classification


		Information Interaction Design – Organizing Things (from Information Design, MIT Press, Nathan Shedroff – page 267-291)
		Information Design (provides a framework)
	- - - -	the organization and presentation of data data by itself is worthless. It must be organized and presented in a way that gives it meaning requires an understanding of who the audience is giving meaning happens by creating an experience for the audience (through design, media, etc.

	- -	The first step in transforming data into information is to play with its organization. All things can be organized according to:

alphabetical	- - - -	we may know what we are looking but often, we don’t know where it is alphabet, an arbitrary sequence of symbols works because we learned it early it is not universally useful (system of index change culturally) sometimes we realize that few data have great meaning according to their first letter

location [mapping]	- - -	locations are natural ways of organizing data whose importance lioes in their relation or connecion to other data. (airplane exit signs are given in diagrams) making maps and diagrams is harder then lists but give more direct information you get a better "sense of place" (compare subway maps as linear lists and in 2D)

time	- -	obvious for train schedules and historic timelines but just as good for building instructions, etc. time can be organized in minutes, days, centuries, processes, etc.

continuum	- -	rating systems (number of hotel stars) impl;y a value scale expresses of order of importance

numeric	- -	also an arbitrary learned system – base 10 (10 fingers) numbers are more universal than alphabets – they can be combined in forms according to mathematical relationships.

categories [1][2][ cladograms]	- -	similar things grouped together according to some common attribute (property) categories affect the audience’s perception of the information (connotative)

randomness	- -	useful to where a challenge is involved – game beginnings (spread cards on table) increases complexity and used in testing

multiple organization	- -	almost all organizations are nested, sub-categorized. also useful to use indexes that organize the same items in different ways.

activities	-	looking, wearing, wasting, entrance, writing, eating, procrastinating, etc.

metaphors	- -	a way to establish context (tranforming data into information) more about representation then organization

associative	-	having to do with love, the planets, mine, theirs, an occasion, brands, travel, etc.