University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Intermediation of Community and Infrastructure

Lenstra, Noah; Baker, Karen S.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/103578

Description

Title
The Intermediation of Community and Infrastructure
Author(s)
  • Lenstra, Noah
  • Baker, Karen S.
Issue Date
2017
Keyword(s)
  • Intermediary space
  • Community
  • Infrastructure
Abstract
The concepts of community and infrastructure reverberate throughout the information sciences. As digital information technology becomes ubiquitous in work and everyday life, scholars analyze how communities adapt to, and adapt, information infrastructure. This paper explores this topic through a cross-study of field scientists' changing data practices and of older adults learning technology. The contribution of this comparative study is the concept of an intermediary space. Both studies found individuals, referred to as intermediaries, who enable their communities to speak back to information infrastructure—that is, to have a voice in infrastructural development. In particular, the study noted the roles of those outside positions of power in the design and development of effective information infrastructure. Understanding this intermediary space involves attending to issues related to design and narrative. The implications of these findings include more effectively preparing the information sciences' workforce for these intermediary roles.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press. The School of Information Sciences at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Series/Report Name or Number
Library Trends 65 (4). Spring 2017
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/103578
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2017.0013
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 65 (4) Spring 2017: Spanning the Information Sciences : A Celebration Marking Seventy Years of the Doctoral Program in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign PRIMARY
Library Trends 65 (4) Spring 2017: Spanning the Information Sciences : A Celebration Marking Seventy Years of the Doctoral Program in the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Edited by Alistair Black and Emily J.M. Knox.