We just finished a new Category section here at Blogcosm, providing a richer display of information that we've included since launch. Each blog is assigned to at least one sub-category. The sub-categories are arranged in a multi-level hierarchy, with 8 top-level categories. (Plus Non-English, where we don't have the language skills or resources to add value.)

• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Finance
• Computers & Internet
• Entertainment
• News & Politics
• Recreation & Sports
• Shopping
• Society & Culture

The main category page shows "Top Blogs in All Categories" with a Table of Contents at the top.

Data visualization feature: the horizontal bar chart show the relative "weight" of each category at a glance (based here on the number of blogs in each category).

A note to skeptics: we're the first to agree that no category hierarchy is perfect, and that a "flat" folksonomy of tags (as popularized by Flickr and many other Web 2.0 apps) also has many advantages. However, categorization and consistent use of terms have proven to be powerful methods of organizing -- and understanding -- large data sets. In fact, there are several good ways to combine the benefits of a formal ontology (classification scheme) with the unstructured use of tags. Stay tuned for real examples!

Each category has several sub-categories. In some cases we list alternate sub-categories (in gray) where a single hierarchy wasn't clear.

Click any category name to drill in; the detail page includes a description of each blog, alternate categories (if any) and a direct link to the blog.

The top-level categories appear in a sidebar throughout the site to easily focus on specific interests.

We tried to have some fun with the color coding, e.g. Business & Finance is green (making money), Shopping is red (spending money), and News & Politics is purple (with apologies to our international readers, it's a color combination of "Blue State" Democrats and "Red State" Republicans, and implicit recognition that roughly a third of eligible voters in the US are actually independent).

Data visualization feature: the category background color provides an additional cue for locating topics of interest.

Elsewhere on the site: the blog profiles now include a comment form. Please add relevant details and links for blogs you're familiar with! Category suggestions and corrections are also welcome.