This blog entry by FIS classification prof Jens Erik Mai regarding the POPLINE controversy makes an important philosophical comment about classification in general.
Quote from Jens Erik’s entry:
Classifications are political instruments… all classifications make epistemological, ethical, and political statements; there is nothing new to this. The library blogshere seems to argue that POPLINE’s move is unprecedented and unacceptable… get a grip; what is the ethical assumption behind Dewey’s religion section? I don’t see any ethical justification in the introduction to LCSH…
While blocking a search term was an obvious misuse of what Hope Olson refers to as “the power to name”, this situation begs the question of how we decide what terms are included in classification schemes in the first place, and how we navigate who has a say in describing research documents. While the Harper and Bush governments are making the politics of information more obvious, the professional can take advantage of the controversies to give these kinds of issues in classification a higher profile in professional discourse.
How we construct subjects: A feminist analysis. Hope Olson.
List of Hope Olson’s Publications.
Participatory Appraisal and Arrangement for Multicultural Archival Collections, Katie Shilton and Ramesh Srinivasan