I'm researching the Dewey Decimal system for a metadata presentation.
The topic "Homosexuality" was classified
- in 1932 under 132 (mental derangements) and 159.9 (abnormal psych.)
- in 1952 also 301.424 (study of sexes in society).
- in 1989 also 363.49 (social problems).
This matters because classification systems are used in machine learning. Machines do not make value judgements but humans do. There is a very real risk that AI can slow the progress of changing values by learning from data where prejudice persists.
Once again, the people at risk in what is often called improvement are the people who are always at risk, always set a aside and rarely included in designing the future. They are the ever bypassed stakeholders of said improvement.