Knowledge organization system
Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS), concept system or concept scheme is a generic term used in knowledge organization for authority files, classification schemes, thesauri, topic maps, ontologies and similar works. Despite their differences in type, coverage and application all KOS aim to support the organization of knowledge and information to facilitate their management and retrieval. The core elements of most KOS can be expressed in RDF with the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS). Many lists of KOS exist with BARTOC being the largest and most general one.
References
Hodge, G. (2000). Systems of Knowledge Organization for Digital libraries. Beyond traditional authority files. Washington, DC: the Council on Library and Information Resources. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub91/contents.html
Tudhope, D. & Lykke Nielsen, M. (2006). Introduction to special issue: Knowledge Organization Systems and Services. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 12(1), 3-9. http://www.journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/media/m35eac0c7l6wvk510nr7/contributions/r/0/7/7/r077564631920800.pdf
Zeng, M. L. & Chan, L. M. (2004). Trends and issues in establishing interoperability among knowledge organization systems. Journal for the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 55(5), 377-395.
Networked Knowledge Organization Systems/Services NKOS: http://nkos.slis.kent.edu/