The organization of knowledge : caught between global structures and local meaning

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Where to find it

Information & Library Science Library

Call Number
Z666.5 .O75 2017
Status
Available

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Summary

This book critically examines the organization of knowledge as it is involved in matters of digital communication, the social, cultural and political consequences of classifying, and how particular historical contexts shape ideas of information and what information to classify and record. Due to permeation of digital infrastructures, software, and digital media in everyday life, many aspects of contemporary culture and society are infused with the activity and practice of classification. That means that old questions about classification have their potency in modern discourses about surveillance, identify formation, big data and so on. At the same time, this situation also implies a need to reconsider these old questions and how to frame them in digital culture. This book contains contributions that consider classic library classification practices and how their choices have social, cultural and political effect, how the organization of knowledge is not only a professional practice but is also a way of communicating and understanding digital culture, and how what a particular historical context perceives as information has implications for the recording of that information.

Contents

  • List of Contributors p. ix
  • Introduction p. xi
  • 1 Genre, Organized Knowledge, and Communicative Action in Digital Culture p. 1
  • 1.1 Introduction p. 2
  • 1.2 The Everyday Organization of Knowledge and Communication in Digital Culture p. 3
  • 1.3 Genre: Understanding Local Communicative Interactions and Social Structure p. 5
  • 1.4 Search Engines and Communicative Actions p. 6
  • 1.5 Algorithms: Between Communication and Culture p. 8
  • 1.6 Databases: The Ordering of Culture and Society p. 9
  • 1.7 The Organization of Knowledge as Analytical Concept in Digital Culture p. 10
  • 1.8 The Organization of Knowledge as a Genre in Digital Culture p. 12
  • 1.9 Conclusion p. 14
  • References p. 14
  • 2 Information Cultures: Shapes and Shapings of Information p. 17
  • 2.1 Unraveling Notions of Information Cultures p. 19
  • 2.2 An Absolutist Culture of Information: Denmark at the Turn of the 18th Century p. 22
  • 2.2.1 Secret Information and Information Control p. 23
  • 2.2.2 A Vertical Information Landscape p. 27
  • 2.3 Concluding Remarks p. 28
  • References p. 29
  • 3 The (De-)Universalization of the United States: Inscribing Maori History in the Library of Congress Classification p. 33
  • 3.1 The Catalog as Historical Record p. 36
  • 3.2 Organizing History p. 37
  • 3.2.1 Exporting History p. 39
  • 3.3 Classification and Decolonization of Maori Subjects p. 42
  • 3.4 Conclusion p. 48
  • References p. 48
  • 4 Reader-Interest Classifications: Local Classifications or Global Industry Interest? p. 51
  • 4.1 Introduction p. 52
  • 4.2 Reader-Interest classification Definition and Characteristics p. 53
  • 4.3 The Design of Reader-Interest Classifications p. 54
  • 4.4 Reader-Interest Classifications Alleged Advantages p. 55
  • 4.4.1 Meeting the User's Need by Gathering Materials of Interest: The Distributed Relatives p. 55
  • 4.4.2 Flexibility and Shelf Arrangement of Reader-Interest Classifications p. 57
  • 4.4.3 More Adequate Browsing and Increase of Circulation in Reader-Interest Classifications p. 58
  • 4.5 Reader-Interest Classifications Shortcomings p. 58
  • 4.5.1 The "Other" Distributed Relatives and the Singular Reader p. 58
  • 4.5.2 The Quality and Nature of Categories p. 61
  • 4.5.3 The Problem of Using a Unique Classification System to Reclassify Stock p. 62
  • 4.5.4 The Tension between Standardization and Local Adaptations p. 64
  • 4.6 Reader-Interest Classifications Today: A Global Industry Interest? p. 65
  • References p. 68
  • 5 Knowledge Representation of Photographic Documents: A Case Study at the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil) p. 71
  • 5.1 Introduction p. 72
  • 5.2 Institutional Memory and Knowledge Representation of Photos p. 74
  • 5.3 Knowledge Representation of Photos at Federal University of Pernambuco p. 81
  • 5.4 Conclusion p. 85
  • Preferences p. 86
  • 6 Slanted Knowledge Organization as a New Ethical Perspective p. 87
  • 6.1 Introduction p. 88
  • 6.2 KO as a Dynamic Field p. 89
  • 6.2.1 The Epistemological Perspective in KO p. 90
  • 6.2.2 The Cultural Perspective in KO p. 92
  • 6.3 KO as a Slanted Vivid p. 94
  • 6.4 Time and Space as Axes for a Slanted KO p. 95
  • 6.4.1 Conceptual Dimension of KO Slants p. 96
  • 6.4.2 Terminological Dimension of KO Slants p. 97
  • 6.5 Conclusion p. 98
  • References p. 99
  • About the Editors p. 103
  • Index p. 105

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