A nuanced approach to research has me thinking. (For those of you who really find this type of thing tedious – stop now!)
Here is a quote I found in a recent article seeking to deal with the Trump era. The authours are dealing with environmental data justice during that era. where the authours deal with environmental data justice.
[As a librarian, here is the suggested citation for this article – Lindsey Dillon, Rebecca Lave, Becky Mansfield, Sara Wylie, Nicholas Shapiro, Anita Say Chan & Michelle Murphy (2019) Situating Data in a Trumpian Era: The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109:2,545-555, DOI:]
Here is the relevant quote: ‘. . . ‘desire-based’ rather than ‘damage-centered’ research. Desire-based research does not pathologize communities by merely documenting harm; rather, it emphasizes capacities, multiplicities, and hope and actively works toward building a better world.”
As I understand the quote, we look for support in our research towards creating a better world.
As a researcher over the years, I know that universal access to all information is impossible. But even within the universe of available research data, the focus of the study determines what is acceptable and what is not. Once the original focus is established, a determination of “desire based” research sharpens the acceptable research data base. Is this the forming of a thesis for study that determines the direction of the research to the exclusion of data that would challenge that thesis? (here is where I back up to acknowledge the use of “merely” in the above quote – thus my statement may be a little bit of overreach)
From another angle, reflecting back on my studies during library science days – is this censorship, responsible citizenship, reality, altruism, discrimination . . .? All of the above??
