Papers
Issue Paper
Title
Confronting Research Culture: Librarian Strategies for Supporting Open Science within the Academy
Issue Statement
Committed to the principles of “Open Science”, the priorities of academic librarians often conflict with those of the research communities they serve. Librarians must better understand the challenges researchers face, from departmental publishing pressures to the financial burden of openness, to better support their communities and sustainably transform scientific research culture.
Major Paper
Title
Beyond Linnaeus: The Wisdom of Folk Taxonomies for Mushroom Identification
Background
This paper was written for IS 289: Classification taught by Professor Furner. The assignment was to evaluate an existing classification, taxonomy, or ontology and speculate on the potential implications of this evaluation.
Abstract
Mushrooms, to a greater degree than most forageable food, can prove poisonous or even lethal when eaten. Linnaean biological taxonomy, expansive in its attempt to document all life, consists of abstract taxons that communicate very little utilitarian information to users. Folk classification systems, while more taxonomically generic and inclusive may prove more useful for mushroom foragers, consumers, and mycologists alike. Folk taxonomies for mushrooms highlight the fluidity of classification, changing across communities in response to need, function, or culture. This paper explores the differences as well as historical and current relationships between western and indigenous mycological classification systems, examining the ways in which mycologists might thoughtfully and respectfully incorporate folk taxonomic and traditional knowledge into Linnaean systems, especially as it applies to mushroom edibility.
View/Download PDF of Major Paper
Note
After taking Professor Cindy Nguyen’s seminar on Global History of Libraries: Colonial Pasts, Decolonial Futures, I am now more aware of the extractive nature of absorbing Indigenous knowledge into western knowledge and classification systems. If I were to revisit this paper, I would self-reflexively dwell on the dangers of inclusion as enclosure and whether the proposal in this paper can be pursued in a non-harmful way.
Core Coursework
Title
Out of the Chamber and into the Bubble: How QAnon Went Mainstream
Background
This paper was written for IS 260: Description and Access taught by Professor Leazer. The assignment was to identify and define a narrow source of information and the access groups that interact with it.
Abstract
This paper discusses the infrastructural elements that facilitated QAnon's rise and spread, specifically focusing on the role of algorithms in enhancing the actions of a small group of users. How did a “shitpost”, originally created in an online environment (4chan and 8chan) known for rampant fascism, trolling, and the LARP’ing (live action role playing) of high powered government officials gain traction and legitimacy outside its insular community? I argue that it is, in fact, the distance between this echo chamber and the epistemic bubbles it penetrated that enabled QAnon to move from the darkest corners of the internet to mainstream information sources. Poor infrastructural literacy combined with the opaque nature of algorithm personalization, the decontextualization of original Q-drop posts, runaway credibility chains, and unnaturally high levels of epistemic trust enabled the QAnon conspiracy to move beyond fringe communities and access unexpected populations it may never have reached otherwise.
Elective Coursework
Description
Elective coursework is listed under “Projects”.
