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Document Theory
Abstract
Document theory examines the concept of a document and how it can serve with other concepts to understand communication, documentation, information, and knowledge. Knowledge organization itself is in practice based on die arrangement of documents representing concepts and knowledge. The word "document" commonly refers to a text or graphic record, but, in a semiotic perspective, non-graphic objects can also be regarded as signifying and, therefore, as documents. The steady increase in the variety and number of documents since prehistoric times enables the development of communities, the division of labor, and reduction of the constraints of space and time. Documents arc related to data, facts, texts, works, information, knowledge, signs, and other documents. Documents have physical (material), cognitive, and social aspects. © 2018 International Society for Knowledge Organization. All Rights Reserved.
... We live in the so-called information society which to a large extent can also be called a document society (Buckland, 2018) or as Olivier LeDeuff terms it more drastically, following Paul Otlett (1868 -1944), we live in the age of "hyperdocumentation" (LeDeuff, 2021). We access and disseminate information in a great variety of official or unofficial documentswebsites, emails, letters, blogs, social media posts, chats, etc. ...
... BACKGROUND Document theory is concerned with "the concept of a document and how it can serve with other concepts to understand better the complex areas of communication, documentation, information, and knowledge" (Buckland, 2018). Much has been written and discussed about the concept of the document and related concepts in the past decades since the beginning of the 20th century when the first documentalists like Paul Otlet, Robert Pagès, and Suzanne Briet started to ask questions about the document and to develop ideas and concepts around it. ...
... Document -Over the past few decades, the field of documentary theory has largely established a concept of what a document is. A strong and concise definition of the status of a document has been provided for example by Michael Buckland (Buckland, 2018). "An object is considered to be a document when there is an assertion or a perception of evidence for some belief." ...
Today we live in an information society, which is to a large extent also a document society (Buckland, 2018). In our daily lives, we must cope with an ever-growing flood of different documents, keep track of them, pick out relevant content, and produce documents in suitable forms. In addition, tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as ChatGPT[1], are making their way into the document world, challenging us with new affordances, and questions about how to deal with them and what changes this will bring. Existing documentation models such as the model of complementarity (N. W. Lund, 2004), the ontology of human expression (Olsen et al., 2012), and the document phenomenology (Gorichanaz and Latham, 2016) contain valuable indications from which we can learn a lot about the process of document production. However, current models are missing out on the relations between the variables of the greater system in which they are embedded such as documents as instruments, the community, rules, and the division of labor, as well as the subject's actions, motives, and greater goals in the documentation activity. This conceptual paper presents the model of documentation activity, which on the one hand can unite and expand existing models in the field of document theory, and on the other hand provide a common crystallization point for practitioners and scholars from related fields to analyze the documentation activity within a dynamic socio-technical system. The model of documentation activity is developed along existing document theory concepts using activity theory (AT) (Engeström, 1987) as a framework. [1] ChatGPT is a system for natural language processing (NLP) based on deep learning technology which was developed by the company OpenAI. ChatGPT can generate human-like conversations by understanding the context of a conversation and generating appropriate responses. (Deng and Lin, 2023).
... In addition, it emphasizes the importance of documentation as a means of communication, accountability, and memory for organizations and societies (Olsen, Lund, Ellingsen, & Hartvigsen, 2012). Buckland (2018) states, ""Documentation" denotes either the process or the outcome of documenting" and "…to document something denotes the creating of didactic or evidentiary records of some thing or some process; the creation of phenomena (perceptible things-for-us) representing a possibly imperceptible noumenon (thing-in-itself)" (p. 425). ...
... From a contemporary theoretical perspective of documentation, Lund and Skare (2010) emphasize that documents have three aspects: technical, social, and mental. The concept of documentation has also been applied to digital contexts, where documents take on new forms and are subject to new challenges related to preservation, access, and authenticity (Buckland, 2018). The use of digital technologies in documentation has brought about new opportunities for collaboration, sharing, and dissemination of information, as well as new challenges related to privacy, security, and control (Case & Given, 2016). ...
Implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems remains challenging and requires organizational changes. Given the scale and complexity of ERP projects, documentation plays a crucial role in coordinating operational details. However, the emergence of the agile approach raises the question of how adequate lightweight documentation is in agile ERP implementation. Unfortunately, both academia and industry often overlook the natural evolution of documentation practices. This study examines current documentation practices through interviews with 23 field experts to address this oversight. The findings indicate a shift in documentation practices from retrospective approaches to dialogue-based, agile throwaway documents, including audiovisual recordings and informal emails. Project managers who extensively engage with throwaway documents demonstrate higher situational awareness and greater effectiveness in managing ERP projects than those who do not. The findings show an organic transformation of ERP documentation practices. We redefine documentation to include unstructured, relevant information across different media, emphasizing searchability. Additionally, the study offers two vignettes for diverse organizational contexts to illustrate the best practices of agile ERP projects.
... Data is an encoded representation of the nature of the phenomenon under examination, and as such, is an abstraction removed from an instance or series of instances. In this work-in-progress poster, we explore tensions in descriptions of data, datasets, documents, and records from the perspectives of Furner (2016), Hjørland (2019), and Buckland (2018). How are data conceptualized and created? ...
... According to Hjørland, records yield data, but are not themselves data, as records are a form of document. Buckland (2018) identifies documents as being related to "data, facts, texts, works, information, knowledge, signs, and other documents," (p. 1) and having tangible ("physical"), cognitive, and social aspects. Documents contain rich potential for the long-term preservation of records, but ultimately, what is called a document is a pragmatic decision. ...
In information science, what data itself is, how it is defined, and the distinctions between data and information are unclear, yet data is a foundational construct at the heart of the research enterprise. This poster probes the question of how data is conceptualized in information science through an analysis of works by Jonathan Furner, Birger Hjørland, and Michael Buckland, who have contributed substantially to this critical issue. It finds that notions of the nature of data vary widely, and are often contradictory. Complexities are identified in the approach to data as both documents and as records. In the process of this analysis, it identifies the essential question of whether [research] data is given or taken: Is data found/identified by the researcher, or is it created? Arguments for both approaches are fleshed out, providing a basis for further work in information science in this essential space.
... The notion of documents has been extensively discussed in the field of library and information science (e.g. Buckland, 1997Buckland, , 2018Lund, 2010). Among the physical, social, and cognitive aspects of documents mentioned by Buckland (2018), the social aspect can be of great importance in translation, subsuming the communication situation regarding the documents. ...
... Buckland, 1997Buckland, , 2018Lund, 2010). Among the physical, social, and cognitive aspects of documents mentioned by Buckland (2018), the social aspect can be of great importance in translation, subsuming the communication situation regarding the documents. Thus, this view is naturally related to the 'functionalist' approach (e.g. ...
Achieving a detailed understanding of source documents is an essential step in the translation process. Furthermore, in modern settings of translation projects in which various actors, such as clients, project managers, and translators, are involved, it is crucial to share such understanding through a properly formulated terminology. While the previous literature on translation studies, particularly in relation to functionalist approaches, has provided various frameworks and methods for source text analysis and profiling, the terminology for such processes has not been sufficiently established. This article, therefore, examines the previous literature to widely collect terms regarding source document properties and organise them as a terminology from the documentational point of view. The formulated terminology covers four major categories, i.e. knowledge, communication, formation, and text properties, consisting of a total of 57 terms. The constructed terminology not only theoretically systematises the knowledge accumulated in previous studies but also would provide a scaffold for better process and communication in translation practices and training.
... LIS scholars innovatively interpret the document concept and give document theory a new significance in the digital context. Neo-documentation studies document conception (documents as evidence, physical, cognitive and social aspects of the document), the materiality and practice attributes of documents, the relationships among document, fact, data, information, knowledge, text, sign and works, document use, the role of document in the academics and society, document genres, documents in various memory institutions, the social and cultural engagement of documentary activities, etc. (Buckland, 2017(Buckland, , 2018. Neo-documentation leads to the formation of the document-centric perspective for IS (ASIS&T, 2021). ...
Purpose
The conditions that domain analysis becomes an academic school of information science (IS) are mature. Domain analysis is one of the most important foundations of IS. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss metatheoretical and theoretical issues in the domain analytic paradigm in IS.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducts a systematic review of representative publications of domain analysis. The analysis considered degree theses, journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and other materials.
Findings
Domain analysis maintains that community is the new focus of IS research. Although domain analysis centers on the domain and community, theoretical concerns on the social and individual dimensions of IS are inherent in it by its using sociology as its important approach and socio-cognitive viewpoint. For these reasons domain analysis can integrate social–community–individual levels of IS discipline as a whole. The role of subject knowledge in IS is discussed from the perspective of domain analysis. Realistic pragmatism that forms the philosophical foundation of domain analysis is argued and the implications of these theories to IS are presented.
Originality/value
The intellectual evolving landscape of domain analysis during a quarter century is comprehensively reviewed. Over the past twenty-five years, domain analysis has established its academic status in the international IS circle. Being an important metatheory, paradigm and methodology, domain analysis becomes the theoretical foundation of IS research. This paper assesses the current state of domain analysis and shows the contributions of domain analysis to IS. It also aims to inspire further exploration.
... In the digital age, we are seeing new kinds of documents emerge and proliferate, which has provoked questions such as "What is a 'Document'?" [2]. Document theory is concerned with what documents are and how they relate to communication, information and knowledge [5]. Such questions are increasingly urgent as new documentary forms and techniques are changing the way we understand and act in the world. ...
Though the self-portrait has been hailed as the defining artistic genre of modernity, there is not yet a good account of what the self-portrait actually is. This paper provides such an account through the lens of document theory and the philosophy of information. In this paper, the self-portrait is conceptualized as a kind of document, more specifically a kind of self-document, to gain insight into the phenomenon. A self-portrait is shown to be a construction, and not just a representation, of oneself. Creating a self-portrait then is a matter of bringing oneself forth over time—constructing oneself, rather than simply depicting oneself. This account provides grounds to consider whether or how the selfie truly is a form of self-portrait, as is often asserted. In the end, it seems that while both are technologies for self-construction, the self-portrait has the capacity for deep self-construction, whereas the selfie is limited to fewer aspects of the self. This prospect leads into an ethical discussion of the changing concept of identity in the digital age.
Many theories of human information behavior (HIB) assume that information objects are in text document format. This paper argues four important HIB theories are insufficient for describing users' search strategies for data because of assumptions about the attributes of objects that users seek. We first review and compare four HIB theories: Bates' berrypicking , Marchionni's electronic information search , Dervin's sense‐making , and Meho and Tibbo's social scientist information‐seeking . All four theories assume that information‐seekers search for text documents. Next, we compare these theories to search behavior by analyzing Google Analytics data from the Inter‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Users took direct, scenic, and orienting paths when searching for data. We also interviewed ICPSR users ( n = 20), and they said they needed dataset documentation and contextual information to find data. However, Dervin's sense‐making alone cannot explain the information‐seeking behaviors that we observed. Instead, what mattered most were object attributes determined by the type of information that users sought (i.e., data, not documents). We conclude by suggesting an alternative frame for building user‐centered data discovery tools.
Purpose
The narrow purpose of this article is to review de Fremery’s (2024) book about the bibliographic foundations of information science. The broader purpose is to consider the actual as well as the potential relevance of the field(s) of bibliography for information science besides the book under review.
Design/methodology/approach
This review essay examines the arguments put forward by de Fremery (2024), introduces concepts and traditional lore from the study of bibliography and presents internal conflicts or paradigms in the field of bibliography. It relates this information to foundational issues in information science.
Findings
De Fremery’s basic ambition of basing information science in the field of bibliography is important, and so is the attempt to consider bibliography in relation to contemporary information technologies such as machine learning and data science. The book under review fails, however, to describe the relations between different positions in bibliography, such as enumerative, analytical, descriptive, critical and historical bibliography in relation to information science. It rather tends to make problematic claims, for example, that scientific experiments are based on bibliographical methods, and to describe the relation of bibliography to information science on the basis of such interpretations. Nonetheless, the book is a serious attempt to consider the field of bibliography and thereby support the focus on documents in information science.
Originality/value
Information science often suffers because of ambiguities in the concept of information. When information science is understood as the study of literature-based answering, much else falls into place. The field of bibliography is a core concept for this understanding and re-orientation of information science, for example, by establishing the core relation between bibliography, information searching and knowledge organization.
The paper first analyzes the complexity of the notion of the archival document, in its fundamental definition and its updates prompted by the shift to the digital dimension. It then sets out to consider – from a digital hermeneutic point of view – the notion of ‘document’ from the perspective of the information object and therefore of the intentional object. Finally, the paper discusses the ways in which the archive is a technological enhancement for the interrogability and ‘consultability’ of knowledge.
Purpose
In this article, the author discusses works from the French Documentation Movement in the 1940s and 1950s with regard to how it formulates bibliographic classification systems as documents. Significant writings by Suzanne Briet, Éric de Grolier and Robert Pagès are analyzed in the light of current document-theoretical concepts and discussions.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual analysis.
Findings
The French Documentation Movement provided a rich intellectual environment in the late 1940s and early 1950s, resulting in original works on documents and the ways these may be represented bibliographically. These works display a variety of approaches from object-oriented description to notational concept-synthesis, and definitions of classification systems as isomorph documents at the center of politically informed critique of modern society.
Originality/value
The article brings together historical and conceptual elements in the analysis which have not previously been combined in Library and Information Science literature. In the analysis, the article discusses significant contributions to classification and document theory that hitherto have eluded attention from the wider international Library and Information Science research community. Through this, the article contributes to the currently ongoing conceptual discussion on documents and documentality.
Purpose
Through examination of the Library Reference Model (LRM) specifications for nomen and the potential challenges visual nomen might present for their description and use in information systems, the purpose of this study was to investigate two questions: (1) how do nonlinguistic or nonalphanumeric signs or symbols act as nomen to identify entities? and (2) what details or attributes are relevant to describe and classify such nomen to integrate them into information systems?
Design/methodology/approach
This research was built on an exploratory, qualitative instrumental case study design using multiple (or comparative) cases. Using the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions LRM conceptualization of nomen as the basis, this research explored the similarities and differences between the LRM definition, its attributes and the use of nonlinguistic and nonalphanumeric “strings” for visual nomen to represent a res , moving iteratively between the LRM documentation, visual nomen identified in previous research and additional examples. This study used a constant comparative method to conduct a structured, focused comparison across different cases found in the source survey.
Findings
A close review of the history of the development of the nomen entity was made to understand the semiotic relationship between entities and their symbolic representation, how those symbols are then reified to be further classified and described and how such definitions in the LRM offer a path forward for better understanding the role and function of visual nomen. Based on the foundation of the nomen entity and its attributes established in the LRM, this research then looked at visual representations of concepts and entities to suggest a nascent framework for describing aspects of visual nomen which may be relevant to their use and application
Originality/value
This exploratory study of the use of supralinguistic ways of referencing entities delineates novel insights into a potential framework for describing and using visual nomen as a way of labeling or naming entities represented in information systems. By examining the specifications of the nomen entity and its attributes as delineated by the LRM, this study reinforces the applicability of LRM-defined attributes in the use of visual nomen in addition to offering other attributes or dimensions.
This study examines the concept of "description" and its theoretical foundations. The literature about it is surprisingly limited, and its usage is vague, sometimes even conflicting. Description should be considered in relation to other processes, such as representation, data capturing, and categorizing, which raises the question about what it means to describe something. Description is often used for any type of predication but may better be limited to predications based on observations. Research aims to establish criteria for making optimal descriptions; however, the problems involved in describing something have seldom been addressed. Specific ideals are often followed without examine their fruitfulness. This study provides evidence that description cannot be a neutral, objective activity; rather, it is a theory-laden and interest-based activity. In information science, description occurs in processes such as document description, descriptive metadata assignment, and information resource description. In this field, description has equally been used in conflicting ways that mostly do not evince a recognition of the value-and theory-laden nature of descriptions. It is argued that descriptive activities in information science should always be based on consciously explicit considerations of the goals that descriptions are meant to serve.
Cette thèse porte sur la relation entre le travail intellectuel et son outillage, à travers une étude de l’héritage épistémologique de Paul Otlet (1868-1944), le premier théoricien de la documentation. Elle traite du problème de l’organisation et de la gestion des connaissances savantes sous l’angle de la documentation personnelle. Il s’agit à la fois d’un travail théorique en documentologie et en organisation des connaissances, et d’un travail réflexif basé sur la conception et l’utilisation d’un outil de visualisation de graphe documentaire nommé Cosma. À travers l’analyse des écrits, schémas et réalisations documentaires d’Otlet, nous établissons que la logique de réseau qu’il propose n’est pas seulement de nature institutionnelle mais qu’elle s’applique également aux documents eux-mêmes. Nous reprenons une hypothèse émise par W. Boyd Rayward, jamais réellement éprouvée, qui consiste à établir un parallèle entre les composants fondamentaux du travail d’Otlet (principe monographique, classification décimale universelle) et ceux des systèmes hypertextuels (nœuds, liens). Nous vérifions empiriquement ce parallèle en nous appuyant sur les réalisations du programme ANR HyperOtlet, et nous le généralisons à la notion de graphe pour proposer les éléments d’une théorie relationnelle de l’organisation des connaissances. Nous caractérisons l’épistémologie de la documentation personnelle hypertextuelle comme réflexive et heuristique : la représentation du graphe met en évidence la nature réticulaire de certains processus d’écriture et, par-là, de pensée ; elle sert d’aide-mémoire, avec une logique d’émergence informationnelle. À partir de ce travail, nous proposons la notion de cosmographie comme mise en ordre d’un univers intellectuel par l’écriture, entre idiotexte (écriture comme mémoire prothétique singulière), hypertexte (écriture réticulaire) et architexte (écriture de l’écriture).
Technological advances have led to a powerful, complex information landscape where managing one's personal information is increasingly challenging. Personal Information Management (PIM) is the field of study dedicated to the activities people engage in to organize their information so that items can be found again when needed. Searching for previously located information items is a common frustration, yet PIM is not present in the standards of Information Literacy (IL). Situating PIM Literacy within the sociocultural New Literacies theory, I explore how youth currently make sense of PIM as Discourse—what they communicate through multiple sign‐systems about their PIM practices. In this phenomenological mixed‐methods study, after an initial survey of secondary school participants, I conducted two phases of interviews—guided tours of participants’ personal information places and Information Places Map (IPM) interviews regarding their perceptions of PIM. This ongoing study addresses the dearth of PIM research with youth. Initial findings suggest the importance of information systems’ default sorting by recency, the potential benefits of instruction in file structures and archiving, and opportunities to address email overload. Evaluating student needs assists in the development of K‐12 PIM Literacy, a necessary competency for high‐school graduates to successfully participate in the digital age.
Purpose
This paper re-examines the ontology of documents, especially digital ones, in the context of preservation, which presumes the actual existence of things. It also explores which aspects of documents are retained or lost over the course of time.
Design/methodology/approach
This study detangles the complexities of existential dependence relations of documents, by selectively reviewing literature on digital preservation, document theory, John Searle's social ontology, Maurizio Ferraris' documentality, and Amie Thomasson's categorial ontology.
Findings
The author argues that (1) existing objects can be documents, insofar as perceivers regard them as such; (2) documents are social objects as they depend on other objects, including creators, perceivers, and other documents; and (3) preserving digital documents entails the curation of dependence relations since they inherently have technologically dependent relations.
Practical implications
A clarification of the existential dependence relations of documents can aid documentary heritage institutions in determining preservation goals and strategies. Future research must address how, and to what extent, such dependence relations can be curated.
Originality/value
This paper clarifies that the preservation of documents entails the curation of dependence relations, and the critical issue in preservation is how to best preserve the dependence relations of documents, especially since digital documents available on the Internet inherently have technological and dynamic dependence relations.
Social media content includes an unprecedented number of personal documents reflecting our time. Few countries or regions have established legal grounds for securing long-term access to these documents, while paper-based publications have been exhaustively accumulated under legal deposit systems. However, archiving social media through national libraries, as a sort of state intervention, could bring about chilling effects on free speech in unexpected ways. The article aims to present empirical data of public concerns concerning social media content, focusing on Twitter’s public tweets archived by third parties, through two questionnaire surveys involving university students (Research I) and the public (Research II). The surveys were designed based on three settings: researchers, organisations to which the respondents belong and the National Diet Library in Japan. Consequently, approximately 30% and 47% of the respondents in Research I ( n = 197) and II ( n = 728), respectively, disagreed with any hypothetical scenario. An ordered logistic analysis to reveal the inter-relations of variables suggests the existence of other factors; thus, neither variables related to Twitter/Internet use nor demographic variables influenced people’s perceptions of the archival issue. While protecting privacy rights and copyrights was the primary reason for disagreements regarding third-party archival of tweets, many respondents intuitively displayed a negative reaction without any specific reason. Those who question its value and feel uncomfortable with an authoritative intervention were also identified. To nurture acceptant attitudes, advocating the archival of personal documents and adopting more restrictive archival procedures like taking down posts and anonymisation, public debates on the intervention of public bodies and demonstration of archival values should be considered.
In information science, writing, printing, telecommunication, and digital computing have been central concerns because of their ability to distribute information. Overlooked is the obvious fact that these technologies fashion copies, and the theorizing of copies has been neglected. We may think a copy is the same as what it copies, but no two objects can really be the same. “The same” means similar enough as an acceptable substitute for some purpose. The differences between usefully similar things are also often important, in forensic analysis, for example, or inferential processes. Status as a copy is only one form of relationship between objects, but copies are so integral to information science that they demand a theory. Indeed, theorizing copies provides a basis for a more complete and unified view of information science.
This article examines the impact of the digital humanities on information science and information scientists and how information scientists can contribute to digital collaborations in the digital humanities. This article uses three basic concepts— user-researcher, digital information system, and digital research object—as the framework for a description of the digital humanities shift and discusses the consequences of this shift for information science with reference to these concepts. The second part of the article investigates the two pillars of the digital humanities shift, acknowledgement of digital structure and the exploring mind, in more detail. In the case of correspondences, acknowledgement of digital structure involves respecting the ‘thing-like’ properties of letters that cannot be handled (searched, classified, etc.) unless they are translated into digitized metadata; this elevates metadata to genuine digital research objects. These theoretical issues are illustrated by the Prior archive, a collection of digitized letters, manuscript drafts, and other ‘grey’ material bequeathed from the New Zealand logician-philosopher Arthur Norman Prior. The concept of the ‘exploring mind’ is connected to a movement in information science, away from the needful user and information gap paradigm towards more open and exploratory information behaviour in the digital humanities. A concluding literature review examines selected works of information science that deals with nonstandard, serendipitous information behaviour and identifies exploratory and serendipitous design features of information systems for the digital humanities. These features are represented in a taxonomy consisting of six design categories.
Despite having the principle of provenance as its guiding element, the archival knowledge organization still prescinds, for conceptual purposes, of greater clarity of its object-the archival knowledge-a fundamental aspect for the sedimentation of the archival studies and of its discursive community in the scope of KO. This article aims to define a conceptual framework to archival knowledge by using Dahlberg’s concept theory. In this vein, it established the nominal concept or definiendum-archival knowledge-seeking to analyze its real definition, composed by three inseparable definiens: the concept of fonds, the knowledge of documentary form and the knowledge of document creation context. At the end, it demonstrates that archival knowledge can be defined as being a reunion of three indivisible facets in which the archival bond will be contemplated.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to investigate the documentality of human remains in museum and research collections. Second, to provide a rationale for a processual model of documentation, which can account for their repatriation and eventual burial.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine the repatriation issue. It considers an ethical argument developed to support claims for repatriation: the nominal identification of a body as a universal criterion for its burial. Based on Igor Kopytoff’s processual model of commoditisation, it looks to cultural anthropology to help explain how objects can move between a document and non-document state.
Findings
Human remains can be understood as examples of information-as-thing. However, while document theory can readily account for the expanding realm of documentation, it cannot adequately accommodate instances where documentality is revoked, and when something ceases to be a document. When a human biological specimen is returned, the process that made it serve as a document is effectively reversed. When remains are interred, they revert to their primary standing, as people. The process of becoming a document is therefore not unidirectional, and document status not permanent.
Research limitations/implications
The implications of a processual model of documentation are discussed. Such a model must be able to account for things as they move into and out of the document state, and where the characteristics of documentality change through time.
Originality/value
This paper explores problematic material not usually discussed in relation to document theory. The repatriation movement poses a challenge to a discourse predicated on documentation as a progressively expanding field.
Hypertexts arc multilinear, granular, interactive, integrable and multimedia documents describable with graph theory and composed of several information units (nodes) interconnected by links that users can freely and indefinitely cover by following a plurality of possible different paths. Hypertexts are particularly widespread in the digital environment, but they existed (and still exist) also in non-digital forms, such as paper encyclopedias and printed academic journals, both consisting of information subunits densely linked between them. This article reviews the definitions, characteristics, components, typologies, history and applications of hypertexts, with particular attention to their theoretical and practical developments from 1945 to present day and to their use for the organization of information and knowledge. © 2018 International Society for Knowledge Organization. All Rights Reserved.