[Air-l] Paper: Critical Information Studies

[Richard Forno]

A copy of the paper is available at the link, too.........rf


http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/archives/002930.html


AFTERWORD: CRITICAL INFORMATION STUDIES
A bibliographic manifesto

Siva Vaidhyanathan

This paper takes measure of an emerging scholarly field that sits at the
intersection of many important areas of study. Critical Information Studies
(CIS) considers the ways in which culture and information are regulated by
their relationship to commerce, creativity, and other human affairs. CIS
captures the variety of approaches and bodies of knowledge needed to make
sense of important phenomena such as copyright policy, electronic voting,
encryption, the state of libraries, the preservation of ancient cultural
traditions, and markets for cultural production. It necessarily stretches to
a wide array of scholarly subjects, employs multiple complementary
methodologies, and influences conversations far beyond the gates of the
university. Economists, sociologists, linguists, anthropologists,
ethnomusicologists, communication scholars, lawyers, computer scientists,
philosophers, and librarians have all contributed to this field, and thus it
can serve as a model for how engaged, relevant scholarship might be carried
out. CIS interrogates the structures, functions, habits, norms, and
practices that guide global flows of information and cultural elements.
Instead of being concerned merely with one's right to speak (or sing or
publish), CIS asks questions about access, costs, and chilling effects on,
within, and among audiences, citizens, emerging cultural creators,
indigenous cultural groups, teachers, and students. Central to these issues
is the idea of Œsemiotic democracy¹, or the ability of citizens to employ
the signs and symbols ubiquitous in their environments in manners that they
determine.