Epistemic Justice and Linked Data: Balancing Global Interoperability and Community Knowledge

Linked data technologies present significant opportunities for enhancing interoperability across distributed information systems. This article examines linked data as a boundary object that facilitates knowledge exchange between heterogeneous communities, while addressing technical challenges in representing diverse epistemological frameworks and advancing epistemic justice. Through an analysis of three implementation cases—Mukurtu, Wikidata, and Linked Jazz—this study demonstrates how linked data architectures can accommodate varied knowledge representation requirements while maintaining technical coherence. The findings suggest that boundary object theory offers a valuable framework for understanding and optimizing linked data implementations in culturally diverse contexts, revealing patterns of epistemic mediation that can inform the design of more equitable knowledge infrastructures.