The arrangement of any information content using tools like bibliographic classification schemes, subject heading systems, thesauri, taxonomies, and ontologies is collectively studied today under the broader label of knowledge organization (KO). The International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO) organizes its biennial international conference to gather scholars and practitioners across the world who are interested in sharing their perspectives and experiences in this field.

The next international conference will be held in Rome on February 23rd to 26th, 2010, and will have as its theme "Paradigms and conceptual systems in knowledge organization". Recent research presented in KO journals and conferences has emphasized how knowledge organization systems (KOSs) are affected by the social, cultural, and philosophical contexts in which authors and communities produce and use them. As a consequence, a critical way of looking at all forms of KO has spread. Scholars have warned that paradigms hidden in KOSs — meant as sets of basic assumptions on which knowledge fields are grounded at a given time and place — should be identified and discussed more explicitly.

Systems have to be developed and described with an increased awareness of their foundations, as well as their still unsolved questions. Critical awareness does not, in fact, eliminate the persisting need for KO. The time may be right to move forward from a critical stage towards a more constructive one, aimed at finding out which paradigms and conceptual systems can best suit the various purposes of contemporary KO.

Although many systems have been designed for the purposes of specific domains and communities, the new situation of interconnected global knowledge means that often we cannot anticipate which users will access our knowledge resources. This poses the question of how to deal with both global and local surroundings and needs, ie with a diversity of traditions and special viewpoints (eg cultural, disciplinary or theoretical) within the framework of a global platform.

Papers are welcome on KO topics including:

* ontological foundations of KO, eg ontological categories, levels of reality, principles for analyzing classes into their kinds and parts;
* epistemological foundations of KO, eg psychological, cognitive, linguistical bases, normative or hermeneutical presuppositions incorporated in KOSs on what is meant by knowledge;
* pragmatical foundations and requirements of KO, eg viewpoint warrant, cultural warrant, domain analysis, interoperability between different perspectives, both global and local;
* solutions for the management of the interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and complexity of contemporary knowledge, as remarked eg in the León Manifesto;
* description and analysis of specific KOSs and their conceptual structures.