Transform data into information by organizing it.
Organizing is a process of sorting, combining and labeling. It
brings up the profile of otherwise invisible data. The way you organize
things affects the way people interpret them.
Organizing data is like laying a filter over a
lens. Some bits get blocked while others shine through. Try organizing
the same data using different methods. Different attributes and
messages will emerge. You will find that each method alters how
the data appears as information.
Alphabetical
This works best for searchers who know the name
of the thing they are looking for.
Examples: Class rosters, indexes, filing systems, street
names.
Locations
Have you ever gotten lost and reached into your
glove compartment to consult a folded piece of paper printed with
labeled diagrams? Hello, Columbus.
Examples: maps, flow charts, network diagrams.
Time and Date
For searchers who want to synchronize with some
event or thing in the future or the past.
Examples: train schedules, clock face, calendar, historical timeline.
Continuums
Any qualitative comparison can be described with a continuum. All
ratings systems, whether numbers of stars or the
number of RBI of a professional baseball player, indicate a value
scale that can be expressed upon a continuum.
Examples: David Letterman's Top Ten List, sports polls, customer
satisfaction surveys
Numbers
Numbers are ordered like alphabets They also can occur along a continuum,
but they are more universal and abstract.
Because of the mathematical relationships numbers share, they can
be combined and organized in infinitely different
and meaningful ways.
Categories
Use this method when you have to group information
into categories that are considered important in some way. Carefully
considered categories take on a transparency that appeals to common
sense. Defining the specific categories is crucial, as
this method communicates the designer's prejudices and (mis)understandings
more easily than any other organization.
Randomness
While random or arbitrary organizations might not seem a useful
way to organize things or "add value" to them, it is sometimes
the best way if a challenge of some kind is involved. Consider games.
Some begin in a state of organization and gradually move
towards chaos (chess). Others do the exact opposite,
reversing the polarity from randomness back to
organization (solitaire.)
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