1 / 118

SM2222: Information Design and Visualization Organization Systems on Web 28 October 2005

SM2222: Information Design and Visualization Organization Systems on Web 28 October 2005. The beginning of all understanding is classification. - Hayden White. What do you do?. Where do you live?. Who are you?. Organizing information.

yelena
Download Presentation

SM2222: Information Design and Visualization Organization Systems on Web 28 October 2005

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. SM2222: Information Design and Visualization Organization Systems on Web 28 October 2005

  2. The beginning of all understanding isclassification. - Hayden White What do you do? Where do you live? Who are you?

  3. Organizing information • Our understanding of the world is largely determined by our ability to organize information • Our answers reveal the systems of classification that form the very foundations of our understanding • Classification systems reflect social and political perspectives and objectives • The way we organize information influences the way people comprehend that information

  4. The quest for order • Classifying things - whether on the web, in a library, or in the supermarket - is about providing paths to information by showing relationships • When things are where you expect them, they’re easy to find • The Lord of the Rings is in the fantasy section, which in the fiction department, which is in the bookstore • Then, how do we find marshmallows in the supermarket?

  5. Relationships are subjective - The problem with knowledge is that it’s not made up of simple linear relationships. It’s a messy interrelated thing.- The Lord of the Rings might not be in the fantasy section, but in with the classics.- So the question is who’s to judge which of these relationship is more important?

  6. Relationships are subjective CLASS EXERCISE : Take the following list of 9 items and ask 3 different people to organize them. • Refrigerator • Socks • Dresser • Living Room • Dictionary • Kitchen • Milk • Bookshelf • Bedroom

  7. By Alphabetical list • Bedroom • Bookshelf • Dictionary • Dresser • Kitchen • Living room • Milk • Refrigerator • Socks By Size • Large • Kitchen • Bedroom • Living Room • Medium • Bookshelf • Refrigerator • Dresser • Small • Socks • Dictionary • Milk By Room • Stuff in Kitchen • Refrigerator • Milk • Stuff in Living room • Dictionary • Bookshelf • Stuff in Bedroom • Dresser • Socks By Exact Location • Kitchen->Refrigerator -> Milk • Living room-> Bookshelf-> Dictionary • Bedroom->Dresser->Socks

  8. Organizing information is a subjective task Because relationships are subjective. People will approach it in very different ways, often based on their own context, knowledge, and experience.

  9. - That’s why there are many large web sites so difficult to navigate?- And explain why can’t the people who design these sites make it easy to find information?

  10. The challenges of organizing information 000-099 Generalities 100-199 Philosophy and Psychology 200-299 Religion 300-399 Social Sciences 400-499 Language 500-599 Natural Sciences and Mathematics 600-699 Technology (Applied Sciences) 700-799 The Arts 800-899 Literature and Rhetoric 900-999 Geography and History • We are becoming librarians • Dewey Decimal Classification • Anglo-American Cataloging Rules • Internet provides users with the freedom to publish information • We are facing severe information-overload challenges

  11. World Wide Web : 170,000,000,000,000 bytes Information grew per year : 1 - 2,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes Kilobyte (KB) = 1,000 bytes Megabyte (MB) = 1,000,000 bytes Gigabyte (GB) = 1,000,000,000 bytes Terabyte (TB) = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes Exabyte (EB) = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes * Source from University of California at Berkeley in 2003

  12. Why organizing information in useful ways is so difficult?

  13. Why organizing information in useful ways is so difficult? • Ambiguity • Heterogeneity • Differences in Perspectives • Internal Politics

  14. Ambiguity • Classification systems are built upon the foundation of language. Language is ambiguous (e.g.豬扒). • When we use words as labels for categories, we run the risk that users will miss our meaning. • Ambiguity results in a shaky foundation for our classification systems.

  15. Ambiguity • We also need to agree on which documents to place in which categories. • Tomato is “a red or yellowish fruit with a juicy pulp, used as a vegetable: botanically it is a berry.” Is it a fruit or a vegetable or a berry? • Classification is particularly difficult when they are abstract concepts, e.g. “alternative healing” * Webster’s dictionary

  16. Heterogeneity • Heterogeneity refers to an object or collection of objects composed of unrelated or unlike parts (e.g. mix-vegetables soup). • Homogeneity refers to something composed of similar or identical elements, a structured classification system (e.g. old-fashioned library card catalog). • The heterogeneous nature of web sites makes it difficult to impose any single structure organization system.

  17. Differences in perspectives • Have you ever tried to find a file on a co-workers/friends’ desktop computer? • The ways people organize and name files and directories on their computers can be maddeningly illogical. • Labeling and organization systems are intensively affected by their creator’s perspectives. • To design usable organization systems, we need to escape from our own mental models of content labeling and organization (org charts). • One site does not fit all

  18. Internal politics • Politics exist in every organization. • The choice of organization and labeling systems can have a big impact on how users of the site perceive the company and its products. • Example: Should information resources provided by other departments be included in the main page? • Focusing on create an architecture that works for the users.

  19. How do we organize information successfully in web site?

  20. Organizing information in web sites • Organization Schemes and Organization Structures. • Organization Scheme defines the shared characteristics of content items and influences the logical grouping of those items. • Organization Structure defines the types of relationships between content items and groups.

  21. Then what is all about Organization Schemes?

  22. Organization schemes • We navigate through organization schemes every day. • Telephone books, supermarkets, and television programming guides. • But some schemes are intensely frustrating (are marshmallow in snack aisle or baking ingredients section, both or neither?) • Exact Organization Schemes (phone book) vs. Ambiguous Organization Schemes (supermarket)

  23. 1. Exact Organization Schemes • Dividing information into well-defined and mutually exclusive sections. • White pages is a perfect example. If you know the last name of the person you are looking for, navigating the scheme is easy (Chan is in the “C” section). • This is called known-item searching, which refers to you know what you’re looking for, and it’s obvious where to find it. No ambiguity is involved. • 3 frequently used exact organization schemes

  24. Alphabetical organization • The primary organization scheme for encyclopaedias and dictionaries. • All nonfiction books provide an alphabetical index • Phone books, department store directories, bookstores and libraries all make use of 26-letter alphabet for organizing the content.

  25. Chronological organization • Certain types of information are organized by the date and time. • Example: Press release archives are obvious candidates for chronological organization schemes. • The date of announcement provides important context for the release. • History books, magazine archives, diaries, and TV guides tend to be organized chronologically.

  26. Geographical organization • Place is often an important characteristic of information. • We travel from one place to another. • We care about the news and weather that affect us in our location. • Political, social, and economic issues are frequently location-dependent.

  27. 2. Ambiguous Organization Schemes • They divide information into categories that resist exact definition and are muddy in the ambiguity of language and organization. • Therefore, they are difficult to design and maintain. Remember the tomato? Do we put it under fruit, berry or vegetable? • However, they are often more important and useful than Exact Organization Schemes. • Because, most of the time, we don’t always know what we’re looking for and the correct label. We may only have a vague information. • AOS has made an intellectual decision to group related items to support an associative learning process that may enable users to reach better results.

  28. Topic organization • Organizing information by subject or topic is one of the most useful and challenging approaches. • Yellow pages are organized topically, so that’s the place to look when you need a plumber/ taxi-driver. • Academic courses, departments, newspapers are organized along topical lines.

More Related