News

ISKO UK was delighted to support Marcela Alves, a doctoral candidate in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, to attend the 2025 Complexity Science Hub Winter School in Vienna, Austria.

Marcela studies machine learning network architectures that can better represent phenomena such as the economy. The next step in Marcela's research will be applying Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) to investigate how agents can be powered by cognitively plausible knowledge structures (e.g., semantic memory models) to simulate learning or problem-solving in populations, which is of relevance to the KO community.

Marcela's report on her time at the Complexity Science Winter School is below.

Report on Attendance at the Complexity Science Hub Winter School 2025

From February 23rd to 28th, I attended the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) Winter School 2025 in Vienna. This event brought together graduate students from diverse disciplines to explore the role of complexity science in understanding dynamic systems. It gave me a unique opportunity to interact with the CSH experts—who are developing state-of-the-art methods—and explore new methodologies relevant to Knowledge Organization (KO).

The Winter School was structured to foster both theoretical and practical engagement. Dr Elma Hot Dervic's lecture on networks and community detection was particularly relevant to KO principles, as network analysis plays a crucial role in knowledge representation, classification, and the study of evolving relationships within information systems. Understanding how communities form and shift within complex networks can inform the development of ontologies and taxonomies that dynamically adapt to real-world changes. I was particularly interested in the lecture led by Dr Jan Korbel on statistical physics for social science. His lecture provided a framework for applying mathematical models to understand social dynamics, directly impacting bibliographic information systems and metadata management. Dr Vito Servedio expanded on these themes, offering perspectives on how complexity science can enhance our understanding of social networks and labour market transitions—an area of particular interest for my collaboration during the Winter School.

One of the most enriching aspects of the programme was the group project. These "mini-projects" allowed participants to discuss how to apply theoretical concepts to real-world problems. I partnered with Dr Laura Fürsich from the University of Chicago to investigate how changes in flow structures within graphs can provide insights into labour market shifts, an idea built upon discussions from Dr Elma Hot Dervic's lecture. The final day of the Winter School was dedicated to project presentations. Dr Fürsich and I pitched a paper proposal on exploring how job transitions could be modelled using knowledge graphs to detect emerging trends in employment sectors. This aligns with KO principles, as knowledge graphs - represented by complex networks or graphs - serve as powerful tools for organising and interpreting dynamic information landscapes. We believe that integrating such analytical methods into existing KO frameworks—such as those used in governmental labour statistics and business process modelling—could enhance predictive insights and policy-making. Beyond the formal sessions, the Winter School also had group lunches and dinners, providing ample opportunities for networking and informal discussions.

My participation in the Complexity Science Hub Winter School was very beneficial. The interdisciplinary nature of the Winter School reinforced the importance of KO techniques in making sense of complex datasets and the relevance of classification systems, ontologies, and knowledge graphs in a wide range of domains. I would like to express my gratitude to the International Society for Knowledge Organization UK (ISKO UK) for their support, which made my participation possible through its grants for students and new graduates. The insights gained during this event will contribute to my future research, consequently resulting in my contribution to the KO community and beyond.

ISKO-STAC (International Society for Knowledge Organization – Scientific and Technical Advisory Council) has 6 openings for four-year terms, July 2025 - July 2029.  As well as ISKO members, ISKO also welcomes non-ISKO members on to the Council, to cover the many disciplines that contribute to KO.

To express an interest in joining STAC, please email deborah.lee@ucl.ac.uk and ds@dsoergel.com by 15 April 2025 with a brief explanation of why you are interested and what role you would like to play in STAC. Attach (1) Your CV and (2) the completed ISKO-STAC Areas of Expertise Form (ISKO-STAC-AreasOfExpertiseAndWorkingGroups.docx). 

If you can suggest anyone whom we could approach about joining STAC, please email deborah.lee@ucl.ac.uk.

 

About STAC

STAC advises the ISKO membership and the ISKO Board of Directors on ongoing developments in KO research and technology and on areas where more research and development is needed.

In line with ISKO's mission, the Council is concerned with the scholarship, theory, principles, and applications of the pervasive subject of Knowledge Organization:

• as dealt with in Information Studies, Philosophy, the Ontology community, Psychology & Cognitive Science, Linguistics, CS (Data Modeling, AI, ML), Taxonomies; data schemas & formats;

• as applied in, among others, libraries & bibliographic systems, the Web, archives; museums, cultural heritage; process modelling; information systems, including health, finance, legal, government, etc.

Some of these involve leading a special activity of STAC.

See Terms of Reference:

https://www.isko.org/stac/tor.docx and https://www.dsoergel.com/ISKO-STAC-Documents/ISKO-STAC-AnnualReport-2023-2024V2.pdf

Please note the STAC member responsibilities when considering applying for this committee:

STAC member responsibilities

A1       Minimum responsibilities

A1.1  Participate in STAC meetings (six per year) and online discussions.

A1.2  Participate actively in at least one STAC working group.

A1.3  Be prepared to serve as reviewer for the Official Journal of the Society and for the ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization (IEKO), up to two submissions a year in total.

A1.4  Be active in ISKO conferences (international or regional/chapter) (e.g. attend, submit papers, review submissions, serve on the organization and/or program committees, help in the promotion). Be prepared to review up to three conference submissions a year.

A1.5  [Under consideration Participate in creating at least two of: Structured Abstract or Contribution Synopsis of a paper; two-page Concept Brief. Can be of one's own paper or prepared as part of reviewing a submission.]

A2       Extended responsibilities

A2.1  Submit papers to ISKO publications, the Official Journal of the Society, the ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization (IEKO), and conferences.

A2.2  Encourage renowned authors across disciplines (especially disciplines that need stronger representation) to submit papers to ISKO publications or suggest authors to be invited.

A2.3  Propose topics for special issues of the Official Journal of the Society and perhaps work on creating the special issue, possibly as (co-) editor.

A2.4  Promote new papers/articles in ISKO publications by posting short announcements in listservs / social media whose readership would benefit from being aware of the paper.

If you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to email Dr. Deborah Lee (deborah.lee@ucl.ac.uk) and/or Prof. Dagobert Soergel (ds@dsoergel.com).

The latest issue of the Knowledge Organization Journal, vol. 51, issue 8, has been published. We invite you to read and share this work, which you can find here: https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2024-8

Bite-sized Taxonomy Boot Camp Online, in partnership with ISKO UK, is calling for speakers for its 2025 series. These half-day live webinars, scheduled for March, June, and October, attract a global audience eager to learn from practical use cases, projects, tools, techniques, and how-tos.

As a partner of Taxonomy Boot Camp London (TBL), ISKO UK supports the effort to showcase taxonomy and knowledge organisation strategies to a wide audience. Importantly, the sessions are not limited to taxonomies—TBL encourages topics on diverse aspects of knowledge representation and organisation.

This is a fantastic opportunity for all in the ISKO UK community working or conducting research in taxonomy and related fields to share their experiences and insights.

Submit Your Session Proposal

For suggested topics and to submit your presentation ideas, visit:
https://www.taxonomybootcamp.com/London/2025/CallForSpeakers.aspx

Video from the ISKO UK Meetup on the 19th of November 2024 Introducing Jekyll RDF with Dr. Natanael Arndt from The German National Library are now available on ISKO UK YouTube Channel. You can also find the slides on the event page.

Report from the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ICCCBE) Conference 2024 by Asha Palihakkara, a PhD Student at the University of Nottingham, is now available on International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, 2024, Montreal, Canada.

Conference reports from the earlier recipients of the ISKO UK Student Grant are available on Conference reports.

Videos from ISKO UK Meetup on the 8th of October 2024 - What's New in Skosmos 3 with Osma Suominen from The National Library of Finland - are now available on ISKO UK YouTube Channel. You can also find the slides on the event page.

Select papers from the seventh ISKO UK conference (2023) held in Glasgow have been published in a recent issue of the Knowledge Organization journal. They can be accessed here.

Please note that ISKO UK members can access Knowledge Organization journal articles for free. Should you encounter any issues, please contact Nomos quoting your ISKO UK number which features on your profile page once you log into the ISKO UK website.

Nominations are open for this year's Tony Kent Strix Award, an international award in the field of information retrieval. The award is open to individuals or groups from anywhere in the world, and nominations must reach UKeiG by 6 pm GMT on Friday 27th September 2024.

 

About the Tony Kent Strix Award

The Tony Kent Strix Award was inaugurated in 1998 by the Institute of Information Scientists. It is presented by UKeiG in partnership with the International Society for Knowledge Organization UK (ISKO UK), the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group (RSC CICAG) and the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group (BCS IRSG) and awarded in recognition of an outstanding practical innovation or achievement in the field of information retrieval and search. Nominations must be for a major, sustained or influential achievement that meets one or more of the criteria listed below.

Science

The advancement of our understanding of information retrieval methods, experimentation and evaluation, at either the theoretical or the practical level. The scope includes approaches as diverse as linguistic, probabilistic, fact-checking or artificial intelligence applied to search.

Service Delivery

The development and management of systems, networks or services:

• Enhancement of the mechanisms/technology/standards underpinning information products or services
• Establishing an innovative information resource or service
• Innovations leading to improved accessibility/usability of information resources.

Education and organisational infrastructure

The provision of leadership in education, training, community development and/or collaboration to advance information retrieval at local, national or international level.

 

Submission guidelines

In all cases nominations should take the form of a succinct justification (maximum 2 pages) for the individual or team nomination showing clearly which of the award criteria the nominee meets and how they are met. Please include full contact details, job title and qualifications of both the nominee and the nominator emailed to Richard Bridgen – Hon. Secretary UKeiG secretary.ukeig@cilip.org.uk and copied to: Gary Horrocks - info.ukeig@cilip.org.uk and Elizabeth Roberts – Hon. Treasurer UKeiG treasurer.ukeig@cilip.org.uk.

Please clarify in the email subject heading - ‘UKeiG 2024 award nomination’ - followed by the award name.

Self-nominations will not be accepted.

If you want your nomination to be considered in two or all three of the specified award areas, please clarify that in your justification.

Please include testimonials, letters of support, references, a selective bibliography relevant to the nomination, or links to supplementary information including professional profiles or social media, for example. 

Please email info.ukeig@cilip.org.uk for more information and guidance.

 

Deadline

Nominations  must reach the UKeiG by 6 pm GMT on Friday 27th September 2024.

Videos from ISKO UK Meetup on the 3rd of September - Documents, Databases, Knowledge Graphs, LLMs and Their Common Roots in Natural Language with John O'Gorman from Semantium - are now available on ISKO UK YouTube Channel and the event page.