Pathfinders, Bookmarks and Other Page Purposes

Pathfinders, bookmarks, jumppages, gateways, and portals are all related Web organization, cataloging, and/or indexing teachniques. They differ from other post hoc information organization management Web structures in that they do not rely on formal classification schemes or codes. With the exception of the hypertext link, the deux ex machina for these organizational strategies, pathfinders, bookmarks, jumppages, gateways, and portals do not rely other mark up or coding techniques.

Pathfinders

Pathfinders are a time honored service provided by libraries to their patrons. With the advent of the Web, pathfinders have been created not only by librarians to assist their clients to find their way through the maze but also by other digital denizens.

A pathfinder is a guide designed to point the way to useful, timely, authoritative quality information. It is a pre-prepared reference and research tool. It is designed to guide its user through and toward the literature relevant to the user's area of interest. There are therefore no limits on what pathfinders contain or address.

In our context, pathfinders guide the user through the Web literature.

Internet Public Library, IPL Pathfinder: Resources for the School Librarian Available: http://www.ipl.org/ref/QUE/PF/scmedia.html

Internet Public Library, IPL Pathfinder: Choosing a Library School Available: http://www.ipl.org.ar/ref/QUE/PF/libschool.html

LSU Libraries, [Researchers'] Subject Guide Available: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/weblio.html

and finally For some fun, check this out:

Library Humor http://pw1.netcom.com/~dplourde/humor.html

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are pathfinders without the directionality. They are actually difficult to distinguish from one another if done well.
For internet resources, the term derives from Mosaic then Netscape's bookmark utility, labled "Favorites" on Microsoft Internet Explorer. These are often haphazardly collected documents the user wishes to collect as useful. A well organized set of bookmarks can be an extraordinary resource. Once collected, they are sometimes published to the Web or otherwise distributed for the use of others.

See
Randye's Bookmarks for Library and Government Resources at: http://gopher.fsu.edu/~rljones/librgovt.htm

Leiden University, Universiteitsbibliotheek, A collection of special search engines. Available: http://www.leidenuniv.nl/ub/biv/specials.htm

Iowa State University, Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web Available: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/CTW.htm

Jumppages, Gateways, and Portals

The World Wide Web has given us another form of ad hoc document management. Depending on each Web site's underlying organization and the intent of its creator these are Jumppages, Gateways, and Portals.

Jumppages

Jumpage is a term coined by McDonnel, Koehler, and Carroll to describe Web pages that provide links to other Web pages or sites in an almost haphazard fashion. There may or may not be some common theme connecting the links. These pages often are of the "things I am intertested in" class.

Gateways

Gateways are better organized, usually around a common theme. They, like jumppages provide links to other Web documents. They may be annotated or carry abstracts of the pages they point to. In that regard they resemble or may in fact be pathfinders.

Portals

Portals are shopping malls. Often a commercial outgrowth of on-line search sites, portals provide a search service (e.g. Yahoo! or Lycos) as well as links to any number of shops and services.