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Shaky Structures and Information Architecture

Shaky Structures and Information Architecture. Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire | October 30, 2002 Louis Rosenfeld www.louisrosenfeld.com. Who I Am. Independent information architecture consultant (recent clients: HP, Ford, CDC, SAP) Co-founder/president, Argus Associates

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Shaky Structures and Information Architecture

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  1. Shaky Structures and Information Architecture Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire | October 30, 2002 Louis Rosenfeld www.louisrosenfeld.com

  2. Who I Am • Independent information architecture consultant (recent clients: HP, Ford, CDC, SAP) • Co-founder/president, Argus Associates • Co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (O’Reilly, 1998; 2002) • Past contributor to CIO, Internet World, and Web Review magazines • Lecturer at University of Michigan, speaker on Nielsen/Norman Group UX tour • Biases: Fortune 500s, librarianship/info. science

  3. What We’ll Cover • Make the case that information architecture (IA) is real • Provide a nuts and bolts understanding of IA • Definitions • Examples • Components • Methodology • Cover some practical IA advice and trends

  4. The Information Architecture of Everyday Things 1/2 • …different from this? • How is this…

  5. The Information Architecture of Everyday Things 2/2 • What can we learn from a book (without reading it)? • And what does a book have in common with a web site?

  6. So What is IA?Definition and the thing • The definition:The art and science of structuring, organizing and labeling information to help people find and manage information • The thing:The structure of information, and components for searching and browsing that information; matches users and content within a business context

  7. So What is IA?Architectural components • Taxonomies/hierarchies… • Labels, indexing, vocabularies, thesauri… • Navigation schema, tables of contents, site indices… • Document structures, metadata, contextual linking… • Search systems, auto-classification software, other automated tools…

  8. So What is IA? The product • Research artifacts: expert evaluations, strategy reports, competitive benchmarking, user research, content inventory & analyses… • Design artifacts: wire frames, blueprints, navigation rules, metadata & search specs … • What we implement: policies, procedures, processes, knowledge transfer & training…

  9. So What is IA? Sample blueprint Blueprint Example

  10. So What is IA? Sample wire frame Wire Frame Example

  11. So What is IA? Sample metadata table Metadata Table Example

  12. So What is IA?Visualizing the damn thing • Enough talking about IA; can we see it? • Hard to see something not tangible • But easy to notice it when it’s not working

  13. You’ll Notice IA When it’s Bad

  14. …Really Bad…

  15. …but You Might Not Notice when it’s Good • Main page of LL Bean for top-down

  16. Good IA Happens Top and Bottom

  17. (Yet Another) Three Circle Diagram

  18. IA Research Questions 1/3 • What we’re trying to learn about users • What motivates users to come to this site? • What do users want from this site? And what do they need? • Who are they anyway? And which audiences are the most important? • How do they typically navigate? • What terms do they use to browse, search and classify information? • What are their most important information needs?

  19. IA Research Questions 2/3 • What we’re trying to learn about content • How do I get my arms around the content we have? • What content has value, and is worth being architected? • What content can I get rid of? • How do I make the answers emerge from content? • How should the content be organized and labeled? Does it come “pre-architected”?

  20. IA Research Questions 3/3 • What we’re trying to learn about context • Who inside the organization makes decisions? And what do they want from the site? • What political and cultural factors might impact the architecture? • Are things run centrally or autonomously? • What similar initiatives have worked in the past? Which haven’t? Why? • What resources (people, technology, time, $$$) are available? • How will the architecture be maintained and sustained? • Are they even ready for IA?

  21. IA Methodology 1/2 • Techniques and tools for learning about users • Personas, scenarios • Card sorting • Task analysis, information needs analysis • Search log analysis • Prototyping • Techniques and tools for learning about content • Content inventories, architecture inventories • Content analysis • Content development policies • Content modeling

  22. IA Methodology 2/2 • Techniques and tools for learning about business context • Expert evaluation • IA education • Strategy session • Strategy & recommendations plan • Interviews • Benchmarking • Technology assessment • “Future testing”

  23. IA and Traditional Disciplines 1/2 • IA borrows and integrates techniques from several existing fields • None of these fields can meet contemporary design challenges on its own • Fields that educate us about users • Cognitive psychology • Ethnography • Marketing • Merchandising • More…

  24. IA and Traditional Disciplines 2/2 • Fields that educate us about content • Journalism • Database management • Technical communication • Communications • Information retrieval • More… • Fields that educate us about context • Organizational psychology • Operations engineering • Business management • Social network analysis • More…

  25. Three Circle Diagram (Once More) • IA education • “Major” in one of these areas • “Minor” in one or both of the other two areas • IA hiring • Goal: seek balance in these areas among one or more IA staff

  26. Some Practical Advice • Pareto’s Principle • Five Critical IA Junctions • Learning from Observing

  27. Pareto’s Principle:The 80/20 rule--IA variants • 80% of your site's users belong to 20% of the site's audiences. • 80% of users' information needs are served by 20% of the site's content. • 80% of users' navigational needs are served by 20% of all possible architectural components. • 80% of users' information needs are addressed by the top 20% of all searches. • 80% of IA effort should be invested in 20% of total architecture.

  28. Five critical IA junctures:Where users interact with the IA • Budget for IA is not unlimited • Biggest bang for buck comes from focusing IA investment on • Main page • Search interface • Search results • Browse interface (e.g., taxonomy) • “Found” document

  29. Learning by Observing: What does this cubicle teach us?

  30. Learning by Observing:Borrowing from ethnography • Sites don’t exist in a vacuum, but in a broader information ecology • An information ecology is made up of: • Content • Applications • Actors • Roles • Resources • What role do each of these play in IA design? • Information flows • Interactions • Processes and policies • Incentives • Barriers

  31. Learning by Observing:Borrowing from social networks • Understanding information flows can help us design better architectures and organizations • Hierarchies aren’t the only way to envision relationships in an organization

  32. Information Architecture Trends • Enterprise information architecture • Emergent information architecture

  33. Trend Toward Enterprise IA:The most challenging context • How to implement an IA for Microsoft’s intranet, or Cisco’s e-commerce site? • Issues • Expectations • Culture and politics • Centralization versus autonomy • Resources, tools and expertise • Time (launch, maintenance, organizational learning) • Business model

  34. Trend Toward Enterprise IA:Scaling the walls CURRENT: Organization- Centric “Silo” Access GOAL: User- Centric Access

  35. Trend Toward Emergent IA:“Undesigned” IA • Turns “formal” IA on its head • Less emphasis on designing an architecture • More emphasis on designing conditions for information creation, use, and self-organization within an evolving architecture • Useful in low-resource, highly distributed situations • Examples: community sites (e.g. SlashDot and evolt.org), wikis

  36. Trend Toward Emergent IA:iawiki.net, a sample Wiki

  37. What We Covered • Made the case that information architecture (IA) is real • Provided a nuts and bolts understanding of IA • Definitions • Examples • Components • Methodology • Covered some practical IA advice and trends

  38. Wrap up • Questions & answers • This presentation is available from: • www.louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/021030-structure.ppt

  39. Contact information • Louis Rosenfeld LLC • 902 Miller Avenue • Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103 USA • lou@louisrosenfeld.com • www.louisrosenfeld.com • +1.734.663.3323 voice • +1.734.661.1655 fax

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