How It Works

The Topics Tags in the database represent three things: (1) conditions or experiences, (2) treatments or approaches, and (3) social categories. Conditions and experiences might include chronic illness, HIV/AIDS, substance use. Some examples of treatments or approaches include harm reduction, narrative medicine, birth advocacy. Finally, social categories represent markers such as LGBTQIA2+, unhoused or BIPOC.

The purpose of Topics Tags is to filter resources more specifically to the user’s interests and needs. For example, one can use these tags to more easily identify readings focused on harm reduction for substance use in the unhoused community.

Where the Topics Tags represent conditions, treatment approaches and social categories, the Structural Frameworks identify the larger surroundings within which these topics are placed. Broadly speaking, these frameworks represent systems-wide issues (like oppression, discrimination, etc.) as well as the justice-seeking responses to these issues.

Using Structural Frameworks allows for the users of our database to see connections across resources, even when their topics diverge. For example, Ableism & Disability Justice organizes all of the resources from the database that exist within the scope of ableist systems of oppression and disability justice schemes. Some of these resources may focus on the effects of racial discrimination on disabled people of color while others focus more specifically on gender-based violence for disabled trans and non-binary folks. While the topics may not align, they still share the same context of ableism and disability justice.

The Resource Type tag in the database can be used to identify specific formats. Some examples include: articles, videos, podcast episodes, primers/toolkits, and websites.