1. ORGANIZING
INFORMATION
ORGANIZATION AND TIME MANAGEMENT
SESSION 2

2. IN THIS SESSION WE WILL BE
• learning about the LATCH principle for organizing information
• practice organizing information in a variety of different ways.

3. FIVE DIFFERENT WAYS TO ORGANIZE INFORMATION
"THE LATCH PRINCIPLE"
"LATCH"
• Location
• Alphabet
• Time (chronologically)
• Category
• Hierarchy
Source:
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=130881&seqNum=6
Richard S. Wurman "Information Anxiety 2"

4. IN HIS BOOK,
RICHARD WURMAN SAYS….
“while information may be infinite, the ways of structuring it are not. And
once you have a place in which the information can be plugged, it becomes
that much more useful. Your choice will be different understanding of the
information-within each are many variations. However, recognizing that
the main choices are limited makes the process less intimidating.”

5. LATCH- THE ULTIMATE HAT
RACK
• We already employ the five modes of organization in many different ways.
• Most of us organize our financial records first by time, then by category when we figure our taxes.
We organize our CD and DVD collections, libraries, and even our laundry certain ways.
• Many people get into trouble when they mix the different methods of organization, trying to
describe something simultaneously in terms of size, geography, and category without a clear
understanding that these are all valid but separate means of structuring information.
• Understanding the structure and organization of information helps you to extract value and
significance from it.
• Understanding the LATCH organizing principles is like having the ultimate hat rack.

6. FIVE HAT RACKS VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgi1JQGHENI

7. ACTIVITY
How are these examples of information organized?

8. LOCATION
• You can organize information by showing a visual
depiction of a physical space.
• Maps are really common ways to organize by
location.
• You might also show information on a diagram with
labels.
• Organizing by location usually requires some sort
of visual of an area, thing or place

9. EXAMPLES OF ORGANIZING
BY LOCATION
• Maps
• Shopping mall directory
• Diagrams with labels
• Webpage
Can you think of any others?

10. ACTIVITY: LOCATION
Complete the activity by using the diagram to answer the questions. Then draw a
floor plan of the room we are in right now.

11. ALPHABETICALLY
• Organizing alphabetically works really well if you know the specific terms or
topics you are looking for.
• The reader or person looking at the information needs to know what they are
looking for so they can use alphabetical order to find it.
• Alphabetical order is commonly used in books.

12. EXAMPLES OF ORGANIZING
BY ALPHABET
• Index in a book (e.g. text book, recipe book)
• Dictionary
• Telephone book
Can you think of any others?

13. ACTIVITY: ALPHABETICAL
ORGANIZATION
Fill in the company extension list of employees in
alphabetical order by last name.

14. ORGANIZING BY TIME
• Organizing information by time is useful for finding
information in a chronological pattern.
• An example would be by the months or years when
events happen.
• Time is also good for showing how things happen over
a fixed duration of time.

15. EXAMPLES OF CHRONOLOGICAL
ORGANIZATION (BY TIME)
• Timeline of historical events
• Facebook timeline of "most recent" events
• Calendars
• A joke
• Instructions to cook something
• A flow chart to help show or describe a process
Can you think of any others?

16. ACTIVITY: CHRONOLOGICAL
ORGANIZATION
Use the template provided to create a timeline
for a typical day. You can use today as an
example.

17. CATEGORY
• Using categories is the broadest of the five ways to
organize information.
• You can use categories to organize information in just
about any way imaginable. For example:
• colour,
• shape,
• gender,
• model,
• price, or
• any other categories you can think of.

18. EXAMPLES OF ORGANIZING
BY CATEGORY
• Grocery store products
• Online shopping sites
• Office supply storage cabinet at work
Can you think of any others?

19. ACTIVITY: ORGANIZE BY
CATEGORY
Sort the items from the grocery store flyer into the correct categories.

20. HIERARCHY
• Hierarchies help show how one piece of information is connected to another in
order of importance or rank.
• Hierarchies are used in organizational charts to show who reports to whom.
Hierarchy is also used to show scale, like biggest to smallest or heaviest to
lightest.

21. EXAMPLES OF ORGANIZING
BY HIERARCHY
• Company organization chart
• Largest to smallest item
• Highest cost to lowest cost
• Eye chart
Can you think of any others?

22. ACTIVITY: ORGANIZE BY
HIERARCHY
Interpret the court system organization chart.

23. PROVINCES AND
TERRITORIES OF CANADA
We can use the provinces and territories
of Canada to show how each type of
organization works.

24. PROVINCES AND
TERRITORIES OF CANADA
By Location
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_and_territories_
of_Canada

25. PROVINCES AND
TERRITORIES OF CANADA
Alphabetical Order by Name
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskatchewan
Yukon

26. PROVINCES AND
TERRITORIES OF CANADA
Time-
Chronological by
Year of Existence
• New Brunswick
• Nova Scotia
• Ontario
• Quebec
1867
• Manitoba
• Northwest Territories
1870
• British Columbia
1871
• Prince Edward Island
1873
• Yukon
1898
• Alberta
• Saskatchewan
1905
• Newfoundland
1949
• Nunavut
1999

27. PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES OF
CANADA
Provinces Territories
Ontario
Quebec
British Columbia
Alberta
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Prince Edward Island
Northwest Territories
Nunavut
Yukon
By Category-
Provinces and
Territories

28. PROVINCES AND
TERRITORIES OF CANADA
By Hierarchy- largest to smallest population (2014 Stats Canada)
Ontario 13,678,700
Quebec 8,214,700
British Columbia 4,631,300
Alberta 4,121,700
Manitoba 1,282,000
Saskatchewan 1,125,400
Nova Scotia 942,700
New Brunswick 753,900
Newfoundland 527,000
Prince Edward Island 146,300
Northwest Territories 43,600
Nunavut 36,600
Yukon 36,500

29. ACTIVITY
How would you organize the
examples?

30. MILESTONE 14

31. CREDITS
This Power Point was created by Laubach Literacy Ontario.
The resources can be downloaded free of charge at www.laubach-on.ca.
This Employment Ontario project was funded by the Ontario Government. 2015
All website links were accurate at the time of original distribution-March 2015.
All of the images and clip art used in this Power Point are from Clipart.com and
Microsoft Office.com.