Sustaining Knowledge Infrastructures: Asking the Right Questions and Listening for Answers

TL;DR

This paper discusses strategies for sustaining knowledge infrastructures by engaging stakeholders, asking critical questions, and adopting iterative decision-making processes to adapt to evolving community needs.

Contribution

It introduces five key questions for KI project managers to consider for sustainable evolution, integrating academic insights and practical experiences.

Findings

Reflecting on sustainability throughout KI life cycle

Engaging communities and communicating evolving values

Developing iterative decision-making processes

Abstract

Sustaining knowledge infrastructures remains a persistent issue that requires continued engagement from diverse stakeholders as new questions and values arise in relation to KI maintenance. We draw on existing academic literature, practical experience with KI projects, and our discussions at a 2024 workshop for researchers and practitioners exploring KI evaluation to pose five questions for KI project managers to consider when thinking about how to make their KIs evolve sustainably over time. These questions include reflecting on sustainability throughout the life cycle of KIs, communicating evolving visions and values, engaging communities, right sizing a KI, and developing an iterative process for decision-making. Reflecting on these themes, we suggest, can support KI stakeholders to evolve, not necessarily grow, to meet the needs and values of their communities. How these themes are discussed will necessarily vary by funding sources, disciplines, governance, communities, and other contextual factors. However, adopting a deliberate and strategic approach to KI sustainability and aligning the invisible infrastructural work of KI maintenance with the outward-facing institutional work is, we argue, relevant to all KIs.