Title: Where are the People? Political, Ethical, and Humanist Foundations for Information Access
Abstract
Modern information access technologies have broadened both access to information and the ability to disseminate new information. In this talk, I take up the question of why we develop and deploy information access technologies. As information and information access have profound impact on both individual people and the societies they shape and inhabit, clearly defining the goals of such systems is necessary to properly evaluate them and to ensure that information access promotes healthy, well-informed, and democratic societies.
I will discuss several goals that may be set for an information access system; how those may support or oppose broader economic, political, ethical, or social objectives and principles; and how specific goals affect the evaluation of the effectiveness, behavior, and impacts of information access systems.