[Sigia-l] "meta-"navigation

[Thomas Quine]

Jan Jursa wrote:

>do we agree that "meta-" navigation is the wrong term for what is
called
>global navigation

Before "meta" fell into common net parlance, its philosophical meaning
was closer to "after", or "above and beyond".

For example, Aristotle's "Metaphysics" were the works he wrote *after*
he wrote the "Physics". Its subject matter was all those things "above
and beyond" the physical world, hence a later historian called these
works the Metaphysics.

Viewed from this angle, meta-navigation might be seen as referring to
all navigation through content that is "above and beyond" content, so to
speak, in the way that copyright info, privacy statements, "About Us"
and "Contact Us" and so on are above and beyond site content - i.e.
"meta-content".

We could say that meta-content such as disclaimers and privacy and
copyright statements are "content about content", but I think if you
include things like "About Us" and "Contact Us" and site maps in that
group, a better definition is "that which is *after* content" (i.e. in
the footer), or if you like, "that which is above and beyond content". 

People fall into the shorthand of saying that for instance meta-data is
"data about data", and meta-communication is "communication about
communication", and some people who read this jump to the conclusion
that the word "meta" must be synonymous with the word "about". 

It's not. Meta-navigation is not "navigation about navigation" in the
same way that Metaphysics is not "physics about physics".

So to my mind, navigation is about finding your way through content, and
meta-navigation is about finding your way through meta-content.

- Thom