From data storage to
information management
Adventures in -ication

Who am I
★ Managing Partner, Outerthought
★ www.outerthought.org
★ content- and knowledge management
★ Open Source CMS
★ www.daisycms.org

Topics

Organisation

Classification

Discovery

Organisation

The Database

Rule 1: The Information rule
All information in the
database is to be
represented in one and
only one way, namely by
values in column positions
within rows of tables.

BigTable

★ Schema-free databases
★ Name-value pairs
➠ URIs
★ Keys
➠ HyperLinks
★ Relations
★ No SQL unfortunately?

★ The era of
information
repositories

★ Storage of documents instead of records
★ Relations through hyperlinks
★ Dynamic or non-relational schemas
★ Weak, if any, typing
★ Focus on findability and storagability rather
than on schema adherence

★ Shift from database to data modelling
★ Increasing importance of the domain
model
★ Semi-structured information
★ Content- and information rather than
website or document management

Two challenges 1. Domain Modelling
2. ‘External Classification’

Domain Modelling

★ wireframes
★ navigation hierarchy
★ landing pages
★ lists of things
★ which content will fit where
★ ‘UML’-like domain model
★ content
★ structure
★ which content can be shown where

★ domain model
★ define and name entities, content parts
and characteristics
define and establish relationships
★
think about findability
★
think about unit of manipulation
★
think about access control
★

External Classification

Labelling

Classification

The
Universal
Taxonomy

un!
Run!

★ the universal taxonomy fails
★ single-rootedness
★ things appear in multiple locations
★ omphaloskepsis: navel gazing

multi-labeling
➠
tagging
➠
taxonomies ➠ folksonomies









★ folksonomies
★ tags and optional tag bundles
★ content- rather than
classification-driven
★ user generated micro-content
★ shown as tag clouds

★ user generated micro-content
★ represents a genuine value
★ must be moderated
★ history falsification
★ spam (PR whoring, p0rn)
★ lower the doorstep
★ no authentication required
★ QA burden for content owner

Drip feeding

success factors
★ volume
★ diversity
★reward

impediments
★ when a formal classification is
required
★ expert communities
★ classification ~ structure
★ when full-text searching is a viable
alternative
★ use tags to define weight in ranking

Discovery

★ the doom of simplicity
★ natural language processing
★ plurals
★ typos
★ abuse-prone
★ no upfront expectation management

BE
ILL
W
★ upfront knowledge
★ managed expectations
★ principle of least astonishment

Facetted navigation

Facetted navigation

Facetted navigation

Facetted navigation

Conclusions

Organisation
★ Always make a thorough judgment as to
where to store what
★ RDBMS for relational data
★ Repositories for documents/information
★ Integrate instead of standardization

Classification
★ Rich metadata improves findability and (re)
usability
★ Somewhat-typed metadata
★ Tagging, folksonomies r k3wl, but
★ Business case needed
★ Don’t forget menial tasks

Discovery
★ Premature feedback doesn’t exist
★ Classification can add influence ranking
★ K I Simple !

Case

CCGC
★ aka: Lesson learnt in information design
★ Canadian Coast Guard College
★ Case: Management of Competency-based
Training Material

Competency Table Course
Sub-Competency
Course Unit 1 Course Unit 2
Specific
Sub-Competency
Competency Performance
Sub-Competency Objective
General
Sub-Competency Terminal
Specific
Competency
Objective
Competency Sub-Competency
Enabling
Sub-Competency
Specific Objective
Competency Competency Sub-Competency
Area Enabling
Objective
Sub-Competency
Course Unit 3
Enabling
Sub-Competency
Specific
Objective
Competency Sub-Competency
General
Enabling
Competency Sub-Competency Objective
Sub-Competency
Specific
Competency Sub-Competency

Learning Object
Competency Classification
Competency General Specific
Area Competency Competency
(Course Unit) (Perf. Obj.) (Terminal Obj.)
Enabling Objective / Sub-Competency
Performance Performance
Body
Action Verb Environment
Teaching Information
Overview
Aim
Trainer’s Notes
Learning Strategies
Exercises
Ressources
References
Evaluation

model classification
use documents to
Competency Area Learning Object
General Competencies: link - Competence Hierarchy: link
Description: daisy/html
competence hierarchy
- Performance Action Verb: string
hierarchy
- Performance Environment: string
+ Prerequisites: link
+ Student Notes: link
General Competency + Exercises: link
Specific Competencies: link + Resources: string (selection)
Description: daisy/html - DeliveryTime: long (minutes)
- DeliveryMethod: string (selection)
Aim: daisy/html
Trainer's Notes: daisy/html
References: daisy/html
Specific Competency
Performance Standards: daisy/html
Description: daisy/html
Evaluation Standards: daisy/html
External Course
n/a
Description: daisy/html
Exercise
- Competence Hierarchy: link
- DeliveryTime: long (minutes)
- DeliveryMethod: string (selection)
+ Resources: string (selection)
Type?
Description: daisy/html
Teacher info: daisy/html Student Note
Student info: daisy/html + Competence Hierarchy: link
Content: daisy/html
Competency Table
n/a
CompetencyTable: list of LO's
Internal Course
n/a
Course Training Standard: daisy/html
Course Structure: list of LO's
competency
competency
listing course rendition
table
(query)
curricullum
Curricullum Rendition
+ Courses: link Metadata?
Description: daisy/html All parts required for bookpublishing

CCGC
★ Problem
★ 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 10.000
★ 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 = 160.000
★ ...

CCGC
★ Solution
★ Hierarchical Structure Widget
★ Store hierarchy in XML document
★ Provide authoring and editing widget for
hierarchy

CCGC

CCGC

CCGC
★ Lessons learnt
★ think critically about metadata
★ the system might need adaptation (or the
data)
★ focus on domain model rather than on
the ‘website’

Q &A
Thank you!
stevenn@outerthougth.org