Ambient Findability

• Add sub-heading here

Book review: Ambient Findability

Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become, by Peter Morville


Summary

Aimed at anyone interested in web design and information architecture, this is a wide-ranging read that challenges many of our existing ideas about how we use information.


Key ideas: findability and the long tail

“Findability precedes usability. In the alphabet and on the Web. You can't use what you can't find.” Peter Morville


Key ideas: findability

Grokker

Kartoo

Add sub-heading here

Key ideas: the user experience

■ Useful■ Usable■ Desirable■ Findable■ Accessible ■ Credible ■ Valuable


Key ideas: language and metadata

Metadata: descriptive information used to index, arrange, file and improve access to a library or museum's resources

The platypus paradox


Key ideas: language and metadata Consider for example the proceedings that we call "games". I mean board-games, card-games, ball-games, Olympic games, and so on. What is common to them all? -- Don't say: "There must be something common, or they would not be called 'games' "-but look and see whether there is anything common to all. -- For if you look at them you will not see something that is common to all, but similarities, relationships, and a whole series of them at that. To repeat: don't think, but look! Ludwig Wittgenstein


Key ideas: language and metadata A fruit

A vegetable

A terrorist

A freedom fighter

A country

A part of China


Key ideas: folksonomies and tagging

Popular links on del.icio.us

Multiple objects per tag


Findability in the real world






Conclusion

Easy, enjoyable read. The book could have been a lot shorter, as there is a good deal of waffle. At the same time, there are enough ideas that challenge many of the dogmas about information design that it is worth reading.

Ambient Findability

Technology