Why should you trust my data? Building data infrastructure that accommodates networks of trust
The 21st century needs infrastructure that allows networks of trust to emerge organically in the exchange of data. Everyone who makes decisions based on data needs to be able to ascertain the trustworthiness of the data they are consuming. Likewise, everyone who wants to influence decisions through data needs to be able to express their trustworthiness to those consumers. These are real, tangible needs that impact the bottom line of every organization in both the Public and the Private sectors. It cuts across almost all industries and fields. We who have chosen to create software for Libraries, Archives and Museums are uniquely equipped to create that infrastructure and maintain it because librarians, archivists and curators are experts at reading networks of trust. Where a marketing expert generates information in order to grab attention and manufacture affinity, a librarian is an expert at seeing information in context and offering ways to navigate through it or select from it based on the characteristics you see as valid or trustworthy. The world needs this and we know how to build it. We have all the necessary tools and techniques. It’s time to remind the world why they need librarians by showing them what we know about trustworthiness.
