This analysis of the thesaurus for the LISTA (Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts) database was drafted in Google Keep and edited in Google Docs. It was written in this way because I was facing executive functioning issues and back pain, and had write a large portion of it on my phone and on my bed. This, in addition to disability being on my mind for my topic briefing in LIBR 508, lead me to consider the lens I chose for this analysis.
This analysis looks critically at the ways in which controlled vocabularies and other knowledge organization systems can affect or even inform the way we as students and researchers approach the topics affecting marginalized identities.
Receiving Feedback
Overall, I did not receive critical feedback for this piece. Peer Reviewer #1 suggested I include "more examples [that] might explain and illustrate [my critique of ableism] better" in further research on this topic. Peer Reviewer #3 asked me to consider "how the capturing of disability has changed in recent years" with regards to person-first language. If I were to revise this assignment based on these comments, I would incorporate more of the studies I cite in my topic briefing mentioned above, which point to the ways in which academia is littered with ableist assumptions and practices to better bolster my argument. If I could somehow get a copy of an older version of the thesaurus, I would also be interested in a content analysis and comparison of subject headings that have been changed or introduced.
Giving Feedback
For this week, as many peers had strong submissions, I offered questions that might help them bolster or elaborate the critiques of controlled vocabularies they chose to analyze.
iSchool Graduate Competencies
Below is a self-identified list of competencies that this activity engages as it aligns with the iSchool MLIS Graduate Competencies:
4. Employ information systems and current technologies to address real-world situations, informed by social and cultural perspectives
5. Reflect in an informed and critical manner on information infrastructures and practices, acknowledging the role of power and privilege, the ongoing influence of colonization, and the value of diverse worldviews
7. Demonstrate effective collaboration, decision-making and leadership in team settings
This is another assignment, like the content schema creation assignment, where I found value in incorporating my learning from outside of this course. In this case, it was LIBR 508 and my own personal experiences with ADHD and pain. It showed me the value of understanding my own limitations and of working with and not against my capacity. This is arguably my best analysis for this course, despite being written in a way that does not align with a traditional assumptions of what a student looks like. I want my future scholarship and critical thinking to acknowledge myself as a person and draw inspiration from my lived experiences. Academia has never been a silo to me, but this assignment emphasized all the more what it means to engage scholarship intersectionally, beyond my identity as a student.