The challenges of knowledge organisation are familiar to us all, from managing and organising our paper files and emails to conducting effective web research. Not only is 'knowledge organisation' relevant to our everyday lives, it is also a fascinating interdisciplinary research domain in itself. Knowledge organisation is of interest to information scientists, linguists, computer scientists, publishers and web designers.
ISKO, the International Society for Knowledge Organization is the international society for the organisation of knowledge. It aims to promote research and to facilitate networking and communication between those interested in knowledge organisation.
The British chapter (ISKO UK) is about to hold its third biennial conference in London. This year the programme explores the boundaries between research and practice.
Mapping scientific research
“The ability to achieve innovation in a … global information society hinges on the capability to swiftly and reliably find, understand, share, and apply complex information from widely distributed sources for discovery, progress, and productivity.”
[Interagency Working Group on Digital Data, 2009]
The importance of knowledge organisation for scientific research is obvious. However the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of much scientific endeavour means it can be difficult to map research outputs. Keynote speaker Patrick Lambe, will explore the challenges of developing a knowledge organisation system to support the development and evaluation of science policy and investment.
The breadth of knowledge organisation - digital literacy, discoverability, digitisation
The conference programme features over 30 speakers from Europe, the USA and Asia representing academia, government, business and professional associations. Presentations include:
Organising organisational knowledge at the London Legacy Development Corporation – Managing the information security, metadata, business classification and data management standards issues of a complex organisation
Joined-up thinking: linking and sharing Science Museum collections and content – creating aggregated content, interlinking it from a number of domains – including archives and images, collections catalogues and content management systems - and facilitating interactivity.
Evidence based library and information practice - using best evidence combined with professional judgement remain common themes for an evidence based approach.
Other speakers include Martin White, Stephen Dale and Marieke Guy. You can find out more about the conference here.