A Queer Eye for the Faceted Guy: How a Universal Classification Principle can be Applied to a Distin

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A Queer Eye for the Faceted GuyHow a Universal
Classification Principle can be Applied to a
Distinct Subculture

• D. Grant Campbell
• Faculty of Information and Media Studies
• University of Western Ontario
• International Society for Knowledge Organization
• London, UK July, 2004

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Acknowledgements

• Financial support for this project was provided
  by the Faculty of Information and Media Studies,
  University of Western Ontario
• Research assistance was provided by Robin Hepher
  and Sarah-Katherine Coombs, MLIS students, and
  Barbara Wolfe, Ph.D. student, University of
  Western Ontario
• The generosity of my study participants

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Google Directory
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Epicureous
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Research Questions

• How do gay and lesbian information users
  categorize themselves, their identities and their
  information tasks?
• How could these categories be used at the level
  of website and search tool design to improve
  access to information relevant to gay and lesbian
  communities?

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Study Participants

• 10 men, 10 women
• All over 30
• Resident in either London, Ontario or Toronto,
  Ontario
• Open-ended qualitative interviews lasting
  approximately 45 minutes

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Gay Spaces

• I remember going to the Glad Day Bookstore
  for the first time as well. Which was a really
  great step, I felt, at the time at the time
  there were alternate exits that you could use to
  get out . . .
• Steve

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Gay as Facet

• whether I buy the brake caliper at Canadian Tire
  or Nappa Parts is, is immaterial. The fact that
  Im gay is immaterial but, if it was a gay, if I
  wanted to look up gay car clubs that would be a
  different thing. Fred

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Gay Types
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Gay Parts
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Gay as Process

• Stages of the Life Cycle (DDC 751.8)
• Birth and infancy
• Puberty
• Attainment of majority
• Courtship and engagement
• Wedding and marriage
• Dying and death

Coming Out?
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Gay Space
Vancouver
Toronto
New York
Provincetown
San Francisco
Key West
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Gay Time

• Pre-Stonewall vs. Post-Stonewall
• Pre-AIDS vs. AIDS
• Nostalgia

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Ideas? Suggestions?

• Grant Campbell
• Faculty of Information and Media Studies
• gcampbel_at_uwo.ca