I gave the opening presentation recently at the JISC Terminology Services Workshop. This event aimed to provide input as JISC considers whether to provide some national terminology services within the context of its Information Environment initiative.

People were assembled from different backgrounds, but broadly one could identify those within a knowledge organization tradition (library, information science, cultural heritage) and those coming out of the e-science community with a strong research interest in semantic web technologies, including OWL and RDF. I sensed a gulf between these communities, of expectation and of language. To some extent, they talked past each other.

Doug Tudhope's presentation [ppt in html] at the event tries to contextualise the various traditions represented, and I found it helpful.

Doug Tudhope is also the joint editor, with Traugott, of the current issue of JoDI. This is devoted to knowledge organization issues with several papers spanning the interests mentioned above. Diane's group contributes a paper.