Sources of Change for Modern Knowledge Organization Systems

Abstract: Knowledge Organization Systems (e.g. taxonomies and ontologies) continue to contribute benefits in the design of information systems by providing a shared conceptual underpinning for developers, users, and automated systems. However, the standard mechanisms for the management of KOSs changes are inadequate for systems built on top of thousands of data sources or with the involvement of hundreds of individuals. In this work, we review standard sources of change for KOSs (e.g. institutional shifts; standards cycles; cultural and political; distribution, etc) and then proceed to catalog new sources of change for KOSs ranging from massively cooperative development to always-on automated extraction systems. Finally, we reflect on what this means for the design and management of KOSs.