The central problem of Content Management, and the main task of the Information Architect, is the selection of appropriate Organizing Principles, Organization Schemes? or Organization Structures?.

Looked at as a Knowledge Management problem, it seems to be a question of Classification and Categorization of the content/knowledge/information.

But as the typical website has changed from informational Brochure Ware? to a service-oriented Business Portal?, the problem extends to organizing the services (really application programs running in a Client Server? mode with the web browser as client).

Looked at as a Data Visualization? problem, the question is the best choice of dimensional axes for display. Fortunately, the web page can be divided into several areas, each of which can display one or two dimensions.

Looked at from the User Experience, the idea is to organize the material so users can quickly form a Mental Model or Mind Map? that facilitates Navigation through the Content or Services?.

There are many well-understood Organizing Principles available:

• Alphabetical (common in early Portal as Directory? sites. Dictionaries, Glossaries, Indexes)
• Behavioral (task-oriented - what do you want to do?)
• Chronological (Reverse chronological is the main organizing principle for the News Portal and Weblog).
• Geographical (by country, state, city, street, floor, room, etc.)
• Market Segment?, or type of user or audience, including Personalization.
• Metaphorical (the Desktop Metaphor? with folders and files, a trashcan or recycle bin, etc.)
• Natural (reflecting the well-known organization of the things described: Sports - leagues, teams, players: Newspaper - front page, international, national, local, classifieds; Antiques - periods, provenance, condition)
• Organization Chart? (Divisional, Departmental, or the individual reporting hierarchy)
• Process (distinct steps in a Work Flow of actions)
• Table Of Contents? (an arbitrary list, perhaps with sublists, of what's there)

Several Organizing Principles from Library Science are specialized powerful tools for the InformationArchitect:

• Subject Headings? (from library catalogs to the most common Products, Services, Support, Contact Tab structures), see also the Topic Map.
• Taxonomy (the canonical genus/species hierarchical classification systems and the Files and Folders organization of computer systems)
• Poly Hierarchy (using more than one taxonomy simultaneously - difficult to represent in a two-dimensional flat page)
• Faceted Classification (which allows the user to rearrange the taxonomy).

Good Organizing Principles are those that allow division of the material into mutually exclusive groupings. The best produce a small number of such groupings (the famous seven plus or minus three) that can be remembered and distinguished easily by the average person, and that can be visually presented in words or icons in the brief compass of a web page.

Organization is closely related to Navigation or Way Finding?. Once sections are clearly labelled using the chosen classes or groupings, directional signs, including Bread Crumbs and a Drill Down Path? with a History? of how you got here, can help you navigate the material.

When there are too many Organizing Principles to make explicit without confusing the user, some can remain implicit as Meta Data that tags? the content. These can be used to sift? and sort? advanced searches of the material.