Old friend, new beginning: re-domesticating the outdated ICTs for biographical reconstruction among PLH in China

While HIV infections can disrupt people's biographical records, individuals living with HIV (PLH) now have the ability to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to maintain biographical continuity and participate in the digital world. Drawing on biographical disruption theory and re-domestication theory, this study examines how PLH have repurposed outdated ICTs, particularly QQ groups, a platform originally not designed for them, to manage their disease identity and maintain a sense of normalcy. Through a ten-month online ethnographic analysis of 340 PLH and in-depth interviews with 17 PLH, we found that PLH selectively and rationally chose to re-appropriate QQ groups as a supplementary tool to cope with the precarities they face. This re-integration of QQ groups shaped their values and coping strategies for living with the disease. QQ groups have been re-objectified as transitional objects since their usage may also decrease as PLH's identity reconstruction is accomplished. By leveraging QQ groups as a non-institutional support, PLH were able to navigate positive life transformations and reconfigurations of social order. In addition to enriching our comprehension of marginalized individuals' media practices for digital inclusion, this research proposes four propositions to enhance our understanding of re-domestication theory.