Digital Culture: the rise of third order organization

As an individual who is always focused on organization and de-cluttering my own home, there was a lot of content for me to relate to in the first chapter of David Weinberger's book Everything Is Miscellaneous. There does seem to be an obvious and natural tendency for human beings to work towards organization, order, and mostly control of their environments. This topic alone could launch me into numerous diatribes regarding the origination of religion and political structures, but I digress. 

This chapter focused primarily on the use of first order and second order organizational patterns and how in our radically developing digital world, these patterns will fall into obsolescence and give way to the more intuitive and "browsing friendly" use of third order organization. Weinberger described a future and (some specific examples of) the present use of user classification, categorization, and keyword applications that broaden our datum search-ability.

The issue of finding and accessing materials versus discovering new materials was a particularly relevant conundrum that I have seen and experienced both sides of. I have been a long-time user of the public library system and worked in a private college library. I have also been a long-time book buyer as well as a bookseller in a prominent chain. As a customer in both situations I have experienced both finding and discovering, but I have to admit that I have had the most success discovering in libraries. 

In retail stores the sales clerks are not always knowledgeable about the depth and breadth of certain topics whereas there are usually librarians who are. In stores the books left out on calculated end-caps and tables throughout the store are usually comprised of the overstock items that no one is buying or the brand new titles that are being continually shoved down your throat. While I approve of staying current in the literature world, sometimes you just want to read something less modern- something that possibly inspired the now-famous authors to create their life's work. While the categorization systems of libraries and stores are similar in many ways, the ability to perform keyword searches on library websites is particularly useful. Although, when I go looking for new materials I frequently circumvent both avenues and consult my peers or GoodReads to locate titles related to those that I favor. But, when I do go to the store, even when employees approach me to offer assistance I tell them, "I'm fine" and encourage them to move on to the next victim customer. Historically, I have not approved of the recommendations given to me by booksellers, but if I engage in a conversation with a librarian they are able to either identify an appropriate starting point for my browsing or locate one without too much difficulty.

Another way in which libraries and bookstores are competing to stay relevant in this digital age has been in embracing ebooks and social networks. Almost every institution has a Facebook page and a Twitter account which allows them to reach out to their patrons and extend information, recommendations, and invite them to participate in the local programming. I will be the first to admit that were I not following the local libraries I would have no idea what they were doing because I don't get to visit them often. Social networks, whether perceived to be "good" or "bad," allow us to connect with the world in a very convenient way and also share the information with others by "liking," "commenting," or "retweeting." Having an intuitive and adaptive web presence is immensely valuable to library systems because of how it allows them to reach out to the community and continue providing valuable programs and services. In my opinion, it's the best way for them to tread into this new digital age.