Information Architecture

1. Making a Web Site Work - Consumer Sensitivity Boot Camp
   • Categories and Issues
     1. Technical, e.g., interactivity, bandwith
     2. Look and Feel, e.g., aesthetics, ease of use, consistency
     3. Other, e.g., site navigation issues (Information Architecture)
   • What do you hate about the Web?
     • Can't find it - no index, table of contents, search, site map
     • Poor graphics and layout - huge eye stinging images, long and crowded pages
     • Bells and Whistles - unnecessary wow factors like improper use of Java applets, animated images, and blinking anythings
     • Inappropriate Tone - organizational jargon that alienates the user
     • Designer Centeredness - focus on the purpose of web site and not webmaster self expression
     • Under Construction - always to be avoided, usually synonymous with abandoned
     • Lack of Attention to Detail - typos, broken links, out-of-date or non-factual content
   • What do you like about the Web?
     • Aesthetics - cohesive and consistent look that creates a pleasing unique identity for the site
     • Big Ideas - effective communication with intelligent thought provoking writing and transparent page layout
     • Utility - the site's services matches the site's goal
     • Findability - good organization and ease of navigation
     • Personalization - tailoring the site to accommodate multiple audience types, e.g., browsers vs. searchers

2. Intro to Information Architecture
   • Role of the Information Architect
     • clarifies the mission, big picture understanding, and vision for the site
     • determines the content and functionality of the site
     • specifies how information will be found on the site by defining organization, navigation, labeling and searching systems
     • maps out a maintenance plan for the site for change and growth
     • thinks like an outsider but is organizationally savvy
     • thinks like an insider, knows the trenches and is aware of the politics
     • identifies the goals and content by getting bosses or clients to articulate their vision of the site
   • Disciplinary Background of the Information Architect
     • Graphic Design - creates integrated relationships between visual elements
     • Information and Library Science - organization of site working with searching, browsing and indexing technologies
     • Journalism - transfer of news wire skills to dynamic web information, e.g., push technology
     • Usability Engineering - testing and evaluating how the system works and system performance
     • Marketing - understands the audiences and communicates the message
     • Computer Science - sysadmin, programming skills that make the web "go", e.g., perl, javascript

3. Organizing Information
   • Organizational Challenges
     • support both casual browsing and directed searching
     • eliminate ambiguity, avoid one-size-fits-all approaches, rethink limited mental models of content labeling, be sensitive to political concerns
   • Organizing Web Sites and Intranets
     • Organizational Schemes - defines shared characteristics and groupings of content items
       1. Exact - alphabetical (e.g., white pages), chronological (e.g., TV guide), geographical (e.g., US map)
       2. Ambigious - topical (e.g., yellow pages), task oriented (e.g., menus), audience specific (e.g., members), metaphor driven (e.g, navigation elevator), hybrid (e.g., mixed ambigious sharing a page must still be somehow separated)
     • Organizational Structures - defines types of relationship between content items and groups
       1. Hierarchical - mutually exclusive top-down tree approach with balanced breadth and depth
       2. Database - bottom-up approach using controlled vocabulary, best used in subsites to repurpose the same content in different form
       3. Hypertext - less structured flexible nonlinear links, best used for secondary organization to compliment hierarchical and database models
   • Creating Cohesive Organizational Systems
     • break site into components, information retrieval systems work best when applied to narrow domains of homogeneous content
     • provide multiple ways to access the same information
     • use a combination of hierarchical, database and hypertext on large web sites