Information sources at play

Abstract

Purpose -The aim of this article is to suggest that the information interaction between midwives and young women during counselling meetings about contraceptives can be approached as loci of knowledge production and discuss the consequences this has for the understanding of information practices. The overarching question is: how is knowledge produced during the interaction between the midwives and the young women and what roles do their bodies play in this interaction? Design/methodology/approach -Qualitative methods inspired by ethnography were used, including conversation transcripts of ten counselling meetings, 19 interviews and participatory observations at five youth centres in the South of Sweden. The study took place over a period of nine months. The feministic conceptual framework presented by Donna Haraway concerning knowledge production was used to analyse the material. Findings -As they meet, both midwives and young women are information sources to each other, and the information conveyed is negotiated in both words and actions. Both parties are involved in a careful negotiation to establish what information is needed and appropriate for the situation at hand, but the midwives have the final say. However, the midwives balance between exerting a generalised expertise and entering in a situated dialogue with the young women. Practical implications -This study may contribute to awareness among information professionals of counselling meetings as information interactions where both words and actions are important as well as the inequality of power in that interaction. Originality/value -This study contributes to library and information studies by broadening the understanding of what an information source may be and by exploring the usefulness of feminist researcher Donna Haraway's analytical tools for understanding information interactions as knowledge producing negotiations.

The Construction of Lay Rescuers in Bystander CPR Classes

“…This vignette illustrates the central role of bodies for how information is shaped in the interaction that the exercises entail (e.g., Rivano Eckerdal 2012). The skills that make up CPR are expected to become situated in the participants' bodies through practical exercise, and the practical exercises are to facilitate the participants' use of their own senses and bodies in several ways.…”

“…When embodiment failed, support was gained through the stories that lead to the shared agreement among participants and instructors that the important thing is to do something, even if that may not be completely in accordance with what the instructions stipulate. In LIS research several studies have accounted for how narratives, stories, or the retelling of other peoples' experiences embed information or are used implicitly or explicitly to inform (e.g., Lloyd 2007Lloyd , 2009McKenzie 2004;Rivano Eckerdal 2012). This can be conceptualized as a social modality of information that differs from other forms of information such as textual or embodied and sensory forms: stories and anecdotes convey tacit and situational information and thereby connect that which may appear to be abstract to particular localities and situations (Lloyd 2007(Lloyd , 2009.…”