Making Local Knowledge Globally Useful

Through intense study of Microformats I have come to enlightenment regarding information design:

Two Fundamental Principles of Information Design

1. Design information to be resolutely specific and local.
2. Design information to be globally and collectively useful.

Example

Consider a Web designer that embeds a family name in an HTML <li> element, e.g.,

      <li>Costello</li>

A second Web designer embeds a family name in an HTML <div> element, e.g.,

      <div>Novak</div>

A third Web designer embeds a family name in an XML element, e.g.,

      <informant>Smith</informant>

A fourth Web designer embeds a family name in an XML element, e.g.,

      <pilot>Johnson</pilot>

A fifth Web designer embeds a family name in an RSS element, e.g.,

      <managingEditor>Parker</managingEditor>

Each of these Web designers are expressing the family name information in a way that is resolutely specific and local, i.e., in a way that is appropriate for his/her specific needs and requirements.

However, the information is not globally and collectively useful, i.e., without a-priori knowledge a general Web tool cannot ascertain that the information within the elements represents a person's family name.

That's where Microformats come into the picture. Add the hCard "family-name" subproperty to each local expression:

<li class="family-name">Costello</li>

<div class="family-name">Novak<div>

<informant class="family-name">Smith</informant>

<pilot class="family-name">Johnson</pilot>

<managingEditor class="family-name">Parker</managingEditor>

Now the information is resolutely specific and local; simultaneously it is globally and collectively useful.

Wiki Version of this Page

I have a Wiki version of this page. I invite you to contribute to these ideas.