Organising Structure & Schemes:
Web Sites as Systems of Classification
Aims
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to introduce the idea that web sites or weblets actually comprise one or more
systems of classification
to define and describe systems of classification especially ambiguity in classification,
and content homogeneity and heterogeneity
to provide an appreciation of how systems of classification - especially those used in
web sites - can be interpreted differently depending the perspectives and positions
adopted by their audiences
to define and describe how web sites (including those on intranets, extranets and the
Internet) consist of an organisation structure and an organisation scheme
Introduction
Our understanding of a web site is largely concerned with organising information or
content of various kinds. How the content of a web site (its media, pages, and so on) is
organised is dependent on the system of classification that has been employed in its
construction. How we come to understand a particular system of classification is related
to Discourse, Texts, Social Subjectivity and Social Contexts, concepts that come to us
from the arts and humanities especially linguistic and semiotics (Clarke 1992, 2000).
These theoretical concepts are well beyond the scope of this discussion, although they
are alluded to in the discussion of the concept of Position below.
Traditional technologies usually support more than one content organisation scheme.
For instance, the content of a book can be read linearly from the first chapter to the last
(sequentially) using a table of contents. We can also use the table of contents to start
reading from a particular point (skip-sequential). Alternatively, we could use the index to
jump within and through the book’s content (random access). Various aspects of the
book genre - its Tables of Content and Indexes - have evolved to support these common
kinds of uses to which books are put. To support the need for detailed access to
technical content, the structure of the Table of Content has undergone some recent
changes. It is now common to see a Brief and Extended Table of Contents in these
kinds of books.
The difference between traditional technologies and web-based technologies is that the
latter can potentially support multiple organisation systems for the same content.
Members of the recently created profession called ‘Information Architects’ are generally
responsible for organising information on web sites so that people can find answers to
their questions, by either direct search, casual browsing or by means of content
organisation and labeling. Librarians are a traditional profession devoted to the task of
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organising and providing access to information. However, the Internet is forcing the
responsibility for organising information and content onto end uses- the freedom to
publish information is being offset by the responsibility of organising information
(Rosenfeld and Morville 1989, 23). Perhaps in the future it will be the user that
determines the organising structures and schemes in which content is presented to
them- not just the look of the content. Perhaps the best compromise is to let the
developer maintain the site organisation, but let the user view it in certain ways. Cookies
could be used to remember user preferences, history etc.
Classification Issues
Ambiguity
Classifications are based on networks of differences in meaning formed in language. By
definition, classifications are ambiguous. Two examples provided by Rosenfeld and
Morville (1989, 23) include the meaning of the word ‘pitch’ and the definition of a
‘tomato’. The word pitch has at least 15 different meanings. Botanists classify tomatoes
as fruit, but according to an 1893 ruling of the US Supreme Court decision, tomatoes are
vegetables because they are not used in deserts! Interestingly, Greek cuisine uses the
tomato to produce deserts in the form of confectionery. This demonstrates that even
taken-for-granted meanings are always culturally specific. As a consequence, however
obvious a classification may seem to a web designer or builder, it cannot be assumed
that the people who access their web site will understand its classification scheme and
labeling.
Homogeneity/Heterogeneity
Homogeneity refers to an object or a collection of objects that is composed of related or
similar parts. An example of homogeneous classification is any kind of database
designed to contain specific types of object- a book catalogue or a video list etc.
Heterogeneity refers to an object or collection of objects composed of unrelated or unlike
parts.
According to Rosenfeld and Morville (1989, 24), web sites almost always involve highly
heterogeneous classification because they:
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provide access to documents and the elements at various levels of granularity,
(defined in Lecture 4). Links may lead to specific titles, paragraphs, and sections or
indeed to other web sites.
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access to documents is often in the form of multiple types, multiple modes, and
multiple media. A web site may include many types of information, for example
product descriptions, financial reports, and software files. Web sites may also contain
different modes of information- dynamic content v. state content- for example, and
also consist of numerous media- text alongside video, audio and interactive
applications.
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The heterogeneous nature of web sites makes it difficult to impose highly structured
organisation systems on the content:
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it is not sensible to classify documents with varying degrees of granularity side by
side, for example magazines are not the same as newspapers
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different types of media address different audiences and therefore should not use the
same display conventions, layout etc.
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similarly different information modes and different media can be treated in the same
way. Content can be delivered in a number of modes in a continuum from static to
highly dynamic. Obviously web page consist of multiple media.
Audiences, Perspectives and Positions
Systems of classification and labeling are affected by the perspectives of the creator and
occasionally on their assumptions about expected audience(s).
The members of an organisation might design an extranet site using the internal
divisions of its organisational chart. Pages or weblets would be classified according to
marketing, sales, human resources etc. But how does is customer visiting this web site
know which division to select in order to get technical information about product they
have just bought? In order to make useful web sites, information architects must assume
the role of an intended user:
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how they see the information?
What types of labels would they use?
Added complications involve the fact that web sites are designed for multiple types of
uses or audiences. Each group of uses will have different perspectives on the content in
the web site. They will also adopt different positions- systematically different ways of
understanding the same information. One sense in which perspective differs from
position in that the former is static whereas the latter is dynamic. Users have different
positions because of their institutional experiences, and these experiences will
differentiate users according to amongst other things age, class, rice and/or religion. In
short users are likely to adopt different positions or readings of the same contentcompliance or resistance.
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Organising Web Sites
for Intranets, Extranets, or the Internet
The organisation of a web site is closely related to navigation, labeling and indexing.
Following Rosenfeld and Morville (1989), web site organisation consists of:

Organisation structure- defines the types of relationships between content items and
groups.
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Organisation schemes- defines the shared characteristics of content items and
influences the logical grouping of those items.
Organisation Structure
The types of relationships between content items and groups influence the organisation
of a web site and are closely related to issues of navigation, labeling and indexing.
Clement Mok (1996, 102-107) refers to these as organisation models. We will use his
specific types of structures and his examples as a basis for considering the relationships
between content items and groups:
Structure
Linear
Hierarchical
Web
Parallel
Matrix
Overlay
Spatial Zoom
Definition
Content items are arranged to form a
group that the user reads, views or hears
them from a ‘start’ to a ‘finish’
Content items arranged into a group
consisting of whole-part relations
organised from the most general to the
most specific
A group which consists of content items
where each item is connected to one or
more other content items by means of
explicit references
One or more groups of content consisting
of distinct media which are interpreted,
read, viewed, and/or heard simultaneously
A group of image content generally
ordered into a two dimensional array.
Other types of content and higher
dimensions are also possible.
Two or more groups of data generally
consisting of two dimensional image data
superimposed on each other
A new content group formed by selection
from the existing and much larger content
group of content items. The new group is
shown in great detail.
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Examples
Film Slide Show Carousel
Powerpoint Slide Shows
Novel or other story Genre
Organisation charts,
Genealogical charts,
many classification systems
Thesaurus
Hypertext
Closed Caption Television
(written text superimposed
on a television signal)
Bingo Card
Monthly Calendar
Road & Topographic Map
A image consisting of a
Topographic map together
with a magnified view of a
part of the map
Organising Structure & Schemes:
Web Sites as Systems of Classification
Rodney J. Clarke
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Organisation Schemes
There are two major groups of organisation schemes (Rosenfeld and Morville 1989, 2636) which define the shared characteristics of content and which affect the grouping of
items- exact organisation schemes and ambiguous organisation schemes.
Exact Organisation Schemes
An exact organisation scheme can be used when the objects or a collection of objects
can be unambiguously assigned to a single category. Exact organisation schemes are
said to partition information well. Searching this kind of scheme is also referred to as a
know-item search. Exact organisation schemes are easy to design and maintain
because there is little intellectual effort involved in assigning an item to a category. In
fact, programs can be built to automatically index appropriate information in this form
and many intranets and extranets use these schemes to organise content of various
kinds on web sites. Three exact organisation schemes are described below:

Alphabetical: Promotes the rapid searching or scanning of a known item and also
permits casual browsing of items. A well-known example of an exact organisation
scheme is the white pages telephone book. If you want to search for someone’s
phone number you only need to know their name, although in some cases you may
also have to know where they live (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: The Australian White Pages Online site is organised around an alphabetical
exact organisation scheme.
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Chronological: Temporal or chronological organisation schemes are easy to design
and use, so long as there is general agreement about when a particular event
occurred. Press releases are generally organised using this scheme (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Chronological listing of review articles on NetObjects site. Notice that the
reviews are sequenced using the most recent article at the top of the list.
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Geographical: Spatial, social and economic data are frequently location dependent
and are often best organised using a geographical organisation scheme. With the
exception of border (political) disputes, geographical organisation schemes are fairly
straightforward to design and use (see Figure 3).
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Figure 3: The Concierge.com site enables users to access progressively more detailed
maps. CGI programs running on the web server detect the location of mouse
clicks at the client side and serve up the appropriate hyperlinked image. Note
that Bulli is incorrectly spelt.
Ambiguous Organisation Schemes
Ambiguous information categories attempt to classify objects or items into fuzzy
categories- categories to which the items do not exactly fit. As a consequence they are
difficult to design, use maintain and automate. However, as Rosenfeld and Morville
(1989, 29) remark ambiguous organisation schemes are in some senses more important
and useful than exact organisation schemes, because people don’t always know what
they want until they find it. Five ambiguous organisation schemes are described below:

Topical: organises information by subject or topic. An example of a commonly used
topical organisation scheme for content on a web site is the yellow pages telephone
book. In designing a topical organisation scheme, it is important to define the breadth
of coverage for the scheme. For example, encyclopaedias attempt to cover all
knowledge (see Figure 4).
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Figure 4: The ‘Explore’ categories on the britannica.com site are an example of a
topical ambiguous organisation scheme for content.
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Task-Oriented: organises information according to some kind of procedure. Taskoriented organisation requires that both the website developer and the audience can
agree upon the steps in the procedure. This agreement can be possible because the
procedure is so simple as to be taught to the audience through the use of page
layout, by means of a program (for example, the Office 2000 wizards). Alternatively,
the developer and the audience share a common culture and common knowledge. In
Figure 5, the procedure is simple enough that page layout and a simple list of steps
are sufficient to identify a suitable vehicle for a prospective buyer (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Task-oriented organisation scheme used at the commercial General
Motors Extranet site for researching, and specifying a car, locating the
car in a dealers inventory and ultimately buying it. Note the simple
procedure running down the left-hand side of the screen.
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Audience-specific: Complex sites often separate and logically group content by
audience. This is a common tactic to use when developing broad appeal Internet
sites, as well as large scale Intranets serving more than two or three types of
audience (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: The archived web site of the 1999 SIGGRAPH conference. The ACM
SIGGRAPH conferences are huge events and the associate websites are
designed to supply information tailored to the general and scientific media
that will cover the event.
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Metaphor-driven: Web sites can also employ metaphor driven organisation schemes
for logically grouping together content items with shared characteristics. The
Questacon site uses a guide map of its physical site as an organising scheme for
content on its web site using the metaphor of a virtual tour (see Figure 7).
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Figure 7: A metaphor driven ambiguous organisation scheme using a floor plan of a
physical museum site and the metaphor of a virtual tour to logically group
together web content.
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Hybrids: In general, multiple organisational schemes are used when no pure
organisation scheme is available. In these circumstances developers have few
options except to mix elements of topical, task-oriented, audience-specific, and
metaphor-driven approaches. Bad use of hybrid organisation means that users
become confused about where to find an item. In general, it is best to group together
on the page items that use the same type of classification scheme. The current
University of Wollongong home page does not group like items together- all items
are presented in a single list. Fortunately the list is not very long, only three
classification schemes are used and thankfully the metaphor-driven scheme is not
one of them. For example ‘About the University’ and ‘Studying at Wollongong’
contain functional information, ‘Research & Innovation’ contains topical information,
and ‘Information for Students’, ‘Community & Business’, and ‘Information for Staff’
are audience-oriented.
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Sources
References
Clarke, R. J. (1992) “Some Applications of Social Semiotics in Information Systems
Discipline and Practice” in MacGregor, R.; Clarke, R. J.; Little, S.; Gould, E. and A. And
eds/ (1992) Proc. 3rd Australian Conference in Information Systems: ISOP-92
Wollongong, NSW, Australia 5-8 October 1992, Department of Business Systems,
University of Wollongong, 67-79
Clarke, R. J. (2000) “An Information System in its Organisational Contexts: A Systemic
Semiotic Longitudinal Case Study” Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of
Information Systems, University of Wollongong
Mok, C. (1996) Designing Business: Multiple Media, Multiple Disciplines California, USA:
Adobe Press
Rosenfeld, L. and P. Morville (1989) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Cambridge: O’Reilly & Associates
Web Resources
ACM (1997) SIGGRAPH 99 Conference August 8-13, Los Angeles, California Archived
Web Site http://www.siggraph.org/s99/media/index.html
Australian White Pages Online (2000) http://www.whitepages.com.au/
Concierge (2000) World Maps Interactive Atlas http://www.concierge.com
General Motors (2000) http://www.gmbuypower.com/
NetObjects Inc. (2000) http://www.netobjects.com/
Questacon, National Science and Technology Centre, Canberra Australia (2000)
http://www.questacon.edu.au/virtual_tour.html
University of Wollongong (2000) UOW Home Page http://www.uow.edu.au/
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