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Browsability

Browsability means logically classifying your data and information.

As the size of your information system grows, so does the need to logically organize your data. This implies grouping conceptual sets of data with similar conceptual sets of data. Browsability becomes apparent when it is coupled with hypertext and logical groupings of information. A browsable information system has a number of advantages.

Advantages

Readers see entire system at a glance
Knowledge of a vocabulary is not necessary
Like items are grouped together
Easy to navigate
Fosters serendipity
Stimulates thinking

But a solely browsable system is not without its disadvantages as well.

Disadvantages

Easy to get "lost"
Classification system may be foreign to reader
Classification breaks down as quality of information increases
Classification changes over time

An easily browsable system is logically organized by topics. Effective organization your information is critical to the success of your server. This point cannot be overstated and bears repeating. Effective organization of your information is critical to the success of your server. If you want your server to be an effective information tool and you want people to use your server more than once, then it must be organized.

A philosophy of classification

Classifying knowledge and bringing like things together have been fundamental aspects of at least Western culture since the before the Golden Age of Greece when philosophers systematized their ways of thinking. This classification process was their way of creating an intellectual cosmos from the apparent chaos of their experience. The process brought a sense of order to their disordered society. It provided a common ground for others to work from and to use as a basis for further discovery. Without organization intellectual anarchy rushes in to fill the void. Given enough time, eventually, no one is speaking the same intellectual language and communication breaks down. Stagnation sets in.

"Sour milk"

To make matters worse, "One person's cheese is another person's sour milk." In other words, one person's view of the world may not adequately represent the next person's view. Interpretations of the night sky represent an excellent example. Everybody in the northern or southern hemispheres have exactly the same data in which to make interpretations, the stars. Yet every culture creates their own distinct constellations and explanations about what they mean. The interpretations these people make reflect their culture. War-like cultures see warriors. Fishing cultures see boats. Wandering peoples see migrating animals.

A cultural example

For better or for worse, classification systems of knowledge ultimately break down. This is because cultural revolutions and technological change occur. For example, the Medices of the late Middle Ages used their newly found wealth to hire artisans and craftsman. These creative individuals explored new ways of looking at the human form and rekindled an interest in humanity. These cultural perception shifts were then picked up by others throughout Europe. At the same time, technologies like the telescope offered people like Galileo a new perspective of the skies. For example, he noticed Venus moves through phases just like our moon. These observations lead Galileo to believe Venus did not revolve around the Earth as previously thought but around the Sun instead. While these two phenomenon (the rekindled interest in humanity and observations of Venus) did not by themselves alter a system of knowledge, these phenomenon represented the beginning of major intellectual shift in Western thought. Specifically, these two phenomenon contributed to the Renaissance and Reformation where Western civilization's entire intellectual basis where shaken. Therefore, old ways of thinking always seem to give way to new ways of thinking and the process begins anew. Put another way, there is no perfect intellectual organization of knowledge or information just as there is no perfect circle. Similarly, as the habits and technologies of societies change so does their interpretation of the "cosmos" they live in.

Back to the real world

The point is, despite the dynamic nature of intellectual constructs, the organization of information and knowledge seem to be a necessary part of human existence. Since the primary purpose of information servers is to disseminate knowledge, facts, and ideas, it then follows the information they disseminate must be organized in some reasonable fashion.

Guidelines

Know your audience
Provide an "about" text
Use the vocabulary of your intended audience
Create a hierarchal system of ideas
Create a system that is both flexible and exhaustive
Classify by format last

Know your audience

If your intended readers cannot make sense of your server's organizational scheme, then they will only use it as a last-resort information resource. Thus follows the first and foremost guideline for a useful organizational scheme. The organizational scheme must be comprehensible to your intended audience. Think about the people who will be using your server. What are their backgrounds? What do they want? What specialized terminology do they use? In general, how do they think? Incorporate the answers to these questions into the structure of your server. To paraphrase a respected librarian, "Servers are for use" and, in order for this to happen, your organizational scheme must be understandable by the majority of your intended clientele. A thesaurus listing the vocabulary of a discipline may be indispensable in this regard, especially for those of you who are creating collections of Internet resources.

Provide "about" texts

Embed "about" texts, texts describing your organizational system, its intended audience, and how it can be used, within as much of your system as possible. You can not include too much explanatory information as long as it stays within the guidelines for good readability.

Use the vocabulary of your readership

Once you have identified your intended audience, use their terminology. Thus your readership will identify with your information system and be more likely to use again and again.

Create a hierarchal system of ideas

By definition, a hierarchal system of ideas begins with broad terms and is subdivided into narrower terms. There is no perfect hierarchal system of ideas, but your intended audience will bring to your system some preconceived ideas on how information on their topic should be organized. These people will have similar, but not exact preconceptions. Biologist think similarly, just as computer scientists think similarly. Create a hierarchal system fitting the preconceptions of as much of your intended audience as possible. This is called "literary warrant." At this point it may be helpful to employ the use of a specialized thesaurus or handbook written for your audience. This thesaurus or handbook will contain definitions of the discipline's terminology. These tools will help clarify and provide a structure for your hierarchal system.

Create a system that is both flexible and exhaustive

Make sure the system is exhaustive as well as flexible. In other words, create a structure striving to be both enumerative and synthetic.

Enumerative classification attempts to assign designations for (to enumerate) all the single and composite subject concepts required in the system. . . . Synthetic classifications are more likely to confine their explicit lists of designations to single, unsubdivided concepts, giving the local classifier generalized rules with which to construct headings of composite subject.

Classify by format last

Organize materials based on format as a last resort. People usually don't care what format the data is in just as long as the answer to their query can be found. This means when you have a collection of various Internet resources group them by subject first and Internet protocol last; do not put all the telnet sessions in one section, FTP sites in another section, gopher sites in a third, WAIS sites in a fifth, and so on. Organizing your information by topic rather than form brings like things together and end-users will not have to navigate throughout your server for the information they need.