Information Aggregation and Organization
Information organization begins after collecting. Its job is to turn gathered material into material that is arranged so it can be used.
Why Gathered Material Needs Arranging
Collecting information is only the first step in working with it. Once material has been gathered, it still has to be arranged so that it can be used. A pile of gathered material that has not been structured is much harder to work with than the same material arranged in a deliberate way. This article looks at that step, which is called information organization.
What do you think happens?
Suppose you have gathered five notes on a topic, and a friend has gathered five hundred notes on the same topic. Which situation makes arranging the material more important, and why?
Reveal answer
The five-hundred-note collection.
The source states that the more information you gather, the more important it is to organize it. A larger collection gives more material to keep track of, so the case for structuring it becomes stronger.
Defining Information Organization
Information organization is the process of structuring gathered information.
The definition has two parts that are worth keeping separate. The first part is that the information has been gathered already. Organization does not describe the collecting itself. The second part is structuring, which means giving the gathered material an arrangement so that it can be used. The definition does not say what kind of structure must be used. It only says that gathered information is structured.
Information organization begins after collecting. Its job is to turn gathered material into material that is arranged so it can be used.
From Collection to Structure
Two ideas come together here. Aggregation brings material together. Organization gives that material a structure. The source treats them as partners, so the pile first has to be gathered, and then it has to be arranged. The diagram below shows the sequence in the order the source describes it.
Read the diagram from left to right. The gathered material is the input. Organization is the step that structures it. The structured material is what makes the collection usable. The source does not list stages between these points, so the diagram shows only the stages that the source names: gathering, structuring, and using the result.
How the Need Grows With the Pile
The central relationship in this topic is between two quantities: how much information you gather, and how important it becomes to organize it. The source states this directly: the more information you gather, the more important it is to organize it. Organization is therefore not a task you perform in the same way regardless of size. As the collection grows, the case for structuring it becomes stronger.
The top row shows a small collection, where the material can be kept in mind without much effort. The bottom row shows a large collection, where the material is much harder to handle without arrangement. The source does not say at exactly what size a pile becomes unusable. What it does establish is the direction of the change: more gathering means more reason to organize.
What Structure Can Look Like
The source does not name particular structures, so this section offers only a general picture. Structure means that individual pieces of information are arranged in relation to one another rather than left as an undifferentiated pile. One way to picture this is a hierarchy, in which a whole collection is divided into groups and each group holds its own pieces. The diagram is one illustration of that idea, not a method prescribed by the source.
Following One Learner's Notes
A learner's growing set of notes
A learner gathers notes on a single subject over several weeks. Explain how the need to organize those notes changes, using the principle from the source.
- 1Week one
There are only a few notes, and they are easy to hold in mind. Organizing them is not yet pressing.
- 2Week four
There are many more notes. The learner can no longer rely on remembering where everything is.
- 3Apply the principle
The source states that the more information you gather, the more important it is to organize it. As the notes grow, arranging them becomes more important.
- 4Connect to organization
Arranging the notes is information organization, which the source defines as structuring gathered information. The gathering came first, and the arrangement follows it.
As the learner gathers more notes, the need to organize them grows. Organization moves from a convenience to a necessity because the notes can no longer be managed from memory.
This scenario was written for this article to illustrate the principle. The source itself does not describe a learner or a set of notes. The point of the example is the direction of the relationship: the same person faces a much larger arranging task once the collection has grown.
Mistakes Learners Make About Organization
Common mistake Treating organization as optional once material is gathered
Why it failsThe source emphasizes organizing information as it is gathered rather than treating organization as optional.
Do this insteadPlan to arrange material as it accumulates, and do not assume that gathering alone makes it usable.
Common mistake Assuming a fixed amount of organizing work regardless of collection size
Why it failsThe source states that the more information you gather, the more important it is to organize it. The need changes with the amount gathered.
Do this insteadExpect the organizing task to become more important as the collection grows.
Common mistake Confusing aggregation with organization
Why it failsAggregation brings material together, while organization gives that material a structure. They are related but are not the same step.
Do this insteadDescribe gathering as aggregation and arranging as organization, and remember that the source pairs them together.
Common mistake Inventing a specific method and attributing it to the source
Why it failsThe source does not give a method for organizing, a list of techniques, or a rule for when organization must be finished.
Do this insteadKeep to the claims the source makes, and treat any particular structure as an illustration unless a source states it.
What the Source Does and Does Not Claim
This restraint matters when you apply the idea. A claim that a particular folder layout or tagging scheme is required would go beyond the source. The safe reading is that gathered information should be structured, and that the importance of structuring it rises with the amount gathered.
Reasoning About a Growing Collection
A colleague has gathered twelve documents for a project and says there is no need to arrange them yet. Using the relationship between gathering and organizing from this article, explain why the colleague's reasoning may become a problem as the collection grows. Then describe what would have to be true for organizing to become less important.
Hints
- Recall the source's statement about how the importance of organizing changes with the amount gathered.
- Think about what happens to the reliance on memory as the number of items increases.
- The source gives no threshold, so reason from the direction of the relationship rather than a specific number.
Key Takeaways
- Information organization is the process of structuring gathered information, and it begins after the material has been collected.
- Aggregation brings material together, and organization gives that material a structure. The two go hand in hand.
- The more information you gather, the more important it is to organize it, so the need for organization grows with the collection.
- The source does not prescribe a method, a list of techniques, or a finish point for organizing, so claims beyond its statements should be treated as illustrations.