Freirean Design for Emancipatory Information Access

A new paper on arXiv (2601.09600) applies Paulo Freire's theories of emancipatory pedagogy to online information access (IA) platforms, arguing these platforms are vulnerable to authoritarian capture. The authors critique the dominant frames of fairness, accountability, and transparency, and challenge the technologist-user dichotomy that mirrors Freire's teacher-student relation. They reject the 'technologists-as-liberator' frame and advocate for Freirean Design, which aims to structurally expose platforms for co-option and co-construction by marginalized communities. The paper was announced as a replace-cross on arXiv.