Constructing information policies

epistemological and methodological aspects

Abstract

This paper discusses the construction of information policies from the standpoint of epistemological reflection and methodological proposition. Theorizations developed by Bruno Latour and Bernd Frohmann are the point of departure for choosing an approach that allows adequate confrontation of the various challenges that construction meets. We also advance the suggestion of articulating analytical models proposed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Janete de Azevedo, so as to deal with the multiple-level dynamics of local and global interactions involved in policy construction. Our discussion aims at paving the way to the identification of possibilities and the stimulation of strategy development in situations involving the pursuit of a less unbalanced relationship between local potentialities and global pressures. The horizon we
envision associates answering local demands for information access with creating adequate local conditions to participating in “information society” with enough space guaranteed for the manifestation of cultural identity and lesser risk of subscription to subalternity.