Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data

The article explores how the interplay of ideological values and technological capacities have shaped the digital bibliography of British print history. Using a misgendering in the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) as a case study, the article explores how information flows through resources like...

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Main Author: Kate Ozment
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2025-07-01
Series:Journal of Early Modern Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16517
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author Kate Ozment
author_facet Kate Ozment
author_sort Kate Ozment
collection DOAJ
description The article explores how the interplay of ideological values and technological capacities have shaped the digital bibliography of British print history. Using a misgendering in the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) as a case study, the article explores how information flows through resources like Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), and Early English Books Online (EEBO), library catalogues, WorldCat, and retail outlets like Amazon. The article argues that as data from the ESTC is reproduced through linked data structures, information is ‘authorized’ far beyond what a single resource would do alone or what its original authors imagined or designed. While feminist, queer, and critical race scholarship has discursively created and revised new histories of textual production, in contrast foundational resources like the ESTC perpetuate old assumptions with unfixed errors and editorial practices that render the who and the why of their metadata choices opaque. The article concludes that radical revision is necessary if we are to disrupt centuries of a white and male norm in British print history.
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series Journal of Early Modern Studies
spelling doaj-art-9fd53faede1b483f935a2a47a6a5f00a2025-08-20T03:15:26ZengFirenze University PressJournal of Early Modern Studies2279-71492025-07-0114334510.36253/jems-2279-7149-1651715354Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked DataKate OzmentThe article explores how the interplay of ideological values and technological capacities have shaped the digital bibliography of British print history. Using a misgendering in the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) as a case study, the article explores how information flows through resources like Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), and Early English Books Online (EEBO), library catalogues, WorldCat, and retail outlets like Amazon. The article argues that as data from the ESTC is reproduced through linked data structures, information is ‘authorized’ far beyond what a single resource would do alone or what its original authors imagined or designed. While feminist, queer, and critical race scholarship has discursively created and revised new histories of textual production, in contrast foundational resources like the ESTC perpetuate old assumptions with unfixed errors and editorial practices that render the who and the why of their metadata choices opaque. The article concludes that radical revision is necessary if we are to disrupt centuries of a white and male norm in British print history.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16517early english books onlineeighteenth century collections onlineenglish short title cataloguefeminist bibliographyprint history
spellingShingle Kate Ozment
Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data
Journal of Early Modern Studies
early english books online
eighteenth century collections online
english short title catalogue
feminist bibliography
print history
title Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data
title_full Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data
title_fullStr Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data
title_full_unstemmed Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data
title_short Digital Bibliography in the Age of Linked Data
title_sort digital bibliography in the age of linked data
topic early english books online
eighteenth century collections online
english short title catalogue
feminist bibliography
print history
url https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16517
work_keys_str_mv AT kateozment digitalbibliographyintheageoflinkeddata