Information Under the Skin: Information Experience of Tattooed People

The Tattoo and Information research project explores the information experience of people with tattoos. The central premise of the project is that people experience complex engagement with information during all stages of the tattoo process. Many people enjoy having tattoos and consider them not just aesthetic expressions of their tastes and interests, but also an expression of their identities.

Tattoos present information on the skin that people interact with and experience daily. A deeper understanding of the meaning, value and experience of tattoos can provide valuable insights to individuals wanting to get a tattoo, tattoo artists and those who wish to preserve tattoo images as part of cultural heritage.

The project has yielded rich, complex data on how people experience information in various stages of tattoo acquisition, from ideation and image creation, through the process of being tattooed, to sharing information and ongoing experience of information through tattoos in a daily context. Three aspects will be the focus of this presentation: information needs, information creation and literacies that support the tattoo experience.

Jennifer Campbell-Meier holds a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University and a PhD in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawai’i. She has taught in the areas of information services, project management and technology at the University of Hawai’i, the University of British Columbia, the University of Alabama and Victoria University of Wellington. Her research focuses on three primary areas: digital inclusion, information behavior and library and information science (LIS) professional development. Her research is unified by her commitment to develop LIS professionals capable of engaging with communities and instilling life-long information literacy practices to support critical evaluation of information.