The aim of this article is to show the socio-cultural ambivalence of databases. On the one hand, they are perceived as impersonal technological representations providing their users with objective information. On the other, they are the result of intentional human action, were created in a specific context, and serve the realization of some purpose defined by their creators. The metaphor that arises from this duality is that of a mirror—reflecting the image of the world, but at the same time deforming it in various manners. The author presents the three main aspects of databases’ ambivalence. The first is the question of selecting the material for the database: the material’s ostensible objectivity and the subjective nature of the choice. The second is the question of the exhibition of cultural content within the framework of the database: the tension between an ideologically neutral presentation of the world and the strategy of exhibition. The third subject raised is the use of databases: full access for users, a framework imposed by the creators, or somewhere in between.
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