This paper addresses the classification of development knowledge in web-based resources. Seven categories of a marginalised knowledge domain are mapped across eleven web resources, with additional observations of classification work in India and Kenya. The analysis discusses how technological designs for web-based classification systems can become global hegemonic structures that may limit the participation of marginalised knowledge communities. The question of a more inclusive design is further explored in two offline, indigenous approaches to classifications. They suggest that a combination of both online and offline classification work, in which localised classifications are created, using local categories and tags, may enhance the participation of marginalised communities. The results of this research point to the need to design web-based resources that support the participation of diverse knowledge communities as well as the generation and representation of the diversity of knowledge. Future research may focus on the use of tags and the visualisation of the diverse ways in which an item can be categorised, in order to make web-based classifications more meaningful to marginalised knowledge communities.