Andrea Scharnhorst, coördinator Research & Innovation at DANS, gave an invited lecture at the WIKICITE-conference in a session organized by Eva Seidelmayr and Jakob Voss.
Her talk introduced the origin, functions and evolution of Knowledge Organisation Systems (KOS). KOS are complex evolving systems. As bodies of knowledge grow, change and new ones emerge, the need also grows to create layers to connect them. In this presentation, Andrea discussed the differences and similarities of how categorization emerges comparing Wikipedia and bibliographic classification systems, as the Universal Decimal Classification.
DANS services cover a variety of different knowledge domains inside the Social Sciences and Humanities. Many of them carrying their own specific Knowledge Organisation Systems expressed in controlled vocabularies. To decide how to implement which kind of controlled vocabulary, it is important to understand their function in information management and knowledge production inside of research.
More information
The slides can be found online. The recording of the session (including discussion) can also be found online. Please contact Andrea Scharnhorst if you have any questions.
