[Sigia-l] Fwd: Defining "classification", "metadata", IA, ...

[Maribeth Sullivan]

Like everything else, it's easier to understand things when in context.

To my knowledge, Gerry McGovern is not an information architect. He is a
"Web consultant" who comes from the publishing field and filters everything
through a writer's pen. We all have our own perspectives.

I expect he is a member of this list because he has written numerous
articles for the uninitiated on aspects of information architecture like
classification and navigation. Good writers do have to be able to organize
their information. He will be speaking at Jared Spool's User Interface East
next week in Boston. Personally, I have yet to see anything really useful in
his writing for anyone in the profession.

Gerry is a writer who serves a useful purpose in banging the drum. But I
wouldn't look to him for epiphanies.

Maribeth Sullivan,
Information Architect
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Madigan Pratt & Associates
220 Middlesex Rd.,  Darien CT 06820
PH:203.656.4560 | FAX:203.656.4546
http://madiganpratt.com



Rich Wiggins wrote:

> Here's a paragraph from a recent article on site design:
>
> "First, a little background. Classification (taxonomy) is a type of
> metadata. The purpose of metadata is to provide essential
> information about
> a document. Metadata and classification are part of the discipline of
> information architecture, whose focus is to organize and lay out
> content."
>
> After reading that over a few times, I still can't make sense of it....