Intellection and Intuition: On the Epistemology of S.R. Ranganathan

The Indian librarian and library theorist S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1970) is generally recognized as a seminal figure in the development of facet analysis and its application to classification theory. In recent years, commentators on the epistemology of knowledge organization have claimed that the methods of facet analysis reflect a fundamentally rationalist approach to classification. Yet, for all the interest in the epistemological bases of Ranganathan’s classification theory, little attention has been paid to his theory of how human beings acquire knowledge of the world – i.e., his epistemology proper – or to the question whether this theory reflects a rationalist outlook. This paper examines Ranganathan’s statements on the origins of knowledge to assess if they are congruent with rationalist epistemology. Ranganathan recognized two different modes of knowledge – intellection (i.e., intellectual operations on sense data) and intuition (i.e., direct cognition of things-in-themselves) -- and it is in virtue of the latter that his epistemology can be considered to fall within the ambit of rationalism. Intuition as a source of knowledge plays a role in Ranganathan’s classification theory, most notably in his model of scientific method underlying classification development, his vision of the organization of classification design, and his conceptualization of seminal mnemonics and a reduced number of fundamental categories as important elements in the design of classification notation. Not only does intuition subtend the rationalism of Ranganathan’s epistemology but it also serves as a bridge to another often-neglected aspect of his thought, namely his valorization of mysticism. Indeed, Ranganathan’s theory of knowledge is best characterized as mystical rationalism

Ways of Being and Ways of Knowing: Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology and Knowledge Organization

This paper examines some of the problems within the field of knowledge organization that arise from its roots within the Western philosophical tradition, specifically in relation to the technological view of the world as expressed by Martin Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology. It attempts not only to outline the weaknesses of this worldview, but also to provide a path towards expansion and inclusion of a larger variety of worldviews. Given the importance of ontology within Heidegger's philosophy, this paper considers epistemology as rooted in ontology, and attempts to center knowledge organization within ontology. The goal is the development of a human-centered approach to knowledge organization which encompasses the creator and the world of the creator as well as the user and the world of the user, and builds upon community and connections between them. The goal of this approach is to arrive at a philosophy of knowledge organization that can successfully interact with knowledge expressed in a wide variety of forms (tools and works of art in addition to verbal treatises) and from a variety of cultures and socio-economic groups.

Cultural Biases in Knowledge Organization Systems: A Discussion Regarding International University Rankings

This paper aims to: 1. present university rankings as knowledge organization systems; 2. compare the structures from the following rankings: Times, QS, Shangai, and Linden; and 3. point out cultural biases which permeate these university rankings.

Observing trajectories of KOSs Across Space and Time: The DANS KOS Observatory (KOSo)

Knowledge Organization Systems (KOSs) include a wide variety of schemas ranging from ontologies, to classifications, thesauri, taxonomies, semantic networks, etc. These schemas can be updated and revised (or conversely become obsolete or lost) and are therefore prone to change over time. A wish expressed frequently by the research front in the KO community was for an “observatory” of KOSs. In 2017, via the KNAW Visiting Professor programme, DANS [1] began to focus more on understanding how KOSs change over time, how they can be archived, how version identification and control can be addressed, and also, how KOSs can be aligned to the ‘FAIR’ Data Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). This research ambition coupled with community interest lead to the creation of the KOSo (Knowledge Organization Systems Observatory). Concretely, the observatory involves the identification of KOSs within the social sciences and humanities or the life sciences. KOSs have been described and ordered in the observatory through a process of empirical association in order to resist the potential pitfall of already organizing these resources through the lens of other KOSs (e.g. already describing the KOS in terms of existing controlled vocabularies). KOSo employs both metadata terms and formal classifications, using the Information Coding Classification in a synthetic format together with the KO Literature Classification, thus rendering for each KOS a domain-centric term faceted with a KOS-form term. Additionally, we classify domains using the NARCIS Classification, which is a framework to represent the research foci of the Dutch national research infrastructure.

The Contribution of James Duff Brown to the Analytic-Synthetic Method: Comparisons with Otlet, Kaiser, and Ranganathan

Considering that the analytic-synthetic method is still one of the main methodological approaches to knowledge organization, the present paper aims to highlight the contribution of James Duff Brown to the development of this method. We conducted a comparative analysis based on William James's pragmatism in order to investigate the convergences of Brown’s work with other authors of the analytic-synthetic movement, namely Otlet, Kaiser, and Ranganathan. Our pragmatist analysis reveals that Brown developed a similar stance to the aforementioned authors based on the analysis and synthesis of subjects for knowledge organization.

Ethics for Contingent Classifications: Rorty’s Pragmatic Ethics and Postmodern Knowledge Organization

There is potential disconnect between a view of classification as historically and culturally contingent and the ethics of KO. For instance, Mai (2011) urges a shift away from the ‘modernity’ of received classification theory, towards a more pluralistic view that acknowledges the social, political, and historical contingency of classification as a practice. While this is a view shared by many, it is not evident how such an approach can support an ethics which prioritizes a commitment to truth, fairness, democracy, and the common good. A view of such values as merely contingent factors in classification activities would seem to undermine their use as ethical ideals, posing a choice between abandoning modernist tendencies and a workable ethics of KO. An ethics that is consonant with core methodological commitments is critical if we seek to preserve both disciplinary rigor and claim to serve the common good. Rorty's thought is presented as an ethics compatible with a view of classification as contingent. His suggestion of an ironic ethics is presented and distinguished from cynicism, which is a common misinterpretation of this aspect of his thought. Finally, his ethical principle of solidarity is shown to be broadly compatible with the traditional values of the field of LIS, while approaching it from a philosophical standpoint that doesn’t demand or encourage the universalizing tendencies which Mai and others have exhorted us to abandon. In short, this paper attempts to preserve the baby of a workable ethics while discarding the bathwater of universalism in knowledge organization.

Public Knowledge, Private Ignorance, and an Analytic of Knowledge Organization

Patrick Wilson’s writings have proven to be the foundation for much of our thinking about the organization of documents and their subtle connection to power structures that govern their construction and use. His examinations of public versus private knowledge, for example, expand how we understand individual and social epistemology within the field. In his writings, however, Wilson speaks as an idealist, generally glossing over the problem of how technologies mediate and impact the relationship between people, on the one hand, and the circulation and constitution of knowledge, on the other. He did not analyze how knowledge organization structures (KO) could be effective for some people or some forms of knowledge, and ineffective for others, nor did he analyze similarly the constitutive components of KO as they relate to the differential effects on the use of knowledge. We posit that pluralistic modes of understanding KO are a fruitful way forward for the discipline. This paper conceptualizes how we can build on Wilson’s critical conversations about epistemology in the domain of KO from three specific angles: KO as pluralized space, a political economy of KO, and KO and political pragmatics.

Representing Aboutness: Automatically Indexing 19th- Century Encyclopedia Britannica Entries

Representing aboutness is a challenge for humanities documents, given the linguistic indeterminacy of the text. The challenge is even greater when applying automatic indexing to historical documents for a multidisciplinary collection, such as encyclopedias. The research presented in this paper explores this challenge with an automatic indexing comparative study examining topic relevance. The setting is the NEH-funded 19th-Century Knowledge Project, where researchers in the Digital Scholarship Center, Temple University, and the Metadata Research Center, Drexel University, are investigating the best way to index entries across four historical editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica (3rd, 7th, 9th, and 11th editions). Individual encyclopedia entry entries were processed using the Helping Interdisciplinary Vocabulary Engineering (HIVE) system, a linked-data, automatic indexing terminology application that uses controlled vocabularies. Comparative topic relevance evaluation was performed for three separate keyword extraction algorithms: RAKE, Maui, and Kea++. Results show that RAKE performed the best, with an average of 67% precision for RAKE, and 28% precision for both Maui and Kea++. Additionally, the highest-ranked HIVE results with both RAKE and Kea++ demonstrated relevance across all sample entries, while Maui’s highest-ranked results returned zero relevant terms. This paper reports on background information, research objectives and methods, results, and future research prospects for further optimization of RAKE’s algorithm parameters to accommodate for encyclopedia entries of different lengths, and evaluating the indexing impact of correcting the historical Long S.

Side by Side: The Use of Multiple Subject Languages in Capturing Shifting Contexts around Historical Collections

Archival representations strive to convey the original context around historical collections, but perspectives on certain topics and materials may change over time. Such shifting perspectives pose problems for providing appropriate subject access without obscuring contexts or misrepresenting resources in their broader cultural settings. This study seeks to examine these problems through an investigation of historical materials associated with American sideshows, public opinions on which changed drastically from the 19th to the 20th centuries. Using as a case the Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs, an archival collection of digitized images of sideshow performers, we explored a variety of systems of subject representation for major concepts and terms relevant to sideshow performers and activities. Combining keyword extraction and descriptive analysis of current collection metadata (e.g., LCSH) with comparisons to other popular systems of subject representation, we found complex and conflicting perspectives on concepts such as dwarfism, hypertrichosis, and obesity. Results revealed that current LCSH-based subject metadata for these materials tends to reduce historical and demographic context around performers and highlight contemporary medical perspectives. At the same time, original language used in these images is now often seen as demeaning, exploitative, and offensive. Furthermore, neither of these perspectives may match with self-identifying language used in contemporary society. Taken together, however, these sets of terminologies and their relationships may provide a more robust representation of changing perceptions and terminologies over time. Findings from this study reveal the potentials of utilizing a faceted approach and multiple subject languages together to further clarify and contextualize archival collections.