Interpreting the knowledge map of digital library research (1990–2010)
Son Hoang Nguyen, Gobinda G Chowdhury · Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology · 2013
A knowledge map of digital library (DL) research shows the semantic organization ofDLresearch topics and also the evolution of the field. The research reported in this article aims to find the core topics and subtopics ofDLresearch in order to build a knowledge map of theDLdomain. The methodology is comprised of a four‐step research process, and two knowledge organization methods (classification and thesaurus building) were used. A knowledge map covering 21 core topics and 1,015 subtopics ofDLresearch was created and provides a systematic overview ofDLresearch during the last two decades (1990–2010). We argue that the map can work as a knowledge platform to guide, evaluate, and improve the activities ofDLresearch, education, and practices. Moreover, it can be transformed into aDLontology for various applications. The research methodology can be used to map any human knowledge domain; it is a novel and scientific method for producing comprehensive and systematic knowledge maps based on literary warrant.