Some Current Research Questions in the Field of Knowledge Organization

Abstract

The research dynamics of knowledge organization (KO) show a tendency towards the reformulation of previous questions in the new technology-driven and interdisciplinary context of KO. Current research questions in KO are dominated by a noteworthy interest in quality, related not only to the informational contents recorded in knowledge organization systems (KOS) but also to technical and technological considerations. The integration of knowledge would seem to constitute a quality indicator present in most proposals, and it also responds to the need for KOS with frameworks comprehensible for all user sectors, respecting the diversity of users. The flip side of knowledge integration entails the conjugation of technical, formal and technological aspects, well represented by the word interoperability, or the search for a way to simplify and harmonize the great variety of structures and formats that coexist in the Internet. This paper addresses the aforementioned major research concerns expressed in the last decade of KO literature. It is structured into two broad sections: 1) A demand for quality, touching on research questions related to multilingualism, cross-culturalism, social groups, minorities and ethics, as well as the integration of structures, forms and formats and the respective proposals by scholars; and 2) A demand for managing emergent knowledge in KOS, with a discussion of how to represent and organize work-oriented and organizational knowledge domains, where multidimensional knowledge (multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinarity) is addressed together with the responses put forth by various researchers.