm works, why an item appears higher on the results page than another is hidden from you. This is why simply looking at the first result returned by Google or by a database is not a reliable way of finding the most appropriate sources for your research. This chapter can’t fully delve into the politics of search; to learn more, read Farhad Manjoo’s article about bias in Google searches or consult Safiya Umoja Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression.^[30]

To reduce some of this bias in search results, make sure to do enough background research so that you can use several appropriate search terms and can identify results that you retrieve that are not relevant or are problematic. Use the technique of iterative searching by trying multiple searches on different platforms and perhaps even in different disciplinary databases. Finally, make sure to periodically check the assumptions that you are making about your subject matter to try to ascertain some of your own preconceptions and biases as a researcher.

Conclusion

The overview in this chapter will help you begin your research project. Through refining your topic, gathering research materials from various sources, and evaluating different pieces of information, you can begin answering the questions you developed at the beginning of your search. Researching subjects related to LGBTQ+ issues presents some unique challenges because of the fraught nature of certain topics and requires certain ethical and privacy considerations. The other chapters in this book should give you an idea of different ways that you might approach LGBTQ+ research, in addition to providing you with deeper knowledge about the topics covered.

Check Your Knowledge

Contributed by Has Arakelyan, Rio Hondo College

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Why might searching both by keyword and by subject heading in a library catalog yield better results for LGBTQ+ topics?

A) Subject headings are always outdated
B) Keyword searches only find physical books
C) Combining both methods increases the chance of finding relevant interdisciplinary resources
D) Subject headings are only used for fiction

2. What is a major challenge when using the Directory of Open Access Journals for LGBTQ+ research?

A) It only includes government documents
B) It lacks subject headings or preferred keywords specific to LGBTQ+ topics
C) It requires a university login
D) It only indexes English-language journals

3. Which of the following is a benefit of using primary sources from LGBTQ+ archives?

A) They provide firsthand accounts and perspectives, adding depth and authenticity to research
B) They are always available in full text online
C) They only document recent events
D) They eliminate the need for secondary sources

4. When searching for government information about LGBTQ+ laws in other countries, what is a recommended strategy?

A) Use the official name of the law in your search string
B) Only search in English
C) Avoid using search engines
D) Rely solely on news articles

5. What is a potential limitation of academic databases for LGBTQ+ studies?

A) They never provide abstracts
B) Access may be restricted to those with institutional credentials
C) They only include books, not articles
D) They do not use any subject headings

Multiple-Choice Questions

Why might searching both by keyword and by subject heading in a library catalog yield better results for LGBTQ+ topics?

A) Subject headings are always outdated
B) Keyword searches only find physical books
C) Combining both methods increases the chance of finding relevant interdisciplinary resources
D) Subject headings are only used for fiction
Answer: C) Combining both methods increases the chance of finding relevant interdisciplinary resources

What is a major challenge when using the Directory of Open Access Journals for LGBTQ+ research?

A) It only includes government documents
B) It lacks subject headings or preferred keywords specific to LGBTQ+ topics
C) It requires a university login
D) It only indexes English-language journals
Answer: B) It lacks subject headings or preferred keywords specific to LGBTQ+ topics

Which of the following is a benefit of using primary sources from LGBTQ+ archives?

A) They provide firsthand accounts and perspectives, adding depth and authenticity to research
B) They are always available in full text online
C) They only document recent events
D) They eliminate the need for secondary sources
Answer: A) They provide firsthand accounts and perspectives, adding depth and authenticity to research

When searching for government information about LGBTQ+ laws in other countries, what is a recommended strategy?

A) Use the official name of the law in your search string
B) Only search in English
C) Avoid using search engines
D) Rely solely on news articles
Answer: A) Use the official name of the law in your search string

What is a potential limitation of academic databases for LGBTQ+ studies?

A) They never provide abstracts
B) Access may be restricted to those with institutional credentials
C) They only include books, not articles
D) They do not use any subject headings
Answer: B) Access may be restricted to those with institutional credentials

1. How do library classification systems and subject headings influence the visibility and accessibility of LGBTQ+ materials?
2. What are the ethical considerations when using social media posts or user-generated content in academic LGBTQ+ research?
3. In what ways do government documents and primary sources contribute to a deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ histories and legal issues?
4. Discuss the impact of language barriers and local publishing practices on the global representation of LGBTQ+ communities in research.
5. How can researchers critically evaluate the authority, bias, and relevance of sources when navigating interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ studies?

Multiple-Choice Questions - Answer Key

1. C) Combining both methods (by keyword and by subject heading) increases the chance of finding relevant interdisciplinary resources
2. B) It (the Directory of Open Access Journals) lacks subject headings or preferred keywords specific to LGBTQ+ topics
3. A) They (primary sources) provide firsthand accounts and perspectives, adding depth and authenticity to research
4. A) Use the official name of the law in your search string (when searching for government information about LGBTQ+ laws in other countries)
5. B) Access may be restricted to those with institutional credentials (a potential limitation of academic databases for LGBTQ+ studies)