[Sigia-l] Self organising Information (Was Data as Information)

[Reinoud Bosman]

> yep, adaptive links is what I was thinking about
> (and have been since university) but I've yet to see it implimented in a
> clear and usable way.

Same here. (jump to the other thread: I hold a Biology degree with some
Communication/journalism thrown in - the link with IA only makes sense to
me).

I think a problem of adaptive interfaces is that it clashes with one of IA's
dogmas: the *consistent* user interface. It's considered bad usability when
you start changing any interface elements. Only multi-zero budget redesigns
are allowed to do stuff like that. Users might get lost, oh my.

But examples do exist: look at software download sites like tucows where the
user can sort on popularity/downloads. Or any voting/rating site for that
matter.

A problem with adaptive interfaces like that is the positive
self-reinforcement such systems suffer from. If
typical-no-time-to-spend-user arrives at a site and sees something ranked
number one then that's the way to go and the number one item gets an extra
vote.

In ecosystems you have predator/prey equilibriums for that. Say you're a fox
on an island with rabbits. Eat a lot of rabbits and the fox colony
flourishes. But when all the rabbits are gone the foxes will starve and
diminish. Which in turn is good for the rabbit colony.

Not sure how that could work with adaptive links though.. viral links? :)

r.