‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’ (3 rd Edition)

‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’ (3rd Edition) Mike Kargela Mark Thompson-Kolar SI 658 Winter 2011 Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld2007

Polar Bear Book • About the Authors • Overview of the Book • Key IA Terms and Concepts • IA and Content • IA in the Field • Wrap Up • Questions Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Peter Morville & Lou Rosenfeld • School of Information Alums • Considered inventors of Information Architecture field • Worked together at Argus Associates • Currently have their own consulting businesses Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Overview of Book • Part I: Introducing Information Architecture (IA) • Overview of IA • Part II: Basic Principles of IA • Fundamental components of an architecture • Part III: Process and Methodology • Tools, techniques and methods Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Overview Continued • Part IV: IA in Practice • Practical tips and advice for those working in the field • Part V: IA in the Organization • Practicing and promoting IA within a business context • Part VI: Case Studies • The evolution of two large architectures and best practices used in their development Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts (Ch.1) • Findability • Ability for users to find what they need • Browsing | Searching | Asking paradigm • Managing • IA must balance needs of users with goals of business • Content management • Policies & procedures Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts • Granularity • Degree of specificity or coarseness of information chunks • Example: Journal issue, article, paragraph, sentence • Structuring • Determining best level(s) of granularity • Determining best relation among items in site Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts • Organizing • Grouping those components into meaningful & distinctive categories • Labeling • What to call the categories • What to call navigation links Label Label Label Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts • Components • What constitutes a medium (e.g. web sites) • Main page, navigation bar, links, content pages, site index, search • Dimensions • How the components exist in space • Multidimensional, hypertextual • Boundaries • Fairly intangible, fuzzy borders • Information “bleeds” into other sites Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts (Ch. 2) • Information Ecology • Complex dependencies involving users, content & context • “Oversimplified” model tool for addressing issues Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts • Users • Who’s using the site? • How are they using it? • What information do they want? • IAs must address this in decision making Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts • Context • Site exists within organization’s goals, strategy, technology, budget, culture, and other factors • Vocabulary & structure conversation w/customers • What is today’s business context? Tomorrow’s? • How will users view your site/message/values distinct from competition? Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Key IA terms and concepts • Content • The “stuff” that makes up your site • Incl. documents, applications, services and metadata of your site Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets (Ch. 2) Content facets = Key questions IAs must address: • Ownership • Format • Structure • Metadata • Volume • Dynamism Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets • Ownership • Who creates and maintains content on the site? • How will this be handled? • How is responsibility distributed? • How much content originates inside organization? • How much from outside? Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets • Format • Kinds of documents, databases, applicationsused on site. Examples: • HTML “pages” • XML files • Oracle or MySQL databases • Word documents • PDF brochures • Video or audio clips Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets • Structure • Specific granularity ofdocuments: • Structural mark-up (XML) • Whole document (Word) • Discrete db fields provided (Product catalog) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets • Metadata • Data about information: • How much already exists? • What gaps are there? • Manual or auto tagging? • Level of quality / consistency? • Controlled vocabulary / folksonomy / both? • How important IS metadata to the site? • Expertise in evaluating quality & work ahead ($$$) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets • Volume • How much content are we talking about? • 100 applications? • 1,000 HTML pages? • 1M documents? • An ever-growing product catalog with 2B fields? Flickr / jepoirrier Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets • Dynamism • Degree of change, throughput, update • Speed of growth expected • Rate of turnover • How much added next week/month/year? • Freshness factor • Can our tools handle this? Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Planning (Ch. 10) • 3 initial meetings IAs should hold • Strategy team • IT team • Content owners/managers • Huge part of site success! • What content does each owner handle / maintain? • Purpose of each type of content? • Where does it originate? How “weeded”? • Who is the audience? • How is content entered into system? And many more questions (p. 237) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Analysis (Ch. 10) • Gather content • Noah’s Ark: Two of every kind • Get a diverse and useful sample • Formats: Text, video, apps, email messages, records … • Document type: Marketing reports, product catalogs, press releases, annual reports, forms, ... • Sources: Departments, business units, third-party … • Subjects: Range, look for existing taxonomy • Other possible categories: • Dynamism, language, intended audience, size/length Edward Hicks Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Analysis • Questions • What is this object? • How can I describe it? • What distinguished it from others? • How can I make it most findable? • Patterns or groups emerging? • Hierarchies? • Linkage in common business practice? • Analyze content • Think about metadata as way to categorize: • Structural– How is it divided? • Descriptive – Format? Audience? • Administrative – Who owns? Who created? How does it relateto business concept? Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Design (Ch. 12) • Content Inventory • Describes what content exists and where it can be gotten: • page by page • section by section • document by document • Identifies gaps • Intensely detailed Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Design • Content Mapping Break down or combine existing content into content chunks. Content chunk = most finely grained content piece that requires individual attention. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Design • Content Modeling • Content model = “Micro” info architectures of small chunks of interconnected content. • Depends on consistent parts and logical connections • Focus on most high-value content on site • Improve cross-site navigation by linking • Find gaps (not yet exist) • Deal with scale Need Need Need Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Design • All these steps lead to : good content, but even better navigation & user satisfaction Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Comment • Content is crucial in IA • Most thorough treatment of content we have seen yet in Information Architecture books: • Concepts • Purposes • Research • Design • Implementation & management Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA in The Field • Lot of potential obstacles loom for the IA: • Lack of understanding of IA • Budgets • Organizational Politics • Technology • Getting the right people on board as early as possible is key Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA in The Field • Selling is major part of an IA’s job • Change perceptions • Help clients understand what IA is and how a good IA can help them meet their goals and objectives • Before and after the sale Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Selling IA • Two Kinds of People • By the Numbers • Need data to make their decisions • Want to know what they’re going to get in return for their investment • Gut Reactionaries • Make decisions based upon what feels right • Rely less on hard data, more on intangibles Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Putting a Value on IA (Ch. 17) • Calculate Return On Investment (ROI) • For intranet portals • Employee time savings • External Sites (E-Commerce) • Recouping lost sales • Challenges associated with ROI • Benefits of a complete IA are difficult to quantify • Benefits of many IA components can’t be quantified • Most claims for IA benefits can’t be validated Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Talking to The Gut Reactionaries • These people go with what feels right/what’s in line with their experiences • If they don’t have direct experience with IA, use first hand success stories • Communicate roles and scenarios that the client can understand and/or relate to Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Other Techniques • User sensitivity “boot camp sessions” • Expert site evaluations • Strategy sessions • Competitive analyses • Comparative analyses • Ride the application salesman’s wake • Be aggressive and be early Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Three Pieces of Advice • “Pain is your best friend” • Be able to identify pain points and help clients to understand or “feel” them • “Articulation is half the battle” • Help clients articulate the information problems they are experiencing • “Get off your high horse” • Avoid too much IA jargon and use terms client understands Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

The IA Value Checklist • Reduces reliance upon documentation • Reduces maintenance costs • Reduces training costs • Reduces staff turnover • Reduces organizational upheaval • Reduces organizational politicking • Improves knowledge sharing • Reduces duplication of effort • Solidifies business strategy • Reduces cost of finding information • Reduces cost of finding wrong information • Reduces cost of not finding information at all • Provides competitive advantage • Increases product awareness • Increases sales • Makes using a site more enjoyable • Improves brand loyalty Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Wrap Up • Excellent book that provides many helpful tools and techniques • Annotated with real world experiences, useful advice and practical considerations • Can serve as a great on the job resource that the practicing IA can go back to repeatedly Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

Questions? ? Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’ (3 rd Edition)