United for Justice? A Critical Review of Social Justice Research in Information Science and Technology

As calls for justice in science and technology grow louder, the number of studies that seek to center equity and justice continues to grow. While the resulting body of knowledge is commonly assumed to constitute a monolith in terms of its theories, methods, priorities, and communities, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate the diversity of the extant justice-oriented research in information science and technology. Specifically, we show that, similar to other emerging research streams, as certain justice-oriented works become well-known and enter the mainstream, the margins once again shift and new, even more progressive ideas appear on the epistemological horizon, fighting for visibility. This study argues that instead of becoming too comfortable with what has now become the justice-oriented mainstream, the information science and technology literature should learn from the vanguard ideas in this area, some of which are presently being silently neglected.