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As we accumulate more and more information online, we’re inclined to add more and more metadata—so we can order it, manage it, and re-find it. This growing belt of metadata is referred to as the “navigation layer.“ It‘s the series of filters, categories, tags, and other devices that let us to interact with information so we can sift out the noise. What’s more, the navigation layer isn’t just about finding information—it can also help us make sense of the stuff we find. Sentiment analysis and entity extraction, for example, provide new insights into the information we come across. Ultimately, the navigation layer can point to high-order patterns that increase understanding.
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Navigation Layer:
Making Sense Of It All
April 2010Polish IA Summit, Warsaw
James Kalbach
User Experience Consultant LexisNexis
LIS Degree Rutgers University
Metadata
Structure
Sense Making
POPULARITY
ITEMS
Head = Hits
Long Tail = Niche Markets
You can find
anything in
the Long Tail
“
”
When there are millions
of books, millions of
songs, millions of films,
millions of applications,
millions of everything
requesting our attention
—and most of it free—
being found is valuable.
Kevin Kelly
Findability
The solution to the
overabundance of
information is
more information
“
”
Navigation Layer
No Frame of Reference
UsersAlgorith
msExperts
Users
Algorithms
Experts
STRUCTURE
METADATA
GTN
In the navigation
layer, any and all
types of metadata
and structure may
be needed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arimoore/3816335057/
Information Foraging
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindenbaum/357980051/in/set-72157594481060620
Metadata Harvesting
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bitzi/178374312/
Sense Making
Berrypicking and
information foraging
are primitive
metaphors. We need to
be talking about
metadata harvesting
and sense making.
CONTENTNews
ResearchBlogs
Twitter…
Beyond Findability:Sense Making
Sense Making
Info Seeking Theory Brenda Dervin, 1980s
Sense Making in IR Dan Russell et al. , 1993
Human-Info Interaction (HII) Nahum Gershon,1995
Sense Making workshops CHI 2008, 2009
HCI/IR Workshops 2007—present
1. Representation
How information is presented affects sense making
BUT representation is difficult in complex situations
Text-based Lists, trees, tables, clouds
Spatial Webs, diagrams
Graph-based Charts, graphs
http://www.aalab.net/projects/maps/
“Clutter and
confusion are failures
of design, not
attributes of
information.”
Edward Tufte
2. Interaction
The ability to manipulate information is critical
BUT there are effort-benefit tradeoffs
Sorting
Grouping
Filtering
Change Display
Zooming
3. Semantics
Topical relevance frames sense making activity
BUT semantics are subjective and changing
Content
Categories
Facets
Labels
Domain
Domain Analysis
What is the structure of information in a given domain?
How is information generated ?What is the social life of information ?
• Facets
• Frequency
• Longevity
• Quantity
• Linking
• Authority
• Quality
• Genres
How do you create an
information system that
provides answers to
questions people don’t
know to ask?
Don‘t know what you need to know
Sense Making Challenges:
1.Representation
2.Interaction
3.Semantics
4. User needs
5. Business needs
There is a cost to adding more and
more
Any and All Metadata and Structures
Information Foraging Metadata
Harvesting
Findability Sense Making
