Lost in Translation: Can We Talk About Big Data Fairly?

Big data and data science are global, there is no alternative in our connected, digi-tal world. Yet, for a truly open and fair science, cultural biases and different op-portunities across different countries must be taken into consideration. English has become the international language for the scientific debate: a single language is most convenient, moreover it is undergoing a process of refinement and adaptation to the science register. On the other hand, laboratories are populat-ed by researchers from all over the world, and much research takes place in non-English-speaking countries, where research tradition often develops moving from different perspectives, influenced by the cultural context. A fair and open science would miss an opportunity if it did not take into consid-eration the multilingualism and multiculturalism of the researchers as individuals and members of specific communities, and could also waste precious time and energies, as language barriers prevent cooperation. The paper will discuss the above-mentioned issues with examples and reflect on the changing role of librarians and information specialists within a global scientific community.