Open Collections

Abstract

This dissertation centers on understanding and fixing the persistent and wicked problem of marginalization in systems. I do this by examining the “power to name” utilized by cultural heritage institutions (like Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums & Special Collections; GLAMS) and informational infrastructures (like databases, psychological schema, or social media platforms). As systems are defined by boundaries, the act of naming or labelling people, places, and things in these Knowledge Organization Systems (KOSes) produces marginalizations and exclusions. I undertake a comprehensive analysis to understand how a century of literature and efforts aimed at addressing these issues have partially, piecemeal, or totally failed. In response, I develop a three-pronged project combining (1) historical analysis, (2) qualitative, and (3) participatory action research across three temporal dimensions: - Historical: To document how the seemingly-neutral organization of knowledge can shape the most private and personal aspects of identity, I researched (RQ1) how the organization of knowledge in sexology shaped queer individuals and communities; and (RQ1a), acknowledging their oversized impacts, examined the roles Alfred C. Kinsey and the Kinsey Institute played, in order to demonstrate how Western society came to “see like a system.” - Contemporary: To document present-day harms of this system and best practices for addressing or ameliorating them, I undertook the largest qualitative research study of marginalized knowledge workers in order to understand how they see their role as users, maintainers, and developers of marginalizing KOSes and what the similarities and differences were in their responses to systems? (RQ2a) - Future-Facing: Finally, to put these practices into action and to move forward in an ethical, equitable, and just manner, I developed community-based participatory interventions into those systems by the people most harmed by them, examining how we might revise, repair, or redevelop them. (RQ2b) These interventions include the (1) Name Change Policy Working Group, which pushed publishers to introduce of name change policies across thousands of publications; the (2) Trans and (3) Queer Metadata Collectives, which engaged hundreds of knowledge workers (≈100 TMDC; ≈1000 QMDC) to improve marginalized metadata; and (4) establishment of the Homosaurus Collective, a vocabulary developed by and for the queer community.