My world can be a juxtaposition of social issues and technological insights. Once in a great while, those two worlds collide. This interesting topic came to us from Project Muse in their paper, “Race and Ethnicity in Classification Systems: Teaching Knowledge Organization from a Social Justice Perspective.”
Classification and the organization of information are directly connected to issues surrounding social justice, diversity, and inclusion. This paper by Melissa Adler and Lindsey M. Harper is written from the standpoint that political and epistemological aspects of knowledge organization are fundamental to research and practice. The key to any social justice reformation is systemic changes. This paper addresses that approach through academia.
It may surprise some to know that it wasn’t until 2016 when Dr. Carla D. Hayden, the first woman and first African American, was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress. Just like the election of the first African American President of the United States of America, it did not signal a post-racial culture. But both had significant impacts on the system.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
