The Power to Structure

Information systems are developed by people with intent—they designed to help creators and users tell specific stories data. Within information systems, the often invisible structures of metadata profoundly impact meaning that can be derived from The Linked Infrastructure for Networked Cultural Scholarship project (LINCS) helps humanities researchers using linked open data convert datasets into organized, interconnected, machine-processable resources. LINCS provides context online cultural materials, interlinks them, andgrounds them in sources improve web resources research. This article describes how team is shared standards especially ontologies—typically unseen yet powerful—to bring mindfully through structure. metadata—comprised about artifacts, people, processes—and support it must represent multiple, diverse ways knowing. It needs enable various means incorporating contextual telling nuance context, situated supported reflect make space specificities complexities. As addresses specificity each research dataset, simultaneously working balance interoperability, as achieved a level generalization, domain-specific requirements. team’s approach ontology adoption use centers on intersectionality, multiplicity, difference. question what being used will important introduced result linking together, has built this premise its decision-making implementation processes. To convey an understanding categories classification contextually embedded—culturally produced, intersecting, discursive—the frames not fixed but grounds investigation starting points understanding. Metadata vocabularies producing such meaning.