Ethical and Policy
Issues in Knowledge Organization
Systems of knowledge organizations are designed to serve
human activities. Different ways of doing this may favor some interests at the
expense of other interests. A system should be designed according to common
interests such as the cultural policy of the state or scientific interests in
freedom of inquiry. “The KOS [knowledge organization systems] imposes a
particular view of the world on a collection and the items in it.” (Hodge, 2000,
chapter 1). This makes it important to uncover and to communicate such
worldviews in order to make it possible for users to make a conscious choice and
avoid hidden ideological influences.
If only highly cited sources in the social sciences are considered in knowledge
organization, then voices from less affluent countries are suppressed (Narvaez-Berthelemot
& Russell, 2001). The Internet engines have also been shown to be biased (cf.,
Lawrence & Giles, 1999; Introna & Nissenbaum, 2000). In designing systems of
knowledge organization ethical and policy issues are central, the consideration
of kinds of bias and the consideration of the kinds of interests that the system
is going to fulfill. Some research methods and epistemologies relate to such
issues while others explicitly disregard them (cf. Hjørland, 2004).
Literature:
Hjørland, B. (2004). Social And Cultural Awareness and Responsibility in Library,
Information and Documentation Studies. IN: Aware and responsible. Edited by Boyd
Rayward, Joacim Hansson & Vesa Suominen. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. (Pp.
71-91). Available:
http://www.db.dk/bh/Social%20responsibility_ed.pdf
Hodge, G. (2000). Systems of Knowledge Organization for Digital libraries.
Beyond traditional authority files. Washington, DC : the Council on Library and
Information Resources. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub91/contents.html
Lawrence, S. & Giles, L. (1999). Accessibility and Distribution of Information
on the Web. Nature, 400, 107-109 resume:
www.wwwmetrics.com
Narvaez-Berthelemot, N. & Russell, J.M. (2001). World
distribution of social science journals: A view from the periphery.
Scientometrics, 51(1), 223-239.
Introna, L. D. & Nissenbaum, H.. (2000).Shaping the Web:
Why the Politics of Search Engines Matter. The Information Society, 16(3),
169-186.