Organizing Website and Internet

The organization of information websites is a major factor information determining success. Organization systems are composed of organization schemes and organization structure.

An organization schemes defines the shared characteristics of content items and influence the logical grouping of those items. An organization structure defines the types of relationships between content items and groups.

Organization schemes

Various organization schemes are being used These schemes can be divided into two categories:
1).Exact organization schemes
2).Ambiguous organization schemes

Exact organization schemes

These schemes divide the information into well-defined and mutually exclusive sections. Users can search the information only if he knows what he is looking for and he knows the label so that he can identify the group/section in which the item is. This is known as well-defined and mutually exclusive known item searching. No ambiguity is involved.

Advantages:

1).Exact organization schemes are easy to design and maintain because there is little intellectual work involved in assigning items to categories.

Disadvantages:
1).Exact organization schemes require the user to know the specific name of the resource they are looking for.
Examples
Alphabetical organization scheme

In this scheme all the information items are arranged alphabetically and they are grouped accordingly i.e. items starting with letter ‘A’ come information one group and so on. The implementation of this scheme can be observed information encyclopedias, Dictionaries, phone books, bookstores, departmental store directories. On the web you can observe this scheme information the Address book of your mailbox.

Chronological Organization Schemes

Certain types of information lend themselves to 'chronological organization. E.g. an archive of press releases might be organized by the date of release. History books, magazine archive, diaries and television guides tend to be organized chronologically. As long as there is agreement on when a particular event occurred, chronological schemes are easy to design and use.

Geographical Organization Schemes

Place is often an important characteristics of information. Political, social and economic issues are frequently location dependent. We care about the news and weather that affects us information our location. Example, in a website of MNC the list products available is different in different countries according to economy, population of that country. So such a website manages such location dependent information using Geographical Organization Schemes.

Ambiguous Organization Schemes

Ambiguous Organization Schemes divide information into categories that defy exact definition. They are mired in the ambiguity of language and organization.

Advantages

Ambiguous Organization Schemes are more important useful than exact organization schemes because the information atoms are grouped on the basis of there meaning not just because they start from a particulars alphabet. This grouping of related items supports associative learning process that may enable the user to make new connections and reach better conclusions.

Disadvantages
Ambiguous Organization Schemes are difficult to

• Design
• Maintain
• Use

Examples
Topical Organization scheme

Organizing information by topic or subject is one of the most useful and challenging approaches. In this scheme all the information atoms related to one topic is grouped information a single category E.g. Phone book yellow pages are organized topically. So that is the place to look when you need plumber. Research oriented websites rely heavily on topical organization schemes. In designing a topical Organization Scheme, it is important to define the breadth of coverage. Some schemes such as encyclopedia cover the entire breadth of human knowledge while others such as a corporate website are limited information breadth covering only those topics directly related to the company's products and services. E.g.Yahoo.com categorizes information as Ads & Entertainment, Hobbies and Games, Industry and Business etc. whereas Microsoft.com categorizes as about, Product Support, Careers, and Contacts etc.

Task-oriented Organization Scheme

Task oriented schemes organize content and application into a collection of processes, functions/ tasks. These schemes are appropriate when it is possible to anticipate a limited number of high priority tasks that users will want to perform. E.g. Ms Word uses this scheme as collections of individual actions are organized under task oriented menus such as Edit, Insert and Format. On the web task oriented organization schemes are most common information the context of e-Commerce websites where customer interaction takes center stage.

Audience-specific Organization Scheme

In case where there are two or more clearly definable audiences for a website organization intranet an audience specific organization scheme may make sense. This type of scheme works best, when the site is frequently used by repeated visitors who can bookmark their particular section of the site. It also works well if there is value is customizing the content for each audience. Ancient: oriented schemes break a site Inc: smaller audience specific mini-sites, thereby allowing for clutter free pages that 'present only the options of internet to that particular audience. E.g. anycollege.com contains different links for students, faculty and management. Audience specific schemes can be open or closed. An open scheme allows members of one audience to access the content intended for other audiences. A closed scheme prevents members from moving between audience specific sections.

Hybrid Organization Scheme

The power of a pure organization scheme derives from its ability to suggest a simple mental model that users can quickly understand. However when you start blending elements of multiple schemes. Confusion often follows and solutions are rarefy scalable. The hybrid scheme can include elements of audience specific, topical task- oriented and alphabetical organization schemes. Because they are all mixed together we can't form a mental model. But as it is often difficult to agree upon any one scheme hybrid schemes are fairly common.

Organization structures

Organization Structure plays an intangible yet very important role in the design websites. The structure of information defines the primary ways in which users can navigate. Major organization structures that apply to web site and internet architectures include

• The Hierarchy
• The database-oriented Model
• Hypertext

Each Organization structure possesses unique strengths and weaknesses.
The Hierarchy/taxonomy: A Top-Down Approach
In this model we give the groups a hierarchical structure having parent child relationship between them such that they get divided into mutually exclusive groups.
Examples

• Family trees are hierarchical.
• Organization charts are usually hierarchical.
• We divide books into chapters into sections into paragraphs into sentences into words into letters.

Advantages

1).The mutually exclusive subdivisions and parent child relationships of hierarchies are simple and familiar.
2).Because of this pervasiveness of hierarchy, users can easily and quickly understand web sites that use hierarchical organization models. They are able to develop a mental model of the site's structure and their location within that structure. This provides content that helps users feel comfortable.
3).The top-down approach allows you to quickly get a handle on the scope of the website without going through an extensive content inventory process. You can begin identifying the major content areas and exploring possible organization schemes that will provide access to that content. Because hierarchies provide a simple and familiar way to organize information they are usually a good place to start the information architecture process.

Designing the modal

While designing the hierarchical model we should take care of the following points.

Balance between exclusivity and exclusivity
The hierarchical categories should be mutually exclusive. Within a single organization scheme there is a need to balance the between exclusivity and exclusivity. Hierarchical model that allows listing is known as polyhierarchical modal. But if too many items are cross listed then hierarchy loses its value.
Balance between breadth and depth
It is important to consider the balance between breadth and depth of the hierarchy. Breadth refers to the number of options at each level in the hierarchy and depth refers to the number of levels at each level in the hierarchy. If a hierarchy is too narrow and deep then users have to click through an inordinate number of levels to find what they are looking for. In the (relatively) broad and shallow hierarchy users must choose from a large number (say ten) of categories and may get unpleasantly surprised by the lack of content once they select an option.
The Database Model: A Bottom-up Approach

Metadata is the primary key that links information architecture to the design of database schema. Metadata allows us to apply the structure and power of e relational databases to the heterogeneous, unstructured environments of web sites and intranets. By tagging documents ally other information objects with controlled vocabulary metadata, we enable powerful searching and browsing. This is a bottom up solution that works well information large distributed environments.

It's not necessary for information architects to become experts in SQL, XML schema definitions, the creation of ER Diagrams and the design of relational databases, though these are all extremely valuable skills. Instead, Information Architects need to understand how metadata, controlled vocabularies, and database structures can be used to enable:

• Automatic generation of alphabetical indexes.
• Dynamic presentation of associative "see also" links.
• Field searching
• Advanced filtering and sorting of search results.

The database model is particularly useful when applied within relatively homogeneous sub sites such as product catalogs and staff directories.

Hypertext Model

Hypertext is relatively recent and highly nonlinear way of structuring information. Hypertext system involves two primary types of components: the items organization chunks of information that will be linked and the links between these chunks. These components can form hypermedia systems that connect text, data, Image, video and audio chunk's. Hyper-text chunks can be connected hierarchically, non-hierarchically or both. In hypertext systems, content chunks are connected via links in a loose web of relationships.

Advantages

1).This model provides great flexibility.
2).This model allows for useful and creative relationships between items and areas in the hierarchy. If usually makes sense to the first design the information hierarchy and then identify ways information which hypertext can complement the hierarchy.

Disadvantages

1).This model introduces substantial potential for complexity and confusion because hyper text links reflect highly personal associations.
2).As users navigate through highly hyper textual websites it is easy for them to get lost.
3).Hyper textual links are often personal information nature. The relationship that one person sees between content items may not be apparent to others.