Dorothea Salo has a knack of making interesting ideas understandable and generative. This recent post: Caveat Lector » Topic maps and libraries, is an excellent example.
From this post it looks like topic maps could support the integration and interoperation required for interdisciplinary work. We need tools that allow both local and shared descriptions of collections of data, information, discussion and publications. And what seems so neat about topic maps is that they provide tools for humans. Topic descriptions and relationships are constructed by humans. Humans dscussing, discovering, and generating shared meaning and understanding.