Blog Post 7: Organization Structures

we organize to understand, to explain, and to control. The internet is forcing users to become librarians and organize information. Doing the work of the librarians we have to learn their language, and have thus come up with classification systems in order to help in solving organization problems.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE- Organizing information
Ambiguity: the use of language in our classification systems. When we use words we are risking that users will not understand the meaning. Words as a classifier are sometimes overly ambiguous. So we need to agree on wordage for labels so that they are universally understood. After selecting the classifying label, we need to come to a common understanding to what will go in each label.

Organizational schemes:
Exact organizational schemes-

alphabetical: generally used for dictionaries, encyclopedias , directories, phone books, indexes. Provides a structure for other organizational schemes.

chronological: organized using numbers 1-?. Generally archives, diaries, television guides, or history books. Would use chronological classification maybe when knowing the exact order is crucial to the content. easy to design and use.

geographical: By place. People care about the location of an event, or the order in which traveling will be done. The weather, political/social/economic issues, and local news fall under the umbrella of geographical classification.

Ambiguous organizational schemes- will divide information into different categories that defy exact definition, and have to do a lot of the definition of ambiguity I listed above because they are difficult to describe. they are more important than exact themes. people do not always know what they are looking for so the ambiguous theme is more useful.

topical: the yellow pages, newspaper, academic courses and departments. Organized by subject rather than alphabetical, geographic or numerical. topical schemes help organize a site into broad categories where people can get an idea of where to look for more specific information.

task-oriented: organize into a collection of processes, functions, or tasks. To guide users to where they need to go in order to perform a specific task. word processors, photoshop. Not often seen on the internet.

audience-specific: can be open or closed. open means that anyone in any audience can access information intended for a specific audience. Closed implies that a single audience is intended, fees and membership may be required to access information.

metaphor-driven: users are helped to understand the new by relating information to the familiar. Folders, files, and trash can are examples.

hybrid schemes: blending of multiple schemes. involves elements of audience-specific, topical, metaphor-based, and task-oriented organization schemes. Hybrid schemes are common on the web because it is difficult to decide upon one scheme.

Web Style Guide- Information Architecture

Aim in organizing for the web:

• Organize the site content into taxonomies and hierarchies of information;
• Communicate conceptual overviews and the overall site organization to the design team and clients;
• Research and design the core site navigation concepts;
• Set standards and specifications for the handling of html semantic markup, and the format and handling of text content; and
• Design and implement search optimization standards and strategies.

Hierarchies in site structure. most important at top in a site map.

Sequences in site structure. The map follows a certain procedure, or route. This is the structure of books, magazines, and all other print matter. Sequential ordering may be chronological, a logical series of topics progressing from the general to the specific, or alphabetical, as in indexes, encyclopedias, and glossaries.

Web- link site. The most complex type of site. Weblike organizational structures pose few restrictions on the pattern of information use. In this structure the goal is often to mimic associative thought and the free flow of ideas, allowing users to follow their interests in a unique, heuristic, idiosyncratic pattern.