Knowledge organization tools

Abstract
Due to the influence of changing socio-political and economic situations, there is a marked change in
the information needs of people in the 21
st
century. In today's context people want to have value
added and customized information that would help in problem solving and creative thinking. On the
other hand there is rapid growth in scientific knowledge in the past few decades, and Internet and the
world wide web are emerging as major repositories of knowledge and information. Traditional subject-
based knowledge organization tools are unable to cope up with the information demands of the
knowledge society thus influencing information professionals all over the world to design and develop
effective and efficient knowledge organization tools to meet the information requirements of the
21
st
century. Since knowledge and information are intricately linked with the human mind any attempt
to design knowledge organization and information retrieval tools must have an insight on certain
fundamental aspects like the reason for human beings seek knowledge, cognitive functions and
capabilities of human mind, influence of societal and technological aspects on knowledge growth etc.
This paper briefly discusses each of these fundamental aspects and suggests an alternative knowledge
organization and information retrieval tool based on basic and advanced 'human needs'.
Introduction
All the knowledge organization tools developed till date attempt to organize the universe of knowledge
based on the fundamental subjects or subject groups. The core objective all these knowledge
organization tools is to provide an immediate and precise information to users as per their information
requirements. Due to the influence of changing socio-political and economic situations, there is a
marked change in the information needs of people in the 21
st
century. In today's context people want
to have value added and customized information that would help in problem solving and creative
thinking. On one hand there is change in the information requirements on the other hand rapid growth
in scientific knowledge in the past few decades and emergence of the Internet and world wide web as
major repositories of knowledge and information. Because of these factors the knowledge organization
tools developed based on the fundamental subjects are unable to satisfy the information requirements
of the 21
st
century thus compelling information professionals all over the world to find solutions to the
problem of information storage and retrieval. Before setting ourselves to develop alternatives to
conventional knowledge organization tools, one should understand some of the fundamental issues
like origins of knowledge, its purpose and functions, influence of socio-economic and cultural factors
on knowledge growth, characteristics and role of digital technologies, media and environments on
form and format in which information is stored, and study the limitations of subject-based knowledge
organization tools, initiatives undertaken to improve the efficiency of existing tools and need for
alternative approaches, as clarity on these issues will help in designing efficient and effective
knowledge organization tools satisfying the present day requirement and hopefully set direction for
future development too.
This paper briefly discusses each of these issues and then suggests strategies to improve the
information retrieval in the digital environments and presents an alternative model which organizes
the universe of knowledge based on basic and advanced 'human needs'.
Origins of Knowledge

Birth of internal and external knowledge
knowledge is the mental reference model formed by human mind when it experiences the physical
objects or non-physical phenomena of the external world through its higher senses, and delves upon
these observed facts through its cognitive capabilities such as deduction, inference, comprehension
etc. In other words, the knowledge is created because of the ability of human mind to
document/develop reference models in response to:
The interactions and dynamic relationships the humans establish with their environments (including both
natural that is physical as well as social environments)
The interactions and dynamic relationships that operate between various components of natural/physical
and social environments.
The results and outcomes of those interactions and so on and so forth.
Development of these mental reference models are conditioned by certain fundamental factors like -
Context - various social, economic, political, cultural situations in which human beings perform;
Functional roles - The two sets of functional roles played by human beings during their life time as
members of a family and as members of the bigger society as that of an academician, professional,
manufacturer, philosopher, teacher, student, so on and so forth within the geographical spaces and
time frames condition the mental reference models developed by the human mind.
The knowledge so formed when shared among other members of the society or community it became
the external knowledge. Knowledge consists of facts, perspectives, concepts, beliefs, judgments and
expectations, methodologies, and know-how and much more. Prior to the invention of printing press
humans shared and passed on knowledge from one member to another member of the community
through word of mouth and later the print medium had become the predominant medium for sharing
and exchanging of knowledge because of inherent advantages like ease of replication, long shelf life,
and ease of dissemination etc. Thus invention of printing press had positively impacted the growth of
external knowledge over the generations.
Processes by which human mind seeks and uses the knowledge
Human mind tries to know about things of the external world by dividing them into small parts and
viewing each part as a whole in its own right. The process of learning includes understanding facts and
phenomena about self, surroundings, and environments and also learning about personal, individual,
social and societal needs and problems, etc, and forming opinions, values, beliefs etc through
analysis, evaluation and comparison. Understanding is at primary level. Evaluation, analysis and
comparison are at higher levels. Thus human mind learns and understands by division. However while
finding solutions to human needs, human mind does so by integrating the knowledge acquired by
division. In other words while working on solutions to human needs, mind retrieves information from
all the relevant components of the knowledge base cutting across all arbitrary divisions like natural
sciences, physical sciences, social sciences etc. That is the reason why rigid boundaries of the subject
based knowledge organization tools pose obstacles in effective utilization of knowledge by human
mind.
Purpose of knowledge
It is a well understood and recorded fact that the human mind seeks knowledge to sustain and
improve its quality of life as an individual and of the society as a whole not only for the present but for
future also. Thus at the physical level the knowledge has two purposes firstly to enable human beings
to use the knowledge to solve his individual, social and societal needs, Peter Drucker (1992) very
lucidly explains the point when he says, "Knowledge like electricity or money is a form of energy that
exists only when doing work." Secondly to pass on the knowledge accumulated while solving the
human needs to next generations, through education and also as a knowledge base. At a level higher
than physical, the purpose of knowledge is to enable human being to know himself.
Influence of Socio-economic and cultural factors on growth of the
knowledge
McGarry (1993) in his book titled "The Changing Context of Information" explains the reasons for the
growth of disciplines. He says, "No matter how theoretical a discipline may be its origins lie in a social
need of some kind and it also satisfies some of the social needs of its members. Not least among
these needs are intellectual curiosity and self esteem". If we observe the trends in scientific research,
we can observe the link between societal needs and growth of knowledge very clearly. Fundamental
research was at its peak when man was more curious to find out the secrets of the universe and to
clear the mysteries of the nature and universe etc. This type of research has contributed to the growth
of knowledge by way of specialising on narrower topics and splitting the basic subjects into their minor
components etc. Applied research or problem oriented research was at its peak when man wanted to
find solutions to the problems of the world like hunger, diseases, energy crisis, human settlements,
etc. This type of research contributed to the growth of knowledge by applying the knowledge to solve
the problems and thus created a whole range of applied disciplines like engineering, medical sciences,
pharmacy, agriculture, etc. Third type of research is mission-oriented research is at its helm when
man wanted to apply the knowledge of one area to solve the problems in another, e.g. biotechnology,
genetic engineering, expert systems etc. This kind of research contributes to the growth of knowledge
by creating multi-disciplinary topics. For example, expert systems combines otherwise very distinct
subjects such as computer technology, psychology, cognitive sciences, physiology of the brain, etc.
Every advancement in the field of science and technology, making the subjects more and more
complex. At the same time these advancements are having tremendous influence on the social fabric
of life. They are influencing a change in those subjects which are society related such as economics,
commerce, business, law. This can be better illustrated with the following example. Internet
technology has changed the way people communicate with each other and introduced new ways of
doing business through e-commerce, e-shopping etc. These new ways of business require new ways of
dealing with money, transactions. New rules and regulations have to be created to ensure the smooth
and safe business transactions. As a result new theories and concepts are getting added to
conventional knowledge.
Similarly due to socio-economic and political phenomena like globalization and liberalization issues like
human rights, human security, human development drawing attention of not only academicians,
intellectuals and development workers but also of national governments and international
organizations. Though they appear to belong to the realm of social sciences, satisfactory solutions to
these issues demand collaboration and synergism of all disciplines of the universe of knowledge. Such
situations have given rise to multidisciplinary topics blurring the borders that were drawn among
various subjects. Peter Drucker says, "The technology of the twentieth century embraces and feeds off
the entire array of human knowledge, the physical sciences as well as the humanities... We cannot
tolerate such a split any more. We will have to demand of the scientifically trained man that he again
become a humanist; otherwise he will lack the knowledge and perception needed to make his science
effective, indeed to make it truly scientific. And we will have to demand of the humanist that he
acquires an understanding of science, or else his humanities will be irrelevant and ineffectual. We will,
above all have to demand of the people concerned with economy, whether as politicians, as
businessmen, or as researchers, that they understand both cultures and move with equal ease in
both."(Drucker, P. F. 1992)
Influence of the Medium on Form and Format of information
sources
Within the context of information organization and retrieval, the invention of printing of movable type
by Gutenberg in early 15
th
century and the Internet and world wide web in the later part of
20
th
century which started the print era and electronic era respectively had tremendous influence on
the whole process of information generation, dissemination storage and access. Some of the salient
features of these eras in terms of
Forms in which information is disseminated
Books, journals, magazines, and newspapers are the major forms in which knowledge is generated,
disseminated and stored during the print era. In the electronic era online publications, websites, e-
mail communications, electronic documents have become the major forms for information generation
storage and dissemination.
Predominant type used for information dissemination
Textual information dominated the print era, although audio visual forms also used to share
information, their contribution in comparison to text is minimal and restricted to niche areas like mass
media and entertainment etc. Electronic era eased out the limitations of audio-visual forms of print era
and facilitating information dissemination not only in audio-visual form but through video, and
multimedia also.
Physical versus virtual
Information sources in the print era are generated using physical materials like paper and ink hence
occupy physical space, hence have the limitations like inability to be at more than one place on the
shelf of a library at any given point of time and replication involves lot of expenditure in terms of cost,
physical space and physical materials. Management and maintenance is very cumbersome. In contrast
electronic information sources are generated through electronic waves so they are virtual hence
provide flexibility in accessing as many times as possible by as many users as possible from as many
locations as possible. Replication is simple and needs minimum maintenance. They become physical
only when a hard copy is generated from the electronic version.
Information source versus information
In the context of print era, the objective of information retrieval tools is to indicate the location and
presence of information sources matching with the information requirements of users. The onus of
finding information in those sources lies with the users. However in digital environments the objective
is to retrieve information and display it on the computer screen of the user.
Repositories of public knowledge
Libraries operating at different levels whether they are public libraries, or libraries attached to
different universities, colleges, schools, or special libraries serving R&D institutions, various
government private organization etc the sole repositories of public knowledge where people would go
to access information. However in the electronic era due to the prevalence of personal computers and
its variants with internet facility, virtually the repositories of public knowledge are sitting on the study
tables of each and every individual. Unlimited access to information is just a click away.
Control over public knowledge
Since libraries are the sole repositories, they have physical control over all the information sources
present within library premises. Librarians and other information professionals are authorized to
decide on the place and location of any particular information source with in the framework of
knowledge organization tools used by them.
When it comes to Internet and WWW, there is no single organization or group of organizations who is
controlling the Internet and WWW. Hence there is no authority which can organize the information
sources on the Net. Internet is like a virtual wall on which anybody and every body can put their
graffiti. Nobody knows what's published on the WWW. Individuals or groups or organizations who host
websites and other forms of information sources may or may not have necessary skills to organize
their information based on the standard knowledge organization tools available.
Interfaces between users and information sources
In the conventional library setting users can have advantage of seeking help from either human
interfaces like library and information professionals or other computer interfaces using help-lines etc.
more often than not users in the library can physically browse the documents physically present on
the shelves. However in the Internet environment search engines are the only interfaces present
between users and the information sources. Users can only browse the results retrieved and displayed
by the search engines.
Initiatives taken so far towards organizing the Web
For the last decade or so, universities, corporate R&D establishments and professional bodies have
taken a lot of initiatives to bring some kind of an order and organization into WWW. Dublin Metadata
project initiated by OCLC in 1995 is one of the major efforts in this direction. Although as of today
metadata has certain drawbacks in terms cost, unreliability, subjectivity, lack of authentication and
lack of interoperability with respect to syntax and semantics (Hunter, J.L. 2003). However efforts are
underway key areas like Extensible Markup Languages (XML), which enable website publishers to
develop metadata application profiles to satisfy the information needs of a particular community or
application. Multimedia metadata - to describe resources like image, video, audio, multimedia and
interactive digital objects. Search engines for different languages, and semantic web technologies etc,
to overcome these limitations and provide an effective means to organize content on the Internet.
Among these initiatives semantic web technologies has special significance because as described by
Tim Berners-Lee the brain behind www technologies "The Semantic Web is an extension of the current
Web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to
work in cooperation."(Tim Berners-Lee et al, 2001) Formal languages like RDF (Resource Discription
Framework, OWL (Web Ontology Languages) and ontologies are main building blocks of the Semantic
web technologies. Ontologies are a type of controlled vocabularies used both to describe the subject
contents specific to a particular domain and also to establish relationships across domains and thus
enable cross-domain searching and integration of information. Most of the work in knowledge
organization for digital environments is focusing on design and development of ontologies to match
the domain specific information requirements (Hunter, J.L., 2003).
Research on metadata is still in its infancy so it is too early to predict the effectiveness of these
initiatives. However a review of the research done so far indicates that many of the ontologies,
taxonomies metadata schemas are based on the subject-based approach and people are going deep in
their own specialization hence failing to develop a holistic perspective of the cognitive processes of
human mind like knowledge organization information seeking and information retrieval.
On the other hand there is a continuous effort to improve the efficiency of search engines through
adopting improved and better strategies for page ranking, indexing and documenting the usage
patters etc. Still search engines suffer from the problems inherent in keyword searching like significant
differences in results stemming from trivial variations in search statements, irrelevance and
redundancy in search results etc. A survey conducted on web search patterns observed that most web
queries are short, without much modification, and simple in structure. Use of advanced search
features and Boolean operators is improving but still they are seldom used by public. People tend not
to browse beyond the first or second results pages. The subject distribution of web queries does not
seem to map to the distribution of websites' subject content (Spink, A., 2003) indicating that search
engines have to have the ability to match the subject distribution of queries with the subject
distribution of websites in order to improve their efficiency.
Limitations of the Subject-based Approach
Almost 75 years back Sri S.R. Ranganathan while visiting various libraries in Europe as part of his
professional apprenticeship, made some observations on the status of libraries at that time about
which he described in his book titled "The Five Laws of Library Science" as "Libraries were found to be
in different stages of development. But the lines of development in the different sectors of library
practices appeared to be unrelated. Discussions with those working in different sectors led to the
impression that each was working in his own sector without much of contact or correlation with other
sectors... There was no evidence of an overall view... Consequently what could be seen was only an
aggregate of diverse practices without an integral relation... It all appeared to be a matter of rule of
thumb and severely empirical." A lot of thought went into developing efficient knowledge organization
tools in these 75 years.
Intellectuals working on knowledge organization tools like classification systems, thesauri have
expressed at various points of time their helplessness and unhappiness in organizing the knowledge
using subject-based knowledge organization tools. Mr. B.C.Vickery, once noted that "the implications
of knowledge organisation have not been fully accepted with in information science". He recommended
to look beyond the domain of library and information science and to examine more closely the variety
of ways in which public knowledge can be organized (Vickery, B.C., 1997). Ranganathan's dynamic
theory of classification tried to resolve the issue of formation of new subjects. He further conceived
the idea of "APUPA" order to deal with classification of related and fringe subjects (Ranganathan, S.R.,
1989). The editorial committee of Dewey Decimal Classification is also continuously bringing new
editions by changing, relocating and expanding existing tables and schedules to accommodate new
topics, new terms and new branches of subjects etc. The 22
nd
edition of DDC which was brought out in
the year 2003 had major changes like
completely updated schedules 004-006 Data processing Computer science.
introduced several improvements to 340 Law that relate to the law of nations, human rights, and
intergovernmental organizations
changed the name of Table 5 from "Racial, Ethnic, National Groups" to "Ethnic and National Groups" to
reflect the de-emphasis on race in current scholarship, etc. However the problem still persists even after
75 years.
Disillusioned by this inability of the standard classification systems, and with the introduction of
automatic information retrieval tools encouraged many people either to develop their own
classification schemes to suit their specifics needs, "SATIS"
[1]
(Socially Appropriate Technologies
Information System) classification scheme, "Akshara "
[2]
, SCNM classification scheme
[3]
are some such
initiatives in this direction. Or depend on keyword-based information retrieval strategies. Last decades
of 20
th
century has seen the growth of keyword base information retrieval tools like KWIC
[4]
(KeyWord
In Context), KWOC
[5]
(KeyWord Out of Context). Most of the search engines, the interfaces developed
to retrieve information on the web still depend on keywords. These attempts are like 'break-away
factions' of political parties. Like the 'break-away factions' these special classification schemes may
develop their own methods to organize knowledge to suit their specific requirements but their
approach and outlook is same as their parent classification schemes, over a period of time these niche
area classification schemes are bound to face same problems those are faced by their parent
classification schemes.
Reasons for persistency of the problem
Insistence to adhere to the principle of conformity with scientific and educational
consensus
Henry E. Bliss (1934) while elaborating the principles underlying his bibliographic classification stated
that if a classification was to serve with maximal efficiency, it should conform fundamentally to the
organization of knowledge established in the scientific and educational consensus. Earlier to Bliss,
James D. Brown, W.C.B. Sayers also had the same belief that there was a definite order of science
which the library classification should follow. In doing so the knowledge organization tools also
followed the same objectivity which science came to insist on. Science emphasized on the external
verification by objective means as the only valid basis for scientific knowledge. Subjectivity of any kind
was frowned upon as unscientific. Knowledge organization tools developed with this approach proved
successful till the time books were devoted to describe a single topic or a single subject etc. But
changing social conditions which triggered the growth of inter disciplinary topics during the industrial
age and topics discussing different socio-political and economic perspectives, and points of views as in
the information age. This has brought out the inability of subject-based knowledge organization tools
not only in organizing the knowledge but also in retrieving the information as per the changing
information needs.
Emphasis on objectivity and neutrality
Since knowledge organization tools tried to follow closely the development of science, they purposely
tried to represent the universe of knowledge in a neutral, unbiased and objective manner. But
neutrality and objectivity have never existed in the true sense. Information is always sought to meet
human needs of some sort or the other, users always seek information with a definite orientation, bias
and context, depending upon the human needs they are working at that time. If we take an example,
a person working on creating awareness on HIV/AIDS requires information dealing with the concept in
a more general way. But a research scientist working on the disease would like to have information on
the virus and its effect on human immunity system etc. At the same time a person working on the
cure of the disease would want information on the kind of medicines available in the market their
curative powers, so on and so forth. All these people though looking for the same topic HIV/AIDS have
different orientation, different contexts and different perspective about the same topic. But in subject-
based knowledge organization tools there is no provision to represent these bias and different
perspectives.
Inability to represent and reflect the meaning of a word or a phrase
This is a problem particularly prominent in the digital environments because the system performs the
search based on the actual text string entered rather than on an interpretation of the meaning of the
string. For example a search on AIDS may retrieve information sources dealing with
educational aids, or audio-visual aids, or financial aids, so on and so forth because in a search
program which treats the words or phrases as a set of characters or as a string there is no provision to
make the program understand the different meanings associated with a particular word or a phrase.
Inability to represent the relationships that exists between various concepts
Conventional knowledge organization tools represent only the broad hierarchical relationships that
exist between concepts, but there is no provision to represent various associative and lateral
relationships that exist among concepts. For example "dog" is narrower term for "canine" and also a
narrower term for "pets". When somebody needs information on dog as sub set of canines, the
information required may be about canine characteristics, physiological and anatomical feature etc,
and as pet the information required would be like behavioural patterns, types of breeds available as
pets etc. The concept "dog" will also have an associated relationship with "crime detection" as dogs
are used in crime detection. There is no provision to capture these multiple relationships of concepts.
Features of future knowledge organization and information retrieval
tools
In the light of the above discussed aspects related and relevant to knowledge organization and
information retrieval, the knowledge organization and information retrieval tools should have the
ability to
capability of retrieving information based on which human beings can act in order to meet their human
needs at various levels
ability to provide a over all view of the universe of knowledge which will set a direction and goal for
human development.
Accommodate abstract knowledge like judgments, values, beliefs etc, and able to retrieve information on
the same.
Flexible enough to represent and reflect the dynamic relationships that exist among various subjects and
disciplines.
Retrieve information meet the specifications demanded by 21
st
century problems.
Organize and retrieve knowledge stored in print as well as in electronic media.
Organising knowledge based on 'Human Needs'
Human needs are eternal and universal
Human needs are the motivators for human being to seek knowledge. The needs can be of different
types as described by Maslow
[6]
Through out the history of mankind, the human needs remained
constant, because human being the 'Homosapien" is same since its origin, however the means
adopted by human being to fulfill and meet his/her needs have kept on changing as human being
went on acquiring more and more knowledge. Human needs are universal in nature and are same
irrespective of national boundaries, economic status of nations, religions, beliefs and cultures followed
by populations of the world. Hence knowledge organization model based on human needs will have
universal applicability,
adaptability,
scalability,
interoperability and
suitability to both electronic as well as conventional environments.
Human needs are multi-dimensional and multifaceted because they originate, and operate with in the
social and natural environments in which human being lives and as a response to the dynamic
interactions and relationships human being develops with its environments. Thus whatever may be the
level and type of the human need, will always influence and be influenced by social, economic,
environmental, political, scientific, technological situations and factors of the society at physical level
and judged by beliefs, values, opinions at higher level with in the context of space and time. As a
result the external knowledge created by human being will also be multi-faceted and
multidimensional. If we consider 'human-needs' as the basis for designing knowledge organization and
information retrieval tools then the tools so developed will be able to represent and accommodate
these intricate and complex relationships that operate in the society.
Matching of knowledge base and human information needs
This approach will suit to both conventional library environments and digital environments because the
purpose and reason for which information sought is same irrespective of the medium in which it is
stored. It can solve the disparity or mismatch between the subject distribution of content available on
the websites and subject distribution of queries as observed by Amanda Spink (Spink, A., 2003).
Because in the present situation mapping of the subject content of websites is done based on subject
approach, where as people have the needs-based approach. However if we organize based on 'human
needs' then there will be an automatic alignment of subject content of the websites and users'
information requirements
Knowledge as a resource of the knowledge society
In the knowledge society, knowledge has become a resource rather than an end in itself, knowledge is
a means to some result. Knowledge as the central energy of a modern society exists altogether in
application and when it is put to work (Drucker, P. F., 1992). As knowledge has become resource, in
the knowledge society, knowledge is required not only for education but also various other societal
and life processes/functions. So in the knowledge society, if knowledge organization tools still believe
in conforming to the educational consensus only, then they are bound to fail in their objective of
meeting the information requirements of its users. Since human needs are universal, and eternal, all
the societal functions/application referred by Drucker are aimed at meeting the human needs,
knowledge organization tool based on human needs will be able to satisfy the information
requirements of the knowledge society.
Dynamic and Cyclical Universe
The universe, the nature is dynamic. Since human being is a significant part of this dynamic universe
and nature, human being and the social and societal environments created by it are also dynamic. The
relationships that exists in this dynamic universe can broadly be understood as
Human - human
Human - societal environment, social environment
Human - natural environment
Societal and social environment - societal and social environment
Societal and social environment - natural environment
Natural environment - natural environment
These relationships and interactions lead to results of various kinds, which in turn become part of the
societal, social and natural environments in which the human being operates, thus completing the
cycle. For example Global warming is a result of interaction between societal environment and natural
environment. Global warming - the result will in turn become the part of natural environment, which
interacts with natural environment causing climate changes, endangering fauna, flora etc. Since
human needs are response and results of these interactions, and external knowledge created by
human being reflects and represents these interactions and results, organizing knowledge on this
basis will automatically accommodate the cyclical nature of dynamic universe.
Since ontologies are specific to a particular subject/discipline domain, they will exhibit all the
relationships that exist in the particular subject/discipline which may cover one or two of categories of
relationships described in the above paragraph. For example an ontology developed for agricultural
science may show relationships belonging to natural environment to natural environment category,
where as ontologies developed based on 'human needs' would depict relationships of all categories.
The following example would illustrate the point -
If we take concept 'soil' in the context of agricultural science, it will show the following relationships of
'soil' like
concept relationships, whole/part relationships etc,
describe attributes like properties, features, characteristics or parameters that 'soil' can have and share,
sets, collections and types of 'soil' and
changing attributes of 'soil'.
But it will not be able to show relationships like 'salination of soil' on 'loss of livelihood' or 'salination of
soil' on 'human development' etc. because in subject based approach such relationships may come
under other domains like social sciences etc.
Writing about the current status and direction of ontologies development, Clay Shirky
[7]
in his paper
titled "ontology is overrated: Categories, Links and Tags" poses a philosophical question, "Does the
world make sense or do we make sense of the world?" Both views are necessary because human mind
simultaneously keeps on building the mental reference models of the world by interacting with the
world in both states. Ontologies developed on the basis of 'human needs' will help in depicting the
knowledge perceived by human mind in both ways.
Conclusion
Efficient and effective tools to organise external knowledge are very important because they are the
interfaces between external knowledge and the internal knowledge that resides in the human mind.
Knowledge is dynamic in nature, because it is a result of the dynamic interactions of human being with
its natural/physical and social/societal environments. Hence knowledge organization tools have to
have the ability of representing the dynamism of the knowledge. This paper builds up the argument
supporting to develop knowledge organization tools based on 'human needs', firstly by describing the
factors that contribute to the dynamism of knowledge, secondly by explaining the limitations of
subject-based knowledge organization tools and reasons for their inability. As the purpose of
knowledge organization tools is to serve the information requirements of the contemporary times, the
paper suggests to develop knowledge organisation tools based on 'human needs' as this approach has
in-built capabilities to serve the information needs of 21
st
century.
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