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Title: Ambient Findability Author: Peter Morville Publisher: O’Reilly ISBN: 0596007655 For more information click here

Having always intended to read Peter Morville’s earlier book, “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web” but never having got round to it, I eagerly snapped up “Ambient Findability” when it was released in October this year. The first thing I noticed about this book, aside from the title, was the intriguing strap line on the cover: “What we find changes who we become“, which on reflection was an excellent summary of the book’s contents.

Peter uses the term “Ambient Findability” to describe “A fast emerging world where we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime“, but before taking us on the journey to articulate this vision, Peter starts where all good practitioners begin: by studying human nature. In the opening chapters, he presents a brief history of human approaches to wayfinding in the natural, urban and virtual environments, describing our use of maps, charts, “breadcrumbs” and landmarks. This theme is continued throughout the book, with later references to human irrationality in decision making. In studying human behaviour in this way, Peter highlights the words of Calvin Mooers, an American computer scientist who I must confess I had never heard of until reading this book. “Mooers Law” describes the contradictions in user behaviour surrounding information retrieval, particularly where having information causes more problems for the user than not having it.

Chapter by chapter, Peter describes different facets of findability, both current and in the future, assisted by dozens of examples, screenshots and illustrations. We learn about current information retrieval concepts and practice, such as search, recall, precision and keyword distribution. We are then introduced to the concept of “Intertwingularity“, particularly in the context of new “findable” devices, such as GPS-enabled devices, RFID tags, tracking services and “Spimes“, together with a discussion of the legal, ethical and privacy concerns which are inevitably raised by much of this technology.

Peter then goes on to discuss the use and applicability of push and pull technologies, then introduces us to the sociosemantic web. He discusses the semantic web, it’s features and challenges. We learn about metadata, taxonomies, ontologies, folksonomies and social networks. In the final chapter, Peter ties the chapters together, discussing the uses for all this information and it’s power to disrupt the status quo. Using personal examples such as his back problem, plus theoretical examples such as car purchasing, Peter highlights the wealth of information “out there” plus it’s impact on our decision making abilities.

I would recommend this book to anyone either in or hoping to join the web development arena, be they working on the front-end or the back-end of solutions. It gives an excellent overview of the various concepts and challenges, all the while assessing human habits and behaviour in the field. The book is stuffed with real-life examples, providing an excellent illustration of the subjects under discussion, with every chapter written in a consistent and accessible way. If you’d like to find out more about Peter’s work, check out his findability.org blog or view his profile at Semantic Studios

ambient findability

book reviews

information architecture

IT & Internet

peter morville

usability

wayfinding

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 27th, 2005 at 11:03 am and is filed under Book Reviews, IT & Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, trackback from your own site or EMail This Post.

Title: Ambient Findability Author: Peter Morville Publisher: O’Reilly ISBN: 0596007655 For more information click here

Having always intended to read Peter Morville’s earlier book, “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web” but never having got round to it, I eagerly snapped up “Ambient Findability” when it was released in October this year. The first thing I noticed about this book, aside from the title, was the intriguing strap line on the cover: “What we find changes who we become“, which on reflection was an excellent summary of the book’s contents.

Peter uses the term “Ambient Findability” to describe “A fast emerging world where we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime“, but before taking us on the journey to articulate this vision, Peter starts where all good practitioners begin: by studying human nature. In the opening chapters, he presents a brief history of human approaches to wayfinding in the natural, urban and virtual environments, describing our use of maps, charts, “breadcrumbs” and landmarks. This theme is continued throughout the book, with later references to human irrationality in decision making. In studying human behaviour in this way, Peter highlights the words of Calvin Mooers, an American computer scientist who I must confess I had never heard of until reading this book. “Mooers Law” describes the contradictions in user behaviour surrounding information retrieval, particularly where having information causes more problems for the user than not having it.

Chapter by chapter, Peter describes different facets of findability, both current and in the future, assisted by dozens of examples, screenshots and illustrations. We learn about current information retrieval concepts and practice, such as search, recall, precision and keyword distribution. We are then introduced to the concept of “Intertwingularity“, particularly in the context of new “findable” devices, such as GPS-enabled devices, RFID tags, tracking services and “Spimes“, together with a discussion of the legal, ethical and privacy concerns which are inevitably raised by much of this technology.

Peter then goes on to discuss the use and applicability of push and pull technologies, then introduces us to the sociosemantic web. He discusses the semantic web, it’s features and challenges. We learn about metadata, taxonomies, ontologies, folksonomies and social networks. In the final chapter, Peter ties the chapters together, discussing the uses for all this information and it’s power to disrupt the status quo. Using personal examples such as his back problem, plus theoretical examples such as car purchasing, Peter highlights the wealth of information “out there” plus it’s impact on our decision making abilities.

I would recommend this book to anyone either in or hoping to join the web development arena, be they working on the front-end or the back-end of solutions. It gives an excellent overview of the various concepts and challenges, all the while assessing human habits and behaviour in the field. The book is stuffed with real-life examples, providing an excellent illustration of the subjects under discussion, with every chapter written in a consistent and accessible way. If you’d like to find out more about Peter’s work, check out his findability.org blog or view his profile at Semantic Studios

ambient findability

book reviews

information architecture

IT & Internet

peter morville

usability

wayfinding

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 27th, 2005 at 11:03 am and is filed under Book Reviews, IT & Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, trackback from your own site or EMail This Post.