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ABSTRACT
Social media has become an almost ubiquitous method of communication and engagement, not only in the information sector but right across the increasingly digitalized world. Likewise, it has played a large role in the development of fourth-wave feminism and in movements such as #YesAllWomen, #FreeTheNipple and #MeToo, as well as in calls for improvements to the representation of gender in media. This paper draws together both aspects in order to critique and reflect upon the current usage of social media as it pertains to the representation of gender in UK university libraries, archives and special collections. It explores the challenges of utilizing such media for academic institutions deeply rooted in discourses of authority and heteronormative patriarchal power. It uses a sample of social media posts to foreground and examine a number of successes and shortcomings, with discussions informed by critical theory. In particular, foundational texts of feminist theory, such as Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Black Looks: Race And Representation (1992) by bell hooks, are used to frame explorations of gender and intersectionality in university collections; ultimately seeking to discover how information professionals may better represent the diverse nature of their collections on social media platforms.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 41.
2. Brayman Hackel, Reading Material, 2.
3. Recommended further reading on representation in the sector: Gabiola et al., “It’s a Trap.”
4. Recommended further reading on the feminization of archival work: Lapp, “Handmaidens of History.”
5. Derrida, Specters of Marx, 1.
6. Recommended further reading on ‘specters’ and ‘ghosts’ in the archive: Ghaddar, “The Spectre in the Archive;” Harris, Ghosts of Archive.
7. Ibid.
8. Something akin to silent movies, regarded by many as a fad in the early 1900s. Biagi, Media Impact, 191.
9. Deodato, “Overhyped Fad or Missed Opportunity?”, 4.
10. O’Reilly, “What Is Web 2.0.”
11. Ibid.
12. Theimer, “What Is the Meaning,” 5.
13. Prensky, ”Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” 2. The phrase ‘Digital natives’ was originally coined by Prensky in 2001. Due to the racialized imagery it creates, it is now widely considered a problematic term.
14. Deodato, “Overhyped Fad or Missed Opportunity?”, 2.
15. Maness, “Library 2.0 Theory.”
16. Deodato, “Overhyped Fad or Missed Opportunity?”, 2.
17. Chu and Meulemans, “The Problems and Potential,” 84.
18. Koszary, “The Bodleian Libraries and Social Media,” 88.
19. Thornton, “Is Your Academic Library Pinning?,” 174.
20. Ibid.
21. Solomon, The Librarian’s Nitty-Gritty Guide, 38.
22. Chatten, “Making Social Media Work,” 51.
23. Carstensen, “Gender and Social Media,” 483.
24. Kim, “Gender Role,” 5.
25. Kadar, Working in Women’s Archives, 7.
26. Ibid.
27. Koevoets and de Jong, Teaching Gender, 1.
28. Haskins, “Between Archive and Participation,” 402.
29. Ibid.
30. Recommended further reading: Foucault, Archaeology of Knowledge for discussions on institutions, the promulgation and preservation of power. Huyssen, Present Pasts for discussions of information sector institutions that admitted women, workers, racial minorities and young people at a slower rate than they were admitted to educational institutions.
31. Lerner, The Creation of Feminist Consciousness, 248.
32. Ibid.
33. Voss-Hubbard, “No Document — No History,” 17.
34. Mason and Zanish-Belcher, “A Room Of One’s Own,” 38.
35. Mary Beard to Elsie Yellis, 16 May 1938, Mary Beard Papers, SCH. Quoted in Voss-Hubbard, “No Document — No History,” 30.
36. British Library, “Women and Gender Studies.”
37. LGBT History Month, “Scotland.”
38. UK Parliament, “Living Heritage.”
39. Cifor and Wood, “Critical Feminism in the Archives,” 8.
40. Enriching contemporary understanding also. Consider the shift in power that would come from greater representation of the records of women of colour, mothers, migrant-workers, start-up executives, protesters, sex-workers and farmers, writes Malkmus, “Review of Perspectives on Women’s Archives,” 578. Addressing the erasure of these records is crucial, to avoid representing a falsely ‘universal’ experience of womanhood.
41. Burkhardt, “Social Media,” 19.
42. See note 22 above.
43. Pffefferle, “Museum Social Media Categories?”
44. Kidd, “Enacting Engagement Online,” 68.
45. Richardson, “Creating a Social Media Plan.”
46. Ibid.
47. Arthur, “Engaging Collections and Communities,” 6.
48. Henning, Museums, Media and Cultural Theory, 37.
49. Ibid.
50. See note 44 above.
51. Ibid.
52. hooks, Black Looks, 15.
53. Rendón and Nicolas, “Deconstructing the Portrayals,” 228.
54. Lee, “Black Twitter,” 12.
55. Ibid.
56. Potter and Banaji, “Social Media and Self-curatorship,” 89.
57. See note 54 above.
58. hooks, “Choosing the Margin,” 23.
59. Plant, “On the Matrix,” 325.
60. See note 33 above.
61. Crisp, “A Feminist Endeavour,” 7.
62. Ibid.
63. Del Rio, “That Women Could Matter,” 18.
64. Ibid.
65. Herring and Paolillo, “Gender and Genre Variation in Weblogs,” 441.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Matfield, “About this Tool.”
70. Gaucher, Friesen and Kay, “Evidence That Gendered Wording,” 122.
71. See note 69 above.
72. Ibid.
73. Jacobsen, “The Wired Generation,” 129.
74. Deodato, “Overhyped Fad or Missed Opportunity?,” 22.
75. Ibid.
77. Speed, “Mobile Ouija Boards,” 179.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gabrielle Bex
Gabrielle Bex graduated with an MSc in Information Management and Preservation from the University of Glasgow in 2018. Accredited by ARA and CILIP, she now works as the Senior Officer for Vital Records at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.