Information Studies Research Works
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1632
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Item Supporting Cultural Rights and Indigenous Sovereignty through Archival Repatriation(PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2024-09-21) Sorensen, Amanda H.; Bull, Ia; Marsh, Diana; Lee, SamanthaPrimary source materials are irreplaceable cultural resources for the communities in which they originated, particularly when they derive from Native and Indigenous communities (Parezo 1999). These communities have been disenfranchised from their own information, data, and knowledge through the evidentiary and collecting practices of historical anthropological researchers, as well as the actions of archives, museums, and other collecting institutions. Knowledge extraction, wherein practitioners collect data for their own uses without appreciation of originating community perspectives or needs to access the data, was frequent in the early years of the discipline (First Archivists Circle 2007; Christen and Anderson 2019, 92-3). This localized information (regarding religious or ceremonial practices, for example) was dispersed to archives worldwide via what scholars have called an “archival diaspora” (Punzalan 2014a), effectively removing archives from the hands of originating communities. Furthermore, anthropologists have at times created field records in the context of assimilation and genocide, or through imbalanced and unethical power relations (O’Neal 2014). These historical factors underscore the ethical responsibility of archivists and data curators to provide community access to archival and unpublished information. There is a strong need for political and legal anthropologists, cultural heritage professionals, and policy writers to not only center human rights in ongoing research, but also to place Indigenous Knowledge Systems at the core of their efforts (O’Neal 2019, 50). We argue that the repatriation of archival materials (including physical repatriation but also encompassing ownership transfer or shared stewardship) is crucial to protecting “moral and material interests” embedded in community knowledge, language, storytelling, survivance, and the wider “cultural life of the community” (United Nations 2007).Item Reviving anthropology's past: Digital archival access and ethical collaboration with Indigenous communities(Wiley, 2023-12-19) Sorensen, Amanda H.; Lee, Samantha; Marsh, Diana E.; Fenlon, Katrina; Punzalan, Ricardo L.This article outlines the revitalization of the Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records (CoPAR) to adapt to the changing dynamics of archival data reuse in anthropology. It begins by examining the prevailing discourse on anthropological data, archives and their reuse, then explores interdisciplinary data curation trends. Recent initiatives include collaborations with Wikipedia and Wikidata and innovative design strategies to improve access to anthropological archives. The article also discusses the ethical and logistical challenges faced during this transformation. The overarching vision presented is to position CoPAR as a central hub that connects archivists, anthropologists and Indigenous communities, ensuring streamlined and ethical access to anthropological records in the digital realm.Item Benford’s Law applies to word frequency rank in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian(PLoS, 2023-09-14) Golbeck, JenniferBenford’s Law states that, in many real-world data sets, the frequency of numbers’ first digits is predicted by the formula log(1 + (1/d)). Numbers beginning with a 1 occur roughly 30% of the time, and are six times more common than numbers beginning with a 9. We show that Benford’s Law applies to the the frequency rank of words in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. We calculated the frequency rank of words in the Google Ngram Viewer corpora. Then, using the first significant digit of the frequency rank, we found the FSD distribution adhered to the expected Benford’s Law distribution. Over a series of additional corpora from sources ranging from news to books to social media and across the languages studied, we consistently found adherence to Benford’s Law. Furthermore, at the user-level on social media, we found Benford’s Law holds for the vast majority of users’ collected posts and significant deviations from Benford’s Law tends to be a mark of spam bots.Item Piloting Reparative Description and Metadata in SNAC via the Indigenous Description Group(Descriptive Notes, 2024-04-02) Bull, Ia; Chapman, Lindsey; Curliss, Lydia; Hamilton, Mik; Marsh, Diana; Martin, Worthy; Miller, Jerrid Lee; Pipestem, Veronica; Smoke, Ugoma; Sorensen, Amanda H; Stoner, MelissaArchivists have recognized the need to rethink how this knowledge can be better represented, not only to heal previous harms but also to make information more accessible and usable for communities. A number of professional organizations and working groups have been developing inclusive description policies, resources, and approaches that can be leveraged in a wide range of institutional contexts. In March 2023, we launched Indigenous Description Group (IDG)–modeled after SNAC’s Enslaved Description Group (EDG)–within SNAC’s Editorial Standards Working Group. The goals of the IDG are to 1) improve accessibility to archival collections for Indigenous Tribal communities; 2) mitigate harm caused by extractive collecting processes; and 3) engage in reparative description across systems, at scale, and in an interoperable way.Item Editorial Guide for Indigenous Entity Descriptions in SNAC(2022-03) Curliss, Lydia; Marsh, Diana; Gates, Irene; Satriano, Katherine; Simmons, Jerry; Herbert, DinaThis editorial guide was originally created for participants in the SNAC Indigenous edit-a-thon and for future editors when considering Indigenous records. This editorial guide considers best practices in the field as they apply to the Social Networks and Archival Context (abbreviated as SNAC) platform but we hope that this may lead to changes in other databases, platforms, and practices. While we pull from multiple sources, this is not exhaustive, and will change as new protocols, resources, policies, and other documentation becomes available in the field.Item A New Committee Launches: Making a Case for Archival Repatriation(2024-01) Punzalan, Ricardo; Arsenault, Jaime; Begay, Vina; Chaterera-Zambuko, Forget; Marsh, Diana; Savory, Jacob; Schlottmann, Kevin; Stoner, Melissa; Schmitt, JackAccess to and community possession of archival materials containing Native and Indigenous knowledge, language, and lifeways is crucial to the cultural survivance, revital- ization, and continuation of communities. Nevertheless, archival organizations have yet to fully address how the profession might approach the growing demand for archival repatriation. In response, the Society of American Archivists formed the Archival Repatriation Committee with the charge to “[E]nsure that [SAA]’s services, activities, policies, communications, and products support the goal of supporting archivists in repatriating and receiving archival materials.”Item The Protocols for Native American Archival Materials and Description(2021-04-15) Buchanan, Rose; Marsh, DianaThe Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM) establish best practices for the culturally responsive care and use of Native American archival materials, particularly materials that are housed in non-Tribal institutions. Following SAA’s endorsement of PNAAM as an external standard in 2018, the Native American Archives Section (NAAS) launched a case studies and webinar series about implementing them. These resources include guidelines for providing culturally appropriate and accurate descriptive information for Native American and Indigenous collections.Item English language education and acculturation research: Problematic historical parallels and the path ahead(Wiley, 2023-07-20) Siebold, ConnieMultilingual education and acculturation research share a parallel history of problematic research paradigms that center the majority viewpoint and view minorities through a lens of deficit. This continual pathology of cultural difference has led to the pathologization of minority individuals, and has hampered our efforts to effectively understand and educate in a nuanced and culturally sensitive manner. In our focus on quantifying stress and deficiency, we have failed to understand emic experiences of joy and agency that can better inform our teaching and research. This article asserts a model of research and teaching that prioritizes narrative reclamation, while developing the concept of acculturative joy as a lens of study.Item Evaluating View Management for Situated Visualization in Web-based Handheld AR(Wiley, 2023-06-27) Batch, A.; Shin, S.; Liu, J.; Butcher, P. W. S.; Ritsos, P. D.; Elmqvist, N.As visualization makes the leap to mobile and situated settings, where data is increasingly integrated with the physical world using mixed reality, there is a corresponding need for effectively managing the immersed user's view of situated visualizations. In this paper we present an analysis of view management techniques for situated 3D visualizations in handheld augmented reality: a shadowbox, a world-in-miniature metaphor, and an interactive tour. We validate these view management solutions through a concrete implementation of all techniques within a situated visualization framework built using a web-based augmented reality visualization toolkit, and present results from a user study in augmented reality accessed using handheld mobile devices.Item Theories and implications for centering Indigenous and queer embodiment within sociotechnical systems(Wiley, 2023-02-23) Wagner, Travis L.; Marsh, Diana; Curliss, LydiaThis paper explores the role of Indigenous and queer embodiment in understanding the current limitations of sociotechnical systems as they relate to cultural heritage institutions. Through the utilization of a critical case study the paper highlights the ways in which the ideologies of colonialism and cisnormativity render Indigenous and queer identities invisible within cultural heritage institutions. In particular, the case studies highlight information organization, archival description, and cataloging as sites of ideological reinforcement for colonialism and gender binaries. In response, the paper identifies methods for not only naming such normative ideologies, but actionable ways to challenge such inequities through community-led, Indigenous, and queer affirming descriptive practices. Additionally, the paper attends to the way findings impact other historically marginalized identities and theorize methods for confronting such inequities within sociotechnical systems more broadly.