Taxonomy

The NT2 Lab's taxonomy was put together during the elaboration of the Hypermedia Art and Literature (HAL) Directory following the extensive inventory carried out by the NT2’s research assistants. It is an empirical taxonomy which has adapted to the continuous changes of hypermedia arts and literatures during the course of their transformations and innovations. The development of the NT2 taxonomy thus meets the Lab’s desire to create adapted descriptive protocols for hypermedia works as they occur.

The NT2 Lab’s taxonomy is oriented on the user’s experience and interaction with the hypermedia works indexed. It was developed with the aim of accurately reflecting the experience related to the work – how does the user interact with it, which technical devices are at play, which media are used, etc. The NT2 taxonomy enables to carry out research on the specific interactive quality of hypermedia works within the Lab’s search engine. It is understood as a specialized research tool to help unveil and extract key orientations in hypermedia art and literature from a collection of works. In other words, its main purpose is to research, identify and articulate specific orientations in hypermedia theory and practice. A second, more classic focus of indexing content adds on to the first, insofar as the NT2 taxonomy helps find content on the webiste though the search engine.

NOTE: Given that the purpose of the NT2 Lab has changed over time, certain terms of the NT2 taxonomy vocabularies are no longer of use. In fact, in its early stages, the NT2 Lab took interest in every form of artistic or literary expression found online. Over the years, this universal approach has given way to a focus on the issues of hypermedia works and interactivity. All the vocabularies considered obsolete are nevertheless preserved on the NT2 website for an archaeology of knowledge.