Abstract
Big data and data science are global, there is no alternative in our connected, digital world. Yet, for a truly open and fair science, cultural biases and different opportunities across different countries must be taken into consideration.
English has become the international language for the scientific debate: a single language is most convenient, moreover it is undergoing a process of refinement and adaptation to the science register. On the other hand, laboratories are populated by researchers from all over the world, and much research takes place in non-English-speaking countries, where research tradition often develops moving from different perspectives, influenced by the cultural context.
A fair and open science would miss an opportunity if it did not take into consideration the multilingualism and multiculturalism of the researchers as individuals and members of specific communities, and could also waste precious time and energies, as language barriers prevent cooperation.
The paper will discuss the above-mentioned issues with examples and reflect on the changing role of librarians and information specialists within a global scientific community.
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Fontanin, M., Castellucci, P. (2020). Lost in Translation: Can We Talk About Big Data Fairly?. In: Ceci, M., Ferilli, S., Poggi, A. (eds) Digital Libraries: The Era of Big Data and Data Science. IRCDL 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1177. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39905-4_5
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