Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become

This book deals with the concept of "findability", which, according to the author, is the quality of being locatable. He believes that every object has characteritics which make it findable, such as unique web addresses or library call numbers. "Ambient" means surrounding, encircling, and completely enveloping. So, putting the two words together, users should be able to find anything whenever they want.Has this happened yet? No, but with the advent of computers and other searching devices, we are getting closer to the "perfect" search. Another topic discussed in the book is information literacy. Simply put, this is the ability to locate information, evaluate what is found, and decide if it is usable. Is all information reliable? Definitely not. Is some of it worthwhile? Absolutely. The job of the information-literate user is to evaluate and decipher what is reliable and apply it to fit his or her needs.The discussion continues with a description of new technologies which have emerged that can help searches. Trios, wearable computing, blackberries, and the internet all dot the information landscape, making searching much different than it was a decade or two ago. These technological advances have made it easier than ever to search for information. However, the problem still remains of knowing which parts of the information are useful and applying those parts appropriately.I read this book as part of the course requirements for a Master's degree course I am enrolled in. I wasn't sure what to expect after seeing the book's cover. The monkey on the front really raised my level of curiosity. This book provides excellent tips and examples of how to correctly search for information. Admittedly, it took a while for the book to "get going", but I did learn a great deal from it. I highly recommend this book to information seekers. It will definitely help the user who is searching for information.

Ambient Findability by Peter Morville took me back to my days of college (deep thought and application). I initially purchased this book due to it's high reference from other respected designers and developers. My first inclination was that the book would be about SEO or something along those lines. Though the book was small, it packed a big punch of information! I was pleasantly surprised at what this book had to offer.This book went much deeper than I expected. As a disclaimer, I had many of my co-workers laugh when I told them the title of the book I was reading. However, I had a quick response as to what the book contained as the author quickly defines both ambient and findability. The author starts by giving background to how we come to find things. Not just as humans, he takes it to an even smaller scale discussing how ants find their way during their long journeys. Though this may seem odd, it helps to really put things into perspective. How DO we find things? Do we all find things the same way? In relation to the web - what words or phrases do we use to find things? Do we use broad terms or more specific (long tail) terms?This book is very tough to review, as I felt it was packed with so much information. The only way for me to really elaborate would be to put it into context, and by that time you could have read the book. The information packed in this book has really opened me up to an array of new questions related to searching. Outside of the context of the web, how do people find things? Inside of the web, how do people find things? I constantly monitor our analytics at Barbour Publishing, Inc and watch how people find us, and where they go from there. Did they get the answer they were seeking? Was their search relevant? What terms did they use? What order were the terms? What punctuation is used? What did some of the other similar searches look like? What did their other searches look like? What did the spellings look like? So many aspects to look into - and then refine to make sure people can find the information they are seeking. Sometimes simple `like' queries aren't enough. Sometimes the index needs to be refined to incorporate stopwords, mis-spellings, aliases, and other pertinent information. Understanding the core principles, findings, and research will help you build a strong foundation and core.I have found this to be extremely valuable and applicable to web development and answering the deeper questions. As stated earlier, this book is rather small in size but packs a big punch content wise. The author avoids `fluff' or trying to tell stories, and simply dives into the core (which is sometimes even scary) - which is often times backed by a significant amount of research and supplemental resources.Though this book is not directly related to web development - the lessons learned here can be applied to that medium. If you are a web developer, SEO expert, or simply want to know how people find things (and their decision process) - then this a book for you.The book is very well written, very easy to read, and follows a logical progression.

Look, I'm new to the O'Reilly series so I'm not ready to just jump on the bandwagon of love just yet.However, after Morville's FINDABILITY, I will at least *hail* said wagon.The genius of this book on design of informatin is stepping back and looking at the information design of this book. Peter takes you from an actual physical location, and then, drops you into familiar search engine territory, and then, gets you lost in the problem of 'why are we getting lost' so you 'feel' your own need to get out there and solve this problem - even if only assist in your own little small little way.Findability addresses all the critical issues of the next evolution of the web (I will refrain from calling it *that name*). It also provides the critical history surrounding these issues, and, some of the research and the insights of the leaders trying to make the world a better place by answering this.Kudos to Tim Ebbers Lee for calling forth the semantic web. Bollocks to the schmo who called him out afterwards (and I will not even deign to mention said Schmo's name).And kudos to this O'Reilly series from a non-lay, but non-doctorate reader.I highly recommend this book (though I suppose it helps to know more about me for that to mean more than text semantics).

How do we find our way around the Web, to the information we want? Morville discusses many aspects of this question, from historical wayfinding via Search Engine Optimisation to the Semantic Web, with some interesting philosophy on the way.More than 15 years have passed since this book was published. Many things have changed (smart phones now encompass many of the novel devices he mentions), but the findability problem has not gone away: it has only got worse. There is now vastly more information to wade through, even vastly more garbage to filter out, and new dangers to avoid, and it’s not going to get better. There are interesting ideas here – and a new word: intertwingle – but a newer edition would be appropriate.

This book is written in an easy to read, conversational style, almost in the tone of an extended blog post.While not especially technical, this book does provide a strong starting point for the topic of information architecture, with particular regards to the relationship between different types of data. The content has been well researched, and the ample references and links can be regarded as a jumping-off point for delving into this broad topic in more detail.Personally, I found it worthwhile spending time going with the author through various topics and reasoning, thinking about how these may be applied to my own projects, or perspective. Having said that, I already have a significant background in the topic, as such some of the book's perceived shortcomings may have been solely based on the fact that it is aimed at a different audience than myself.I recommend this book for any web developer/designer's bookshelf, as I believe more "designers" and "programmers" should start considering themselves "interface developers", and therefore should have an appreciation for how their work will interact with their software user's lives.One expectation I had of the book, considering it is from O'Reilly, was that it would have concrete development examples, which this book does not. It is more of a general discussion of the topic of information architecture, wayfinding and interaction.

This book was very ahead of it's time and though some of the specific technology referred to now looks quaint, the points Morville makes are as pertinent now as then (or more so). I'm doing doctoral research into smart tech for learning and the findability of richly tagged content is essential for this process to be as seamless and ubiquitous as it could and should be. A must read for anyone in this field. Another good book to also check out is his other work 'Search Patterns, by Morville and Callender: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Patterns-Discovery-Peter-Morville/dp/0596802277

Amazing book that opens window to a much larger faculty. I came looking for something interesting I think I am going to dwell on this for years to come now..

Written by one of the co-authors of "Information Architecture for the World Wide Web", this book is a beautiful treatise on the way humans use information and how this influences the development of the new technologies surrounding us. Morville has condensed a career's worth of information and insight into a perfectly-sized package. This book is small at 188 pages but it is information-dense; every page has a new insight to ponder and play with. As an information architect this is the book I wish I could have written, and it is a book that I'm immensely glad I read.If you have an interest in how the human species will use and co-create the new, emergent technologies such as Web 2.0, ubiquitous computing (ubicomp), or even Gibson's Cyberspace, then read this book. It will make you think.