From the catalog of index cards to the vector space. Language models as infrastructures of mediation and social memory
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34096/ics.i53.17710Keywords:
Cataloguing, Large Language Models, Social memory, Documentary mediationAbstract
In this study a historical parallel is drawn between the emergence of the card catalog at the end of the 18th century and the contemporary rise of Large Language Models (LLMs), identifying them as analogous technological milestones in the organization of knowledge. It is argued that both artifacts arose as technical and provisional responses to logistical challenges of scale. Based on this analogy, potential challenges for the field of library science are analyzed. It is concluded that these issues, although presented with renewed intensity, bring to the forefront fundamental questions of the discipline regarding the status of legitimate knowledge, interpretation, and the material circulation of cultural artifacts.
ARK CAICYT: https://id.caicyt.gov.ar/ark:/s18511740/ppv90454i
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