Bias 9: Depersonalized Portrayal of Thesauri

Anti-Developmental Biases in Thesaurus Design (Part #10)

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Thesauri tend to be portrayed as abstract structures from which subjective personal elements have been eliminated. To ensure implementation, the design of thesauri is limited to a small elite (whose professional status benefits in consequence). In fact, however, as any debate among such elites quickly demonstrates, thesauri are highly personal constructs and (as social acts) can engender very emotional responses. Even from a purely logical point of view, as Francisco Varela demonstrates: "In contrast with what is commonly assumed, a description, when carefully inspected, reveals the properties of the observer" (17). A thesaurus is a description which characterizes the designer (or the designing institutions).

If thesauri embody personal, ideological, cultural, and operational biases in this way, this should be more clearly stated (e.g. in the introduction to any UNESCO thesaurus) together with the implications of that statement. But it also follows that much greater emphasis should be placed on arranging for each user to enjoy the creative advantages of personalizing the thesaurus through which s/he wishes to perceive any data set.

This is especially true given the developmental significance of tramforming one's own thesaurus, as one's perspective matures, rather than being imprisoned in some institutionalized construct -- depersonalization has never enhanced the innovative responses needed at this time. The computer possibilities for doing this have been noted above.