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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Hierarchies et al.
From:       seele () obso1337 ! org
Date:       2005-08-18 17:40:07
Message-ID: 47687.209.116.240.11.1124386807.squirrel () webmail ! halcyonhosting ! net
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> PEOPLE DON'T "GET" HIERARCHIES. (from Simon Edwards blog)
>
> Definitely not true. People are living in hierarchies: this is family,
> this is stranger; things in queue, things in process, things done; I've
> read these books and these not.

just because we use hierarchies doesnt mean we understand them.  the model
of a hierarchy was created to establish power, and from that we get the
'belongs to' analogy.  home belongs to root.  seele belongs to home.  docs
belong to seele.  etc.  sometimes there really is only one way to organize
something, and hierarchical trees work well for this.  but information
isnt usually like that.

look at the internet.  look at people's messy desktops.  things change
around as the meaning changes.  a picture doesnt usually 'belong to' a
single folder.  its content could be appropriate for a image metafolder, a
family vacation folder, a project folder, a graphic design folder whcih
has all pictures which are blue and at the beach..

different users use different models in how they organize and understand
information.  just because you use a hierachy when you organize files
doesnt mean its natural or better than semantic organization.  its just
what you learned, remember, and are comfortable with because youre more
experienced with it than something relational.

there is significant research which has examined how users 'attempt' to
organize their files and maintain that organization.  users experience
difficulty trying to organize a single file in a single location because
it has multiple meanings and applications.  over time, they have
difficulty retrieving files because their meaning of labels change and
they cant follow the 'scent' they created in their file structure.  they
have difficulty coming up with filenames that they will remember in the
future.

most often, organization strategies change over time because our
definition and understanding of labels change over time.  hierachies cant
grow with this change, but a semantic network would evolve with it.

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