How knowledge organization has changed in the last 50 years

[Deutscher Titel: Wie sich die Wissensorganisation in den letzten 50 Jahren verändert hat (Text übersetzen: Deutsch)]

Stella G. Dextre Clarke
The last 50 years of knowledge organization: a journey through my personal archives
Journal of Information Science, Vol. 34, No. 4, 427-437 (2008)

Abstract: At the time when the Institute of Information Scientists was launched, well established principles of classification, especially faceted classification, provided an excellent springboard for developments in knowledge organization thereafter. The principles of thesaurus construction and use were worked out during the first two decades of the Institute’s existence. Up until the end of the 1980s, most practical systems to exploit any of these vocabularies were held on cards, some of them highly ingenious. The subsequent arrival of the desktop computer, soon followed by the growth of networks providing access to an almost unimaginable quantity and variety of resources, has stimulated evolution of the knowledge organization schemes to exploit the technology available. Anecdotes of events and practical applications of controlled vocabularies illustrate this account of developments over the period.

Key Words: faceted classification • punched cards • taxonomies • networked knowledge organization systems • thesauri

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© 2008 Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals