The politics of African knowledge production do not reside only in who publishes, but in who owns and governs the infrastructures through which publishing happens. As African scholars adopt the seemingly neutral technical standards of “mainstream” global publishing systems, we enroll our work into systems of data analytics, valuation, and profit extraction that were not designed for our benefit. This data essay examines the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) as one such infrastructural device: a seemingly neutral technical standard that stabilizes scholarly communication while consolidating control over how knowledge circulates and accrues value.
Below, you will find the data. You can read each artifact's context and annotations and even annotate them yourself. You can also read my narrative.
The digital infrastructure is presented as a neutral and technical solution to knowledge management. Owango asserts, “we are literally leveraging on existing technology to produce our digital...Read more
Knowledge is repeatedly framed through a market-oriented lens. Owango asks, “What contribution does indigenous knowledge contribute to research, innovation, and commercialization?”...Read more
Throughout the transcript, there is a notable absence of discussion regarding the ownership structures, financial models, and profit motives behind the infrastructures being adopted....Read more
The article fundamentally equates knowledge with owned content, arguing that protecting and managing this ownership is critical for sustaining the publishing industry. Knowledge...Read more
The article presents the publishing environment as a commercial ecosystem under threat from the unregulated, “open” nature of the Internet. The DOI is introduced explicitly as a...Read more
The Africa PID Alliance positions African actors as late entrants to an already-established global infrastructure. Joy Owango states, “Africa really needs to be part of the...Read more
A comparison between the ARK system and the DOI makes their contrasting design logics unmistakably clear. ARK is built on the principle that knowledge should function as a public good—...Read more
The stakeholders involved (Sun Microsystems, the International DOI Foundation, R.R. Bowker, and elite U.S. universities) reflect a closed circle of influential Western institutions....Read more
The article assumes that scholarly knowledge is a commodity that requires protection and monetization. It discusses the financial risks of digital piracy and the necessity for...Read more
The ARK framework and technical design encourages local institutions to take an active role in managing their identifiers, reducing dependence on global infrastructures. This has...Read more