“Lo-Fi to Hi-Fi”: A New Metadata Approach in the Third World with the eGranary Digital Library / Deborah Maron, Cliff Missen, and Jane Greenberg
Digital information can bridge age-old gaps in access to information in traditionally underserved areas of the world. However, for those unfamiliar with abundant e-resources, their early exposure to the digital world can be like “drinking from a fire hose.” For these audiences, abundant metadata and findability, along with easy-to-use interfaces, are key to their early…
Read MoreDewey deracialized: A critical race-theoretic perspective / Jonathan Furner
Critical race theory is introduced as a potentially useful approach to the evaluation of bibliographic classification schemes. An overview is presented of the essential elements of critical race theory, including clarifications of the meanings of some important terms such as “race” and “social justice.” On the basis of a review of existing conceptions of the…
Read MoreBias in subject access standards: A content analysis of the critical literature / Hope Olson and Rose Schlegl
This paper reports the results of a content analysis of the literature on biases in classification and subject headings. This study gathers 93 works documenting biases of gender, sexuality, race, age, ability, ethnicity, nationality, language, and religion with the goals of: 1) identifying existing research and experience on subject access for marginalized groups and marginalized…
Read MoreAnother Word for ‘Illegal Alien’ at the Library of Congress: Contentious / Jasmine Aguilera
Melissa Padilla joined with Dartmouth students at the Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and Dreamers, and they have spent more than two years petitioning the Library of Congress to remove “illegal alien” from its subject headings. [zotpress items=”{1341761:MVVAZTX7}” style=”chicago-author-date”]
Read MoreAccidental Discovery, Intentional Inquiry: Leveraging Linked Data to Uncover the Women of Jazz / Christina Patuelli, Karen Hwang, Matthew Miller
In this article we discuss the heuristic capabilities that the process of generating, processing, and integrating cultural heritage linked data may afford, including its potential for enhancing arts and humanities research. More specifically, we report on our current work on detecting and assigning gender properties to person entities and semantically enriching a set of Linked…
Read MoreIntroducing Documenting the Now / Ed Summers
In this introduction to Documenting the Now collaborative project, Summers provides background about the urgency and need for this type of open source application, especially for the Black community. He outlines two main goals of the DocNow project: 1) Create an open source app “that will allow researchers and archivists to easily collect, analyze, and…
Read Moreeverwhere, every when / Bethany Nowviskie
Nowviskie begins this talk by asking the question “where and when do Black lives matter?” in information sciences; she looks at Afropolitanism (space) and Afrofuturism (time), focusing on Afrofuturism; it is “self-possessed” and centers around the past, present, and future of blackness and locating/telling stories of the future while never forgetting the past. She advocates…
Read MoreNational Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Repatriation Policy
“Repatriation is the process whereby specific kinds of American Indian cultural items in a museum collection are returned to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Alaska Native clans or villages, and/or Native Hawaiian organizations.” Repatriation at the NMAI is a uniquely proactive and collaborative process. Working closely with Native peoples and communities, the NMAI…
Read MoreWhy Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation / Tara McPherson
McPherson reflects on two experiences that reflect the disconnect between digital humanities and other modes of inquiry around race, gender, class, etc; instead of focusing on how to rupture oppressive infrastructures, conversations around tool-building and coding focused on how to build infrastructure. The answer to why the digital humanities are so white lies in this…
Read MoreTo Hell With Good Intentions: Linked Data, Community and the Power to Name / Mark A. Matienzo
Matienzo explores the argument that metadata, archiving, and linked data are never neutral; naming holds power and can reinforce problematic narratives about gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and more. He specifically challenges the myth about linked data as completely accessible and democratic; linked data can harm the communities which are mis- or under-represented, especially because corporations…
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