Knowledge organization consists of systems and processes applied for the description, representation, and organization of entities (analogue or digital) as well as intangible phenomena (concepts, rituals, etc.). Systems for this application can include rules and standards such as classification systems, subject headings, and other metadata; processes include acts of indexing, classifying and so on. But instrumental as these practices and devices may be, they are never wholly objective nor neutral. They represent both a standpoint and –perhaps more significantly – an authority. The act of describing, the established norms of description, are therefore inherently interwoven with power-structures: power over the objects, the collection objects are a part of, the memory and history they embody, power over stakeholders of said objects, and of the institution housing them.
Critical Knowledge Organization (CKO) focuses on the power-structures and power-dynamics manifested across cultural collections through the ordering systems and processes imposed upon them. Across numerous situations and contexts, we explore how this power is expressed and responded to. CKO tackles the question of how:
- How are LGBTQ+ materials usually indexed in mainstream standards like the library classification system? What are the cultural consequences? What are potential counter-strategies? What are the ethical implications of this visibility?
- How do colonial legacies continue to shape access and understanding of indigenous heritage? What alternative approaches have been adopted to confront this? How do these vary across different indigenous groups (e.g., Sami, Brazilian, North American)?
- Do advances in technology (social media, semantic web, artificial intelligence) reproduce or challenge pre-existing biases in how cultural collections are represented?
- How is the post-custodial turn in archives reflected in how collections are organized?
Critical Knowledge Organization brings together various critical engagements across fields such as Library and Information Science, Digital Humanities, History, Film and Literature, to learn from one another of these variegated intersections of knowledge and power. The research groups promotes knowledge sharing among the CKO community at Linnaeus and beyond.
Research
Current research projects
Staff