Blog #3

Skim Chapter 3 and read Chapter 4 of Weinberger. Pay attention to notions of power (who get to do the order/labeling and to what ends), difference between lumpers and splitters, and consider whether or not the shape of our knowledge is changing (p. 71)


I found this reading really intriguing. It got me thinking about all the lists I have in my life. Often times I make lists and forget them and find them two weeks later. Looking back at most of my lists, I've found that I'm a lumper - and I don't often split things, nor do I have someone split them for me. I see things as big picture. Too much organization stresses me out oddly enough. I find myself making things too "bushy" when I try to detail them further. I would be that person that is mentioned on Page 70 who organizes their shoes with a category for each shoe and size. I have a hard time drawing lines between too broad and too detailed. I can rarely find a happy medium. Which is why I'm the type of person who creates lists for metadata, even beyond just my grocery list.


I think the shape of our knowledge is definitely changing - with the addition of technology, it's becoming easier and easier for people to be both the lumper and the splitter. Even something as simple as creating a list. We can use bullet points, the furthest to the left bullet represents a larger category, and as we indent we get more and more specific. For instance, We can create a basic to do list. Then we can add big picture things to do (i.e. School, Home, Personal). Then within each of those categories we can lump a few things together (i.e. School: DTC 356, DTC 375, DTC 355) and then finally list the most detailed information below each of those sections (specific homework assignments). Now, we can so easily create lists and lump and split our information through our e-mail programs, word processing programs or even on a piece of paper sitting on the counter. It seems as though now we are able to see on a broader scheme than before. I think this comes from our need for organization in our world where information is breeding at a rapid pace and we need to find places to store all of that information as quickly as it can be produced.


Someone else might organize their DVD collection by genre instead of alphabetically. My problem with that is that I cannot define clear genres. I think this means that I'm an old school organizer - I like one big list. I was able to lump my movies into two categories, but no more than that because then it gets too technical and I will end up with a chaotic mess. I can only lump so far, and even then it's a pretty pathetic excuse of a lump. But nevertheless, I'm better at lumping than splitting. For me, I'm too indecisive to be able to split my movies into specific categories because to me it may be a "classic" but someone else may see it as a "romantic comedy." I think movies are a pretty terrible example of lumping and splitting for me personally because genres aren't cut and dry - they're really based on opinion.  Either way, I suppose my alphabetical ordering of my DVD's shows that I'm a fan of ordering things in the most basic way - even if it's not the most effective way.