INFORMATIONANXIETY2 by Richard Saul Wurman
Irene de la Torre-Arenas Information Design Studio 1 (Fall 2015) Northeastern University
CLASSIFYING LASSIE THE DOG STORY Using this illustrations done by William McCaffrey, Richard Saul Wulman explains how different arrangements of the same information (in this case, dog breeds) communicate new kinds of relationships.
Types of organization: Alphabetically
An overview in understanding by Nathan Shedroff
The Internet has changed our way of consuming information. The Age of Information has erased constraints of space, and now we have access to a growing quantity of content in just one click. Although the offer is infinite, many people feel that it is their duty to know absolutely everything that is in the net. And they suffer because that, obviously, is impossible. Not being able to keep up with that production of content causes a stress that Richard Saul Wurman has named information anxiety. This situation is caused by the same Great Information Age, an Era that the author describes as “an explosion of non-information” since data is not information per se, but a set of facts that can be meaningful or irrelevant. One of the best ways of overcoming this information anxiety is to realize that not every content on the Internet can be considered knowledge. It is at this point where information architects become indispensable given that their job is to transform complex data in clear and
By category: country of origin
understandable information. Only through this step of contextualizing and organizing data we will be able to cross the gap between data and knowledge and achieve understanding. Transforming data into information can be accomplished by using simple and functional designs that combine different elements, such as text, images or videos. Also important to this process is trying to think as someone who doesn’t know anything about the subject. Information architects use comparisons between nonfamiliar ideas and familiar ones, or between interesting connections, to facilitate visualizing the subject in question.
By time: the year in which the American Kennel Club officially recognized the breed
Wurman believes that these relations can only be found when one is curious, accepts that there may be more ways of doing things and takes the chance of asking questions about it. Because the best way of learning, he says, is by asking questions, not by having all the answers.
By hierarchy: weight in pounds