navigating the long tail
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TRANSCRIPT
Navigating the Long Tail
September 2007
James Kalbach
Human Factors Engineer, LexisNexis
Information Architect, Razorfish Germany (2003)
LIS Degree from Rutgers University
Designing Web Navigation (O‘Reilly, Aug 2007)
POPULARITY
PRODUCTS
Head = Hits
Long Tail = Niche Markets
The hits now compete with an infinite number of niche markets, of any size.
Increasingly, the mass market is turning into a mass of niches.
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You can't have everything, where would you put it?
(Steven Wright)
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BUT, the cost of adding more information is noise
Online, there is virtually no cost to add more
No shelf space No manufacturing costs No distribution costs
The solution to the overabundance of information is more information
(David Weinberger)
Metadata
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Navigation Layer
1. User-Generated Metadata
Pros• Low maintenance• Self-generating organization• Low costs to get started• OK for an answer
Cons• Lacks comprehensiveness• Requires incubation time• Navigating other's tags
difficult
Example:
Tagging
2. Technically Generated Metadata
Pros• Scales up• Quick, timely• Inexpensive to run
Cons• Can be inaccurate• Performance intensive• High cost to enter
Examples: Entity ExtractionSentiment Analysis
3. Owner-Created Metadata
Pros• Consistent terms• Comprehensive
Cons• Time intensive to create• Maintenance• Inflexible, rigid
Example:
Controlled Vocabulary
Ontological classification works well in some places, of course…So what you want to know, when thinking about how to organize anything, is whether that kind of classification is a good strategy.
Classification: 99% Bad?
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”Clay Shirky “Ontology is Overrated”
Social Structure
Technical Structure
Adding Structure
Navigation Tools
IssuesScalabilitySpeedEase of UseRepresentationIntegrating navigation and search
Example: Click Search
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Information Structures
Content inventory will become domain analysis
• Facets
• Frequency
• Longevity
• Quantity
• Linking
• Authority
• Genres
Conclusions
The cost of adding more information is noise
Different sources of metadata and structures
Top-down categorization is a viable strategy in niches
Niche markets are defined by the categories you create
Provide tools to navigate and make sense of information
Any and all means of navigation and structure are needed
Look at inherent patterns of information in a domain
