Personal Information Logos: Schema

Today have been organizing bookmarks.  In the process I’ve been thinking about bookmark categories and folder names.  I realize how similar this is to the Personal Information Logos stuff I’ve developed in terms of things like personal data hierarchy and naming schemas.  Now, again with bookmarks, its clear that there needs to exist a schema.

What happens though is that people start out with a browser and then start creating bookmarks. They may create folders on-the-fly as the need arises. But this seems so haphazard. More and more I’m realizing the importance of there existing a schema to follow. We need schemas. They are like templates that we are able to fill with different types of information. Schemas are extremely important for organizing and being able to access information.

This goes beyond the use of personal information appliances and extends into the physical world of documents and publications, and even household items. We are using schemas all the time. It would be interesting to actually study schemas and how different people come to use the schemas that they do.

Perhaps some people sort-of inherit the schemas they use from their parents. That makes sense. There almost certainly is some kind of behavioral aspect to schemas that has to do with upbringing. That’s why this topic is so interesting.

I think if we can start to learn what schemas really are, how much they are part of our lives in many ways, what types of schemas are the best, and how to implement them, it might really help people who otherwise are like the browser user who hapzardly creates bookmarks and bookmark folders as if a person stumbling in the dark.

There is no need for that however. It seems simple that we can develop standardized schemas that can easily be implemented. For example, you can just download a bookmark schema which contains all the important categories for items that one would bookmark.

Another thing about this is that these personal schemas usually match very closely, if not exactly, with those already used on the Internet. For example:

In creating bookmark folders today here are some of the top-level folders I created (its possible that there could be sub-level folders if necessary. For people with minimal bookmarks a more complex structure would not be necessary but sometimes it is.):

Accounts – links to all my accounts like utilities, credit cards, banking, etc.
Administration – links to sites I access for IT administration
Beauty
Bicycling
Computer & Tech
–Hardware
–System & OS – links to things like firmwares/ROMS for devices and operating systems
–Wordpress – links to WordPress-related stuff
Consumer – consumer-related links since consumer protection is important, e.g. links to advertising opt-outs, mail opt-outs, where to report fraud, etc.
Craft & Hobby – I love this category 🙂
Environment – not to be confused with Local -> Outdoors category
Erotica
Fashion & Style
Finance & Investment – possible overlap with Accounts but maybe separate
Fitness & Health
–Herbs & supplements
Food & Cuisine – things like recipies. not to be confused with Local -> Dining
Graphics & Photography
Healthcare & Wellness – links to your healthcare providers, personal medical information, and wellness resources. Not to be confused with Fitness & Health (or possibly Beauty)
Home – links to sites with organizing info or possibly other home-related things like furnishings, decoration, landscape, etc. I love this category 🙂
Learning & Education – links to sites I learn from. Maybe your college has an online portal. Plus other sites with stuff you learn. Not to be confused e.g. with Computers, because learning is learning. If a link to some IT-related topic is something educational, then treat it as education.
Legal – least favorite but necessary category
Local
–Events
–Dining
–Recreation & Outdoors
–Saftey – links to things like online crime map database, law enforcement, etc.
I even have a link to a site with recent earthquake activity in here.
Media – links to things like online radio stations or videos
Music Scores – I’m a musician
Personal – links to things like family pages, wedding photos, friend’s sites, etc.
Politics
Product Info – links to info on any products I have or may want – e.g. vehicle, appliances, electronics, etc.
Real Estate – links to things like apartment listing sites – maybe this could go under the Local category?
Records – birth or death records, possibly other records. Maybe this should just go under Legal?
Recreation & Outdoors – should this go under Local?
Reference – links to things like online maps, dictionaries, etc.
Science
Spirituality

For the actual personal informaiton logos that I use for my own digital documents and files, I use folders like:

01.1 – Records
01.2 – Medical (i.e. records)
01.4 – Academic (records)
01.6 – Resumes
01.8 – Notes
    things I love
    todo
    nice todo
    skills
    wish list
02.2 – Financial
08 – Manuals & Product Info
90 – Backup

This is by no means comprehensive nor even probably the most ideal folder organization. I have many more folders for specific things that I need to deal wtih for example. But you can at least see the general idea. I’m sure most people do something similar when organizing their information. What I want to do is standardize it more, make it less haphazard and make it more useful and universal.

In terms of organization of physical documents and object in living space there are things like: Office implements, supplies and decorations for different holidays; tools and hardware; first-aid supplies; household items like light bulbs and electrical supplies like extension cords, furniture fixtures or parts; cleaning supplies; beauty supplies; computer-related parts and supplies; sewing supplies; crafts and hobby materials; and various other things.

When trying to organize one’s living space one difficulty may be identifying what categories exist and then developing systems for storing, updating, and accessing items in these categories.

More and more its clear to me that what is really needed are schemas. Having a schema is the foundation for organizing and maintaining a clean, functional living space (both physically and mentally). But it seems like the critical importance of schemas is not really given much attention when thinking about these things.

Here is how the understanding and implementation of a schema could actually help a person in the process of organizing material objects in their life:

1. First identify and study what the schemas are. Go over them and get at least a basic understanding of what they are and that they exist.

2. Then, start thinking in general terms what things go in what categories. E.g. “Oh yeah! I have X, Y, and Z, and they all fit under category A!”

3. Once there is association between items and categories, one can start to think of appropriate storage/update/access methods for each category. The amount of items in a category determine how much space may be required. Will all things be stored together or broken up into multiple storage methods? What sort of physical storage and location allocation is ideal for this category (i.e. How much space will it take? Where do I put it? What sort of containers will work best?)

4. Only after all this is done can one truly begin the process of cleaning and organizing one’s living space. Without the use of a schema trying to organize one’s space is just like shifting things around aimlessly.