Multiple Categorization Pattern

This is a UI pattern being explored by the Haystack project at MIT (link below). Essentially, you take an item (like a bookmark), put it in as many categories as appropriate, and you browse down through a dynamic hierarchy that at each step represents the intersection of all categories you've drilled down through.

Example:

A: Web page that contains a recipe for Mongolian Beef goes in categories: Chinese, beef recipes, dinner recipes

B: Web page that contains a recipe for Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs goes in categories: American, beef recipes, breakfast recipes

Drill-down A:

Step 1:

Chinese
 Beef
 Dinner

Step 2:

Chinese
 Beef
  Mongolian Beef

or

Chinese
 Dinner
   Mongolian Beef

Drill-down B:

Step 1:

Beef
 American
 Chinese

Step 2:

Beef
 American
  Chicken Fried Steak

or

Beef
 Chinese
  Mongolian Beef

Paper (from the Haystack project): "User Interfaces for Supporting Multiple Categorization"

• http://haystack.lcs.mit.edu/papers/interact2003-multicat.pdf ( BrokenLink )

try:

• http://www.academia.edu/2869086/User_interfaces_for_supporting_multiple_categorization

Applications that use this technique:

Haystack - http://haystack.lcs.mit.edu/

Bibliographix - http://www.bibliographix.com/

-SteveConover

See Also: LimitsOfHierarchies

CategoryOrganization