As an information professional, I believe words have power. Naming and framing are tools for autonomy and agency. They are foundational to identity, influence, and memory. Multitudes of memory are all part of the human experience and reflections of culture and society.
I believe information professionals, particularly in archives and records of memory, need to recognize the complexity of human experience. I approach my work with a heightened awareness that the narratives I construct will echo through spacetime. The meaning I create is part of a continuum that has its own relevance, perspective, and legacy. In describing the artifacts of humanity, our individual subjectivity should be met with an active interrogation of our assumptions and practices. Ours must be a reflexive practice that looks for the edges of understanding and builds tools to access and expand them. I think that the words we use to name and frame should evolve from a participatory process of information advocacy that connects identity and community to influence.
Claire V. Gordon 