A proposed ethical warrant for global knowledge representation and organization systems
| Published date | 01 October 2002 |
| Date | 01 October 2002 |
| Pages | 507-532 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410210441 |
| Author | Clare Beghtol |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Proposed
ethical warrant
507
Journal of Documentation,
Vol. 58 No. 5, 2002, pp. 507-532.
#MCB UP Limited, 0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220410210441568
Received 12 November
2001
Revised 19 March 2002
Accepted 6 May 2002
A proposed ethical warrant
for global knowledge
representation and
organization systems
Clare Beghtol
Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada
Keywords Information systems, National cultures, User satisfaction, Ethics
Abstract New technologies have made the increased globalization of information resources and
services possible. In this situation, it is ethically and intellectually beneficial to protect cultural and
information diversity. This paper analyzes the problems of creating ethically based globally
accessible and culturally acceptable knowledge representation and organization systems, and
foundation principles for the ethical treatment of different cultures are established on the basis of
the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The concept of ``cultural
hospitality'', which can act as a theoretical framework for the ethical warrant of knowledge
representation and organization systems, is described. This broad discussion is grounded with an
extended example of one cultural universal, the concept of time and its expression in calendars.
Methods of achieving cultural and user hospitality in information systems are discussed for their
potential for creating ethically based systems. It is concluded that cultural hospitality is a
promising concept for assessing the ethical foundations of new knowledge representation and
organization systems and for planning revisions to existing systems.
Introduction
Representing and organizing knowledge is not a straightforward process. How
best to characterize the physical and intellectual attributes of books and other
physical media was debated well before the advent of computerization, and the
invention and popularization of non-physical information carriers have neither
simplified the questions nor resolved the debates. In addition, to the problems
of physical and non-physical media, we need now to add problems of providing
access to information globally and locally in any language, for any individual,
culture, ethnic group or domain, at any location, at any time and for any
purpose. These requirements have socio-cultural components that were not
widely or fully anticipated when the information age began. Now, however, we
need to examine their ramifications because new information technologies are
developing rapidly. In particular, broad questions about the ethical dimensions
of knowledge representation and organization in the context of global access to
information have arisen. These issues are no easier ± and may in fact be harder
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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This research was partially supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada (SSHRC) grant number 410-2001-0108. Research assistance was provided by Ann
Simonds and Anna Slawek. I wish also to thank the anonymous referees, whose thoughtful
comments have resulted in an improved paper.
JDOC
58,5
508
± to resolve than previous questions about organizing physical media for
individual libraries within particular cultural contexts.
The general purpose of this paper is to delineate issues involved in the
design of information systems that are based on ethical principles and to
explore the implications of those issues for some aspects of information
retrieval systems, particularly for knowledge representation and organization
systems, in world-wide information environments. To this end, a number of
threads are explored. Specifically, the paper poses the questions:
(1) What is meant by the globalization of information and knowledge?
(2) What are the ethical dimensions of the representation and organization
of knowledge?
(3) What relationships obtain between these ethical dimensions and
globalization?
(4) What implications do these ethical dimensions have for the practical
development and maintenance of systems and what would a practical
solution look like?
(5) What theoretical concepts need to be developed to underpin an ethically
based knowledge representation and organization system so that we can
assess whether we have achieved an ethically acceptable system?
These are complicated questions that, of necessity, overlap. For this reason,
and to illustrate the issues concretely, the general discussion is augmented by
an extended example of the socio-cultural dimensions of the concept of time
and of its expression in different calendars.
Globalization, culture and knowledge representation
In discussing the relationship between the spread of information technology
and capitalism, Hassan (1999) distinguished between two dimensions of
globalization. According to Hassan (1999), ``outward globalization'' refers to the
expansion of information technology physically into geographic space, and
``inward globalization'' refers to the expansion of technology and the
consequent dissemination of information into cultural, social and intellectual
space. Cogburn (1998) also distinguished between two levels of globalization:
(1) a fundamental level based in the economic realm of production and
distribution; and
(2) a secondary level based in the social, political, and cultural processes of
different groups.
Hassan's (1999) concept of inward globalization and Cogburn's (1998) concept
of social globalization are analogous concepts that, taken together, adequately
represent the consensus of a number of other authors (Smith, 2001; De Mul,
1999) about the existence and the types of globalization may that result from
the spread of electronic information technologies.
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