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Affective dimensions in the information behavior of forcibly displaced people: A literature review. An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper

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Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

Published online on

Abstract

["Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract\nThis review analyzed 241 scholarly articles published between 2010 and 2025 in information science venues to examine how affect shapes refugees' information behavior during forced migration and to identify additional contextual factors. It identifies seven affective dimensions: anxiety, shame and stigma, grief and loss, frustration, (mis)trust, (loss of) control, and (not) belonging. It outlines related information practices, including calibration, collective or selective practices, personal information management, language‐ and design‐adaptive navigation, mapping, and digital wandering. Refugees' information behavior is shaped by fractured information landscapes, situational information triggers (e.g., policy changes, deadlines, and health crises), information mediators (technologies, people, and institutions), and the forms information takes, from tangible records to intangible memories. The review shows that affect is not incidental but a central force that guides, amplifies, or inhibits how information is sought, used, or avoided in refugees' lives. It also contributes a framework that positions affect at the heart of refugee information practices in contexts of forced displacement and highlights implications for information system design, services, and policies that are linguistically accessible, trauma‐informed, and responsive to urgent, trigger‐driven needs.\n"]