Affordances and Constraints in Knowledge Organization

Knowledge organisation schemes affect directly the nature of knowledge states emergingas a result of their use. Basically a knowledge organisation system may expected tofit its explicit purpose in a more or less satisfactory manner, but besides the intendedapplication, each system is capable to fit an unknown number of implicit quasi-intendedand non-intended purposes. The scope and confines of knowledge potentially emergingas a result of an application of a knowledge organisation scheme is discussed here witha reference to the ecological approach introduced by Gibson. Special focus is placed onexplicating the possibilities of using the concepts ’affordance’ and ’ecological constraint’to understand the process of different knowledge organisation systems contributing onthe emergence of different types of knowledge.