unstrungstudio

During November 2007, Shannon Bain posted a very interesting entry on the Armchair Media blog concerning the need for static information architecture in an era of content with rich, embedded metadata.(The entry also appears on Shannon's personal blog, Direct Reference.) The inspiration for the entry was Everything Is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger. In simpler terms, why do we need someone to structure content when tools exist that allow us to impose our own meaningful structure onto the content? I think that the entry is interesting because its assertions are predicated on an understanding of the Web's logic that doesn't necessarily include human behavior, i.e. these arguments naturally assume a well-versed, web savvy user, who can create logical structure on a whim. Without jumping into the weeds, let's just assume that logic often escapes the masses, and sometimes, hierarchy, which is a reflection of logic, is a good idea. Perhaps, if we were to define the argument from the standpoint of logic, we would see that a need exists, but as the Web evolves, that need is coupled with a need for greater flexibility. The entry is well worth a read.

posted by J.  # 11:14 AM