Time(s)
Description
A recent paper submitted to the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that the “good guys” in superhero films engage in more violent acts than the villains. Who decided which characters were good or bad? What ontological principals where used? Did they ask fans who they thought were the good guys or bad guys? Or did a small number of scientists define good and evil for themselves? The answers to these questions have direct bearing on the validity of this study’s conclusions. The importance of taxonomy is seldom discussed in polite scientific company, but has great impact on law, public policy and science. In this talk Frank Branch, will discuss the critical role information architects and ontologists need to play in defining these taxonomies and in forcing these conversations to happen openly.
About the speakers
Frank Branch is the Principal Information Architect and Ontologist for McGraw-Hill Education. In this capacity, he leads all information design efforts for a large educational platform and curriculum provider. He has a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington specializing in knowledge representation and digital curation. Additionally, he has authored articles and textbook chapters on ontology in popular culture, has patents related to the use of ontology for curation tasks, and 20 years of experience designing content and information environments for Fortune 500 companies.
