Structured data is at the core of how the internet — as we currently know it — works. These are pieces of information organized in such a way that they can be easily read, understood, and processed by machines. Through these systems, massive amounts of data get sorted out, organized, and classified in relation to other pieces of data. As a result, they are informed and structured by and around specific regulations, traditions, and epistemologies.
In October 2021, we invited over 40 participants from around the world for the conversation Decolonizing the Internet’s Structured Data, leading up to WikidataCon. The event was jointly organized by Whose Knowledge?, Wiki Movimento Brasil, and Wikimedia Deutschland. By analyzing the power dynamics of structured data, we examined whose views, whose agenda, whose ontologies (categories of classification), and whose decisions build and sustain these classifications and systems.
Watch the recordings from the convening:
Read more about the Decolonizing Structured Data gathering in the full report and e-zine available for download below.
Report Whose Knowledge? Community Knowledge, Marginalized Communities, Wikipedia