Rating: 
Summary: The real problem is a malinformation explosion
Review: The basic theme of this book reinforces my long-held belief that the next killer app in computing will be some new way to visually display relationships between information. A new discipline is also going to spring up and those good at it will be in great demand. That new area of study will be a knowledge distiller, someone expert in taking the enormous amount of information about a topic and reducing it down to a base form. We see the initial steps in this trend with the extraordinary success of the ". . For Dummies" series of books. Their appeal is based on the basic formula of making things as simple as possible but no simpler.
As Wurman points out, while there is an information explosion, the real problem is a malinformation (my term) explosion. In other words, information that does not inform. This is not just a reference to that which is inaccurate, but information that is correct but so malformed or obscure to be misleading. He also argues that a critical rethinking needs to be done concerning how we learn. The premise is that the rewards for asking the right questions need to be improved rather than the continued emphasis on answering questions. We also need to rediscover much of our inner child.
At some point in our lives, we "mature" to the state where we will do almost anything to avoid embarrassment. This trait leads us to ignore inconsistencies and sit in silence when we don't understand. The childlike innocence that causes us to ask "obvious" questions goes away, replaced by fear of failure, which leads to an aversion to risk. Without the willingness to take a chance, many new things are not attempted, which limits the options for us all.
This is a book that you must think deeply about. The world is changing rapidly, and the most successful people will be those who know how to cull knowledge down to the true essentials. There are an enormous number of ideas in the book that can be used to assist this process. If you value the future and want to have a significant part in creating it, then you should read this book. Proper implementation of some of the ideas presented here will change the way we do things in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Should be made compulsory reading
Review: This book has been my bible since I picked it up. It's a clearly written expose of the inordinate amount of data that we swim in and which has no use or relevance to us. Beg, borrow, buy or steal a copy. Sleep with a bookstore owner if you must - but read it.
Rating:
Summary: What I think could be a book of the year! Good Read.
Review: This book is not like any other book I have ever purchased or read in my entire life. It does not follow the rules as one may put if for books, it bends them and even reinvents them. The book has lots of marginalia throughout it, little distractions appearing allover the book in the margins with lots of little bits of information related and sometimes not related to the bit you are reading in the book. Also it does not follow the normal format you find in a table of contents; but rather has the table contents set in a stylish setting with bits of text, comics, pictures and other bits from the chapter they are highlighting on the page. Once you get inside the book you have quite a read on your hand. With so many topics related to information this is clearly an overload. The book has so much information, and interesting additions, and theories on dissemination of information such as illustrating text in a 3-d space, it dismisses myths about the way information will be distributed in the future, and how people learn. The book also talks about how and why directions and information and projects can fail, how people plan there lives around a few major events, and mistakes made in the past. And lots of ideas, concepts and pictures appear in the book. The book is just such a good read with so much information, and a good format and its just absolutely amazing and is by far one of my newest favorite books. There is just no way to explain it (hence such short review). Its the perfec tbook.
Rating:
Summary: What I think could be a book of the year! Good Read.
Review: This book is not like any other book I have ever purchased or read in my entire life. It does not follow the rules as one may put if for books, it bends them and even reinvents them. The book has lots of marginalia throughout it, little distractions appearing allover the book in the margins with lots of little bits of information related and sometimes not related to the bit you are reading in the book. Also it does not follow the normal format you find in a table of contents; but rather has the table contents set in a stylish setting with bits of text, comics, pictures and other bits from the chapter they are highlighting on the page. Once you get inside the book you have quite a read on your hand. With so many topics related to information this is clearly an overload. The book has so much information, and interesting additions, and theories on dissemination of information such as illustrating text in a 3-d space, it dismisses myths about the way information will be distributed in the future, and how people learn. The book also talks about how and why directions and information and projects can fail, how people plan there lives around a few major events, and mistakes made in the past. And lots of ideas, concepts and pictures appear in the book. The book is just such a good read with so much information, and a good format and its just absolutely amazing and is by far one of my newest favorite books. There is just no way to explain it (hence such short review). Its the perfec tbook.
Rating:
Summary: Dimensions of a Cyber "Renaissance" or "Enlightenment"
Review: This is a substantially revised and updated version of a book first published in 1989. In fact, it has been 26 years since Wurman formulated his concept of "information architecture." The primary focus in this version, however, is the same: what amounts to the equivalent of ADD at a time when "information overload" continues to create problems with the recognition, differentiation, digestion, and application of data. (Davenport and Beck also have much of great value to say about this phenomenon in their new book, The Attention Economy.) As Wurman explains, he offers "new maps for navigating through a stream of bytes that leaves us inundated with data but starved for tools & patterns that give them meaning." He asserts that there has not been an "information explosion"; rather, an explosion of "non-information" or data that simply do not inform. What to do? Within 17 separate but interdependent chapters, Wurman suggests dozens of strategies and tactics which are guided by "new maps" and implemented with new "tools" inorder to organize data in new "patterns." The result is an eloquent as well as insightful "manifesto" for the 21st century. Here is a consolidation of Wurman's key points in the first chapter: "We live in an age of alsos, adapting to alternatives. because we have greater access to information, many of us have become more involved in researching, and making our own decisions, rather than relying on experts. The opportunity is that there is so much information, the catastrophe is that 99% of it isn't meaningful or understandable. We need to rethink how we present information because the information appetites of people are much more refined. Success in our connected world requires that we isolate the specific information we need and get it to those we work with. If information is the product of the Digital Age, then the Internet is the transportation vehicle. That means more misinformation. The sheer volume of available information and the manner in which it is often delivered render much of it useless to us. The best teachers give us permission to get in touch with ourselves and become more of us. Everyone needs a personal measure to distinguish useful information from raw data. To entertain the radical idea that understanding might involve accepting chaos threatens the foundations of our existence." Wurman and his associates explore and develop other equally important ideas in each of the other 16 chapters. By indulging their interests throughout their own lives, "and perhaps because rather than despite many failures", they have been able to design their lives. They invite their reader to become engaged, not merely involved, in the same perilous but ultimately fulfilling process. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Davenport and Beck's new book (identified earlier) as well as Borgmann's Holding On to Reality, Drexler's Engines of Invention, Hamel's Leading the Revolution, Locke et al's The Cluetrain Manifesto, and Nielsen's Designing Web Usability. From my perspective, the new century is rapidly becoming what could be characterized as a new "Renaissance" or (if you prefer) "Enlightenment" which these and other contemporary thinkers are now in the process of establishing.
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Summary: Information Architecture in a confident voice
Review: Well, sure, it's good. Wurman did come up with the term Information Architecture (as he reminds us), and has some good insightful stuff to say about it. Too bad that much of this book is pretty much the same kinds of information that you find on the web about IA: Mark Hurst and Nathan Shedroff have pieces nearly identical to stuff on their sites, and there are copious quotations from familiar online voices and sources. A chapter about online commerce as "conversation" is derived pretty much wholesale from the Cluetrain Manifesto. In the end, it all pretty much boils down to listen to your customers, take some risks, ask the right questions. Some of Wurman's opinions sound a little disingenuous in light of his own online work: a chapter which contains the standard complaints about high-bandwidth sites that don't offer useful information (useless plug-ins, over-reliance on graphics instead of text, etc) also points us to Wurman's Understanding USA web site, which starts with a Flash intro animation, is built almost solely from graphics, and even uses a Java applet in its Site Map. It's too bad, but this really comes across as an entry-level text about presenting information in multiple contexts, including online. There's more about management style than I'd care for, and less about what kinds of visual presentations support what kinds of information. It's admirably up-to-date: it's impressive that he managed to include the Florida ballot in a book printed in November 2000, for example. Finally, I could have done without the frequent and lengthy references to TED, Wurman's own annual conference of designers, businesspeople, and entertainers. The thing sounds like fun, but in the context of the book, the relevance is rarely clear.
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