INFORMATION ANXIETY AND TRANSGENDER PEOPLE

A PROPOSAL FOR A RESEARCH AGENDA

Abstract

Brazilian Information Science (IS), throughout its epistemological development, has moved beyond technical-instrumental paradigms to address socially contextualized information issues. Within this movement, it has expanded its attention to the growth of information flows and the critical appropriation of knowledge production in the field of information and health, encompassing studies on anxiety arising both from the overabundance of data and information and from the insufficiency of consistent and reliable content. In this context, Information Anxiety emerges as a relevant phenomenon, particularly when analyzed among populations subjected to structural processes of exclusion and vulnerability. Considering the specificities of the information experiences of transgender people, marked by cisnormative logics, statistical invisibility, information gaps, and barriers to information access, this study is guided by the following question: how can Information Science contribute to the development of a scientific research agenda on Information Anxiety among transgender people? The objective is to investigate the application of scientific frameworks from Information Science to the construction of such an agenda. Methodologically, the study is grounded in the quadripolar methodology, articulating the epistemological, theoretical, technical, and morphological poles. As a result, a research agenda structured around four thematic axes is proposed, aimed at developing theoretical, methodological, and empirical studies on Information Anxiety and the information experiences of transgender people.