Knowledge Organisation Systems in Digital Environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature about knowledge organisation systems in digital environment. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on the published literature discussing various knowledge organisation systems in library and business environment. The survey is based on free text search for the terms: Knowledge organisation, Knowledge organisation systems, Knowledge organisation tools, Thesaurus, Ontology, Taxonomy, Folkosonomy, Topic maps in various databases (Emerald, Taylor & Francis, Wilson web, Science Direct, Wiley online), and Google during December, 2011. Besides online databases some articles were identified from conventional journals and books. After scrutiny the relevant articles dealing purely with the subject of knowledge organisation were classified and presented under five categories: Thesauri, Ontologies, Taxonomies, Folksonomies, and Topic maps. Findings – Knowledge organisation systems/tools, which differ in complexity, composition, and function, can provide better access to digital collections. Originality/value – The paper provides a review of the application/status of knowledge Organisation systems/tools in digital environment and brings together topics previously reported on in segregation. Keywords- Knowledge organisation, Knowledge organisation systems, Knowledge organisation tools, Thesaurus, Ontology, Taxonomy, Folkosonomy, Topic maps. Paper Type – Literature Review