Mediation machines: how principles from traditional knowledge organization have evolved into digital mediation systems

Introduction. We discuss digital information systems' ability to mediate cultural resources. Mediation techniques embedded in search and recommendation systems are compared with those activities developed for mediating culture heritage in libraries, archives and museums, or so-called LAM-instit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Information research 2017-03, Vol.22 (1), p.1
Main Authors: Kim Tallerås, Pharo, Nils
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classification
Cultural heritage
Information systems
Knowledge organization
Mediation
Public libraries
Recommender systems
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Introduction. We discuss digital information systems' ability to mediate cultural resources. Mediation techniques embedded in search and recommendation systems are compared with those activities developed for mediating culture heritage in libraries, archives and museums, or so-called LAM-institutions. Method. Digital mediation systems are examined in light of theories and techniques from knowledge organization, exemplified with implementations of such theories and techniques in public libraries. Analysis. Our analysis sheds light on similarities between the digital mediation in recommendation systems and libraries' mediation of culture, but also reveals some important differences. Results. We find that the digital mediation systems follow many principles and techniques of traditional knowledge organization such as those related to classification and metadata. Further they mimic the librarian who knows her users, knowledge organization systems and collection. An important challenge is the mechanical rationality embedded in the computation of recommendations, which may limit the exposure of material of interest to the user that the system finds irrelevant. Conclusion. Digital mediation systems have implemented traditional theories and techniques of knowledge organization, and they can be interpreted as "mediators" in a LAM context. However, their mechanical approach to information behaviour risk to be inconsistently adaptive to users emotional needs and to not facilitate serendipitous discoveries very well.
ISSN:1368-1613
1368-1613