Centered and decentered: toward a knowledge organization perspective on social reality
| Date | 28 February 2023 |
| Pages | 1209-1219 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2022-0231 |
| Published date | 28 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Jack Andersen |
Centered and decentered: toward a
knowledge organization
perspective on social reality
Jack Andersen
Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose is to offer a discussion of how we can conceive of the organization of knowledge in
digital culture and its changing nature. The article proposes to view of it as both a decentered (communicative)
and centered (analytical gaze).
Design/methodology/approach –This study involves comparative analysis and discussion.
Findings–The analysisand discussion argue for the two positions of the organization of knowledge and point
to how and what we can understand about features of digital culture’s collection practices.
Originality/value –The originalityof this article is the conceptualization of the organization of knowledge as
both a decentered and centered practice in digital culture, from which is developed a particular knowledge
organization perspective on social reality.
Keywords Culture, Classification, Archiving, Knowledge organization, Communication, Digital media,
TAGGING
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
It has long been assumed that information professionals occupied a privileged position in the
business of organizing knowledge, but a look at the outside world pervaded by digital media
suggests otherwise. In modern digital culture, people quite habitually share, tag, query,
archive, or link to other items as part of their engagement with digital media. What people are
doing is using the means and modes of knowledge organization to get around and grasp
digital communication. US media and communications scholar Benjamin Peters cogently
suggests, “the English-speaking world has begun talking in the lexicon of information
science”as we all catalog, categorize, classify, collect, communicate, and cultivate information
(Peters, 2016, p. xxii). Following this sentiment, we can say that the organization of
knowledge is ordinary and decentered: It is a social and cultural practice (Andersen, 2015,
2017a,2017b,2022). Because of digital media saturation, and the fact that digital media are, to
a very large extent, media in the business of data processing (Peters, 2015) or are always
search and archival media (Ernst, 2013;Finnemann, 2014) dependent on arranging, ordering,
storing, and inscription as their raison d’^
etre, we can also say that the organization of
knowledge is taking a central place in understanding communication in digital culture. This
approach leads to a particular analytical gaze for examining and understanding modes of
digital communicative actions. Using these two observations (practice and the analytical
gaze) we can leverage the organization of knowledge as at one and the same time both
decentered and centered in digital culture.
Although itmay sound trivial to suggest theorganization of knowledgeas decentered and
centered, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over the social, cultural and political
implicationsof digital collectionpractices (Andrejevic, 2020). Together, thesetwo observations
challengesome common understandingsabout how to conceiveof and conceptualize practices
Centered and
decentered
1209
The article is a revised and enlarged version of a keynote speech given at the CoLIS 11 conference June 1,
2022, Olso, Norway.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 28 October 2022
Revised 13 January 2023
Accepted 25 January 2023
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 5, 2023
pp. 1209-1219
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-10-2022-0231
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