Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition

Tablets, Scrolls, Books, and Libraries

Humans have been structuring, organizing, and labeling information for centuries. Back in 660 B.C., an Assyrian king had his clay tablets organized by subject. In 330 B.C., the Alexandria Library housed a 120-scroll bibliography. In 1873, Melvil Dewey conceived the Dewey Decimal System as a tool to organize and provide access to the growing number of books.

In modern times, most of us become familiar with the basics of information organization through our experiences with books and libraries. Table 1-1 shows how the concepts of information architecture (IA) apply to the world of print and the World Wide Web.

Table 1-1. Differences between books and web sites

IA concept	Books	Web sites
Components	Cover, title, author, chapters, sections, pages, page numbers, table of contents, index.	Main page, navigation bar, links, content pages, sitemap, site index, search.
Dimensions	Two-dimensional pages presented in a linear, sequential order.	Multidimensional information space with hypertextual navigation.
Boundaries	Tangible and finite with a clear beginning and ending.	Fairly intangible with fuzzy borders that “bleed” information into other sites.

As we go beyond books to collections of books, the comparisons become even more interesting. Imagine a bookstore with no organization scheme. Thousands of books are simply tossed into huge piles on table tops. Such a bookstore does, in fact, exist: Gould’s Book Arcade in Newtown, Australia. It’s ...