The many outcrops of knowledge organization in the information cycle

Abstract

A reflection is done on the role of Knowledge Organization (KO) as an activity and a discipline in the different phases of the information cycle, while reviewing the articles published in the number 2 of the volume 11 of Scire (Jan.-June 2005), a monographic number on the subject. The set of studies show how KO, far from being an activity circumscribed to a specific phase of the information cycle, is a reference for Information Science, and permeates in all its stages: it is fundamental in content analysis, indexing, vocabulary control, structured vocabularies design and maintenance, information retrieval, and interoperability in complex retrieval spaces like the Internet. It also has a central implication in the Information Science theoretical core —because the conceptual organization of documentary information relates ultimately to the organization of culture and its evolution—; and it is present in the semi —and whole— automatized developments and alternatives that have been proposed in the last decades. Besides, it is analyzed how KO affects less known subjects as interface design and user communication in information systems environments; in operative research, quantitative-based management and the elaboration of statistics; and in the selection of documents. Finally, the implications of KO in other phases of the information cycle are sketched: knowledge creation, communication, evaluation, dissemination and discovery. It is recommended that applied research in KO —done with the aim of developing techniques and KO systems— is compensated with basic research on the processes that are to be optimized and their underlying ones.