Ethics in knowledge representation: an analysis of values and issues from the international literature in the area (1991-2010)

Abstract

Knowledge representation (KR) processes and tools are not neutral since they embed sets of values and problems. This situation can reflect on KR products and cause damage to certain users´ communities. In this sense, this project aims to enlarge and update the set of KR ethical values and problems presented by Guimarães et al. (2008) by means of the analysis of articles published in Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, Ethics and Information Technology, Journal of Documentation, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Knowledge Organization, The Indexer, and the annals of International Society for Knowledge Organization between 1991 and 2010. For that, two conceptual fields were established: Ethical (ethical, ethos, deontology, values, conduct, moral) and Knowledge Representation (knowledge organization, knowledge representation, indexing, classification, subject cataloging, subject analysis, content analysis, abstracting, thesaurus e subject headings), whose terms will be searched in areas like title, subtitle, abstract and keywords of the articles. Once selected, the article will be thoroughly analyzed, to identify values and ethical problems regarding knowledge representation. Then, will be performed a bibliometric study of networks, and dialogue aimed at identifying the author, using the PAJEM software.(AU)