KO-ED Introduction to Knowledge Organization - Principles underlying Knowledge Organization Systems by Vanda Broughton

Principles underlying Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS)

In this class Prof. Vanda Broughton looked at the classification scheme as a tool for organization and retrieval, and at the browsing function offered by systematically, as opposed to alphabetically, organized KOS.  Different ways of constructing a classification were  considered, showing changes in fundamental principles over time, and the emergence of a formal theory of knowledge organization.  There was some discussion of how these changes affect subject indexing as well as classification. The class covered the following topics.

• The systematic approach to knowledge organization; classifications as browsing tools, and as ‘domain maps’
• Development of classification theory throughout the twentieth century
• Changing structures in classification systems
•  Pre-coordination and post-coordination (brief reminder)
•  Enumerative systems, shelf-listing, marking and parking
•  Analytico-synthetic systems, representing complex content of documents, classification for indexing as well as linear organization
• Faceted systems, representation of a domain through its constituent concepts Influence of this changing theory on alphabetical subject indexing