2019 EDU: LIBR: How to use a blog to organize a developing themed collection of information

How to use a blog to organize 
a developing themed collection 
of  information

When we think of organizing a collection of information, we immediately think of a card catalog, a table of contents, or an index.  Or, if we are technical, a database or spreadsheet.  Here I suggest a middle ground, more modern than a card catalog, less technical than a spreadsheet. 

Multiple ways to organize

• The best way depends on the user's objective.
• We need a search capability that lets users organize to fit their needs.
• In developing an organization we need to encourage user input.
• Organization is to serve the user.

Advantages of collaborative blogs for organizing knowledge

• Blogs are familiar to all web users,
• Many hands make fast work.
• Blogs make stored knowledge easily available to everyone immediately.
• Blogs can get quick review and feedback (in comments).  
• Blogs can serve as archives.
• Blogs contents are available in Google search.
• Blogs can have their own (in site) search and key term support.
• Use auto-curation on your blogs

Contents

• Search on page: Ctrl+f gets search bar near the top.   
• Search planning
• Common patterns of organization
• Search offers user choice
•    Web search
•    Keywords
•    Hashtag
• Methods in books
•    Table of contents
•    Index
• Database
• Organizing blog: suggested design

• MUVE update 1/24/2019 Murder for dessert, OpenSim Fest, blogs, voice

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Preliminary search planning

• Organize information (Google search)

Commonly patterns of organization

• Chronological Patterns.
• Sequential Patterns.
• Spatial Patterns.
• Compare-Contrast Patterns.
• Advantages- Disadvantages Patterns.
• Cause-Effect Patterns.
• Problem-Solution Patterns.
• Topical Patterns. 
• Source:  Patterns of organization

Search offers user choice of organization

Web search

• An unconstrained web search gets an large number of unevaluated entries.
• Experienced searchers can narrow the selection by adding constraints.
• Google search allows a lot of constraints for the people who know how to use it.
• Google search filters 

Keywords 

• Keywords make implied categories: each keyword is a category
• A user finds the category contents by entering the keyword.
• Keywords let a single entry serve multiple categories.
• Each keyword puts the entry in a keyword category.
• A keyword can be a common word.  
• But a web search will find all instances, not just keyword instances.
• An uncommon form of the word can be used to denote keywords.
• The hashtag (#) form  has come to be widely used: #keyword.

Organization methods in books

Table of contents

• A table of contents presents the organization of a book
• In a book, that table usually has page numbers. 
• So users can go directly to the chapter they need.
• As illustrated in this article, a blog article can also have a table of contents.
• With the capability to search a page, users can go directly to the section they need.

The index 

• The book index is the old way of providing keyword (or key term) search.  
• The analogous way in a blog is search-on-site.
• This blog provides search-on-site (upper left).
• Many blogs offer search-on-site. If they do not:
• How do I use Google to search within a website?

Organization ways in Blogger

• Chronological: blogs are filed in this order.
• Search-on-site: upper left.

Search support you can add

• Labels: You can assign labels (multiple) to each entry.  
• Users can retrieve by label.
• Keywords as page contents.
• Keywords as label contents (put the label in the key word).
• Key words as blog contents (with search-on-site).

Would a database be better?

• The answer is undefined until better is defined in terms of intended use.
• For a skilled user, a database is more efficient and more productive.
• For an unskilled user, a database is useless.  
• A database is most useful when all the relevant attributes are known. 

Organizing blog: suggested design

• An organizing blog is intended to collect information on a theme.
• The collected information is to be immediately useful.
• And to collect information in a way that could support a future database.
• The part above the break should be a standard form.
• In a standard form missing data is obvious.
• With this plan, a search would produce a list of standard forms.

Item data: standard form for Hypergrid places 

• Educationally informative name:
• Hypergrid address:    
• Full name:
• Link to encyclopedic article about the educational topic:
• Abstract or summary"
• Date verified: 

Item data: free form comments after the break

• Free form comments provide information not anticipated in the standard form
• They may be reviewed later for additions to the standard form.