Navigating ‘danger zones’: social geographies of risk and safety in teens and tweens of color information seeking

Risky (information) business: an informational risk research agenda

“…One of these strands of literature is the work of Chatman (1996), who establishes risk as a key concept that defines an impoverished lifeworld. Linking risk with whether it is worthwhile or safe to share an information need, Chatman's (1996) theoretical work has since been picked up by Gibson, Hughes-Hassell and Bowen (2021), who draw out how young people of colour use risk assessment strategies to establish where it is safe to seek or share information. Bringing a geographic focus to risk (also see Cole & Watkins, 2015), these studies appear to draw upon the sociocultural positioning of risk as something of personal value, but this conceptualisation is not made explicit.…”

“…awareness as being shaped by how near, far, or immediately at risk that people feel, for example, introduces a temporal and spatial dimension to risk perception, an idea that is also brought into view through the outlining of 'danger zones' in Gibson et al's (2021) study of information seeking among teens of colour. Similarly, the recognition that emotions play "a vital part of the body's anticipation of the moment" (Thrift, 2004, p.67) institutes a consideration of how forms of embodied knowing, such as gut feelings, shape what is perceived as risky.…”

“…Drawing from the premise that risk is shaped in relation to "frameworks of everyday lived experience" (Mythen, 2008, p.306), the emphasis on situated meaning refocuses attention on how people draw upon "culturally rooted… forms of collective, public knowledge" (Wynne, 1996, p.46) to mediate threats, including prior knowledge and embodied experience, amongst other resources (Jasanoff, 1998). Thus, Gibson et al (2021) note that teens of colour employ a variety of different information strategies to mediate "danger zones," including "testing" a potential information source for tolerance or observing adult reactions to disclosures and activities. While these activities constitute forms of information gathering, the search is concentrated on tapping into (Lloyd and Wilkinson, 2017) social and embodied forms of knowing rather than absorbing expert knowledge.…”

“…Zinn, 2016, p.351). Chatman's ideas are developed through the work of Gibson et al (2021) who note that while teens and tweens of colour may be forced to take unacceptable risk, they also develop "defensive strategies" to mitigate costs, including avoiding problematic interactions or feigning compliance. Providing a further illustration of the power imbalances that structure information spaces, the emphasis on protective information activities nonetheless draws attention to how people actively mediate challenges, unlike has often been assumed (cf.…”

“…Institutional power, for example, shapes the discursive spaces that situate people in relation to risk, while "at-risk" populations are labelled as such through reference to legitimised forms of knowledge and ways of knowing. Gibson et al (2021) have started to broach these ideas through highlighting how tweens of colour navigate risky library power structures and imbalances. Future research could build on these ideas to further trace the role that information literacy and expert knowledge plays in the surveillance and disciplining of populations, including how risk discourses enable the state to exert control over the bodies of citizens.…”