"As creators and users of information, experts understand their rights and responsibilities when participating in a community of scholarship. Experts understand that value may be wielded by powerful interests in ways that marginalize certain voices. However, value may also be leveraged by individuals and organizations to effect change and for civic, economic, social, or personal gains. Experts also understand that the individual is responsible for making deliberate and informed choices about when to comply with and when to contest current legal and socioeconomic practices concerning the value of information."
- ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
So, how do we work towards combating privilege in our current information ecosystem? In order to make changes to the existing system, we have to actively participate in system-wide efforts to create anti-oppression and anti-capitalist disruptions (Inefuku, 2021). Championing more open (i.e. less restricted or “unrestricted”) publishing and distribution models, like those outlined in the Open Access (OA) movement, and supporting more equitable forms of peer review are just some of the ways in which we can change the status quo (Open Society Foundations, 2018). You can find a list of examples below.
"Open access is a publishing and distribution model that makes scholarly research literature—much of which is funded by taxpayers around the world—freely available to the public online, without restrictions" (Open Society Foundations, 2018). The following video from Open Society Foundations, does a great job explaining why open access is important, using publishing in the sciences as an example:
Championing more open (i.e. less restricted or “unrestricted”) publishing and distribution models, like those outlined in the Open Access (OA) movement, and supporting more equitable forms of peer review are just some of the ways in which we can change the status quo.
Take action by... using OA content in your research and writing, as well as seeking out OA journals when deciding where to publish your work. When evaluating scholarly sources, look beyond Impact Factor and take note of their editorial and information sharing practices.
Even though you have access to certain items now through the library collection and via interlibrary loan, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with some of the tools that are available to help you legally access open access scholarly materials.
Take action by...downloading these browser extensions. Please note: sources of questionable legality, like ResearchGate, SciHub, and Academia.edu, are not reliable outlets for OA materials and are not crawled by these tools.
There is growing movement around information sharing called "Citation Justice," which exists within the broader realm of Citation Politics. It aims to encourage academics to evaluate their own traditional notions of authority and knowledge creation. Some examples include #CiteIndigenousAuthors and #CiteBlackWomen, which focus on elevating the voices of scholars who have been historically marginalized across academia. It is vital for students and scholars to consider their practices of citing sources, as these practices are part of how we attribute knowledge and ideas. These practices reflect whose voices are heard and prioritized, what counts as "knowledge," and who can be creators and holders of knowledge.
Take action by... centering the the voices of BIPOC scholars in your work and acknowledging the intellectual production of scholars of color. Here are some resources aimed at amplifying diverse voices in academia: