About the Scent of Information
If there is a common theme to what I do, it’s providing people with access to the tools and resources they need to be successful. I’ve been writing since I was 13, professionally since I was 22. I found as a writer than I had a strong sense of the reader. I recognize that as much as I like to write for the digital realm, most people don’t want to read it. They aren’t visiting a particular web site to digest, absorb, dwell, or browse for information. They are task-oriented, usually focused on finding a single bit or “kernel” of information.
The challenge is create and structure information so it can be found with little effort. You want to establish a trail, no matter where on your site a visitor arrives, that leads them without error to the kernel of information they seek. With a nod to G.W. Furnas who first considered the topic, you want to establish a “scent of information.”
The goal is to provide information consumers with just enough information to allow them to complete the task at hand—and no more. It’s much more complex than just writing. It means information has to be structured, condensed, keyword-rich, navigable, semantic, digestible, accessible, and more. The task requires a lot more than simply writing.
