1. Information Architecture: A brief introduction
Samantha Bailey
12/03/03

2. For the record
I’m a librarian who works in digital information spaces.
Currently: Vice President, Information Architecture for Wachovia.com (Wachovia Bank)
Pioneer in IA: First employee of Argus Associates, spent 5 years there developing their operation & methodology
MILS from University of Michigan, 1996

3. with Amazing push-button Shushing Action!

4. Topics Defining Information Architecture
Understanding Information Environments
Components of an information architecture
Methodology & Deliverables

5. Question:
How do you define Information Architecture?

6. What is IA? A trick question or a tricky question?
Information Architecture (IA)
Interaction Design (ID)
Information Design (ID too)
User-centered Design (UCD)
User-interface Design (UI)
Usability/Usability Engineering (UE)

7. What is IA? This is an emerging discipline in an evolving medium.
Experts & Gurus disagree on the “right” answer.
IMHO: The ongoing discussion is legitimate and healthy—as long as we’re getting work done.

8. What is IA? Christina Wodtke’s SIG-IA survey:
content architecture (Polar Bear style)
interaction design (Cooper’s About Face)
information design (Wurman's Information Architects)                                                                  

9. What is IA?
The art and science of structuring and organizing information systems to help people achieve their goals.
Information architects organize content and design navigation systems to help people find and manage information.

10. questions IA answers A Visual Definition Users Business Context
audience types
information needs
questions
Business
Context
strategy
resources
culture / politics
workflow
Info. Architecture
org, label, nav, &
searching systems IA
Content
scope and volume
structure
metadata
answers

11. Why is IA Difficult? So Your Users Don’t Have To!
ComputerShopper.com Example.

12. Why is IA Important? (Metrics)
Cost of finding (time, clicks, frustration, precision).
Cost of not finding (success, recall, frustration, alternatives).
Cost of development (time, budget, staff, frustration).
Value of learning (related products, services, projects, people).
Example: Show Planned vs Unplanned IA (if time allows)
NOT Finding: pharmaceutical company planning to license new drug delivery platform for 1M; after 1 month of planning/searching, discovered already had in-house option. HFHS: haven’t changed IA structure in 5 years.

13. Question:
Do we still need to group (classify) what we know now that we aren’t dealing with artifacts?

14. A User’s Perspective

15. Information Environment
Business
Context
Content
Users
Business models & goals, corporate culture, resources
Document
types, objects,
structure, attributes,
meta-information
Information
needs, audience types, expertise, tasks

16. Info. Environment: Context
Business
Context
Content
Users
Characteristics of Large Companies
Increasingly global / distributed enterprises
Multiple cultures and languages
Complicating Factors (Intranets & Web Sites)
Authors and users spread across departments
Ownership unclear
Balance of centralization versus decentralization unclear

17. Information Architecture Environment Users
Business
Context
Content
Users
Complex and Diverse
information seeking behavior, needs, expertise
Many Ways to Study
observation, interviews, modeling, testing, tracking, observation

18. Information Architecture Environment: Content
Business
Context
Content
Users
Information Architecture Environment: Content

19. Question: How do you organize (or not) your: Computer desktop/files
Physical desktop
Paper files
Books

20. Planned vs. Unplanned IA

21. Supplementary Navigation & Search
Components of an IA
Organization systems
Labeling systems
Navigation systems
-Global
-Local
-Contextual
Supplementary Navigation & Search
Examples: Organization (Exact/Ambiguous), Labeling, Navigation, Searching
Different ways to organize the same content
Alpha
By chronology (press releases)
By geography
By topic (see subjects area)
By task (hand in homework, view grades, register for classes, look up another student)
By audience (teachers, students, parents)
Hierarchy: aim for broad and shallow; clicks
Database: highly structured, homogeneous
Hypertext
Labels:
Headings, Links, Icons, Options in a navigation bar, Controlled vocabularies and thesauri.
consistent system; user language, other sites, suggested by content; predictability of links (“Resources”, “Other Information”; scope notes; TITLE tags
Navigation systems
Global site navigation.
Local navigation.
Supplementary navigation systems (e.g., table of contents, site map, site index, guides).
Contextual “see also” navigation.
Searching systems
Search interface.
Query languages.
Ranking algorithms.
Search results.
Global nav – top bar
Local sub-site nav – bottom bar
Supplementary – site index

22. Organization Systems
Organization structures (e.g., the “shape” of the information): hierarchy, database, hypertext).
Organization schemes: exact vs. ambiguous.

23. Organization Schemes Exact Schemes Ambiguous Schemes
e.g.,white pages, author/title database
Everything has a place (one right answer)
Easy to create and maintain
Great for known-item searches
Ambiguous Schemes
e.g., yellow pages, org by topic/task/audience
Messy and full of overlap
Hard to create and maintain
Great for subject searches and associative learning

24. Org. Schemes - Exact Alphabetical: OSHA Site Index (www.osha.gov)
Exact vs Ambiguous
Different ways to organize the same content
Alpha
By chronology (press releases)
By geography

25. Org. Schemes - Exact
Geographical: Weather Underground (wunderground.com)

26. Org. Schemes - Ambiguous
Topical: Yahoo.com

27. Org. Schemes - Ambiguous
Task: Northwest Airlines (nwa.com)

28. Org. Schemes - Ambiguous
Audience: Dell (dell.com)

29. Navigation Systems Types Goals Global (site-wide) Local (sub-site)
Contextual (page-level)
Supplementary (e.g., table of contents, index, guide, search)
Goals
Provide context. (Where am I?)
Provide flexibility (Where can I go?)
Make sense (Separate global and local systems)
Avoid competing with content

30. Navigation Systems Page Title Local Navigation Global Navigation
name
[graphic logo]
blurb blurb blurb blurb
Home |
Site Map |
Search Full Holdings |
Topical Archives |
Membership |
Help
blurb blurb blurb
Local Navigation
Learn About Our Organization
Global Navigation
Announcements and Initiatives
Page Title
Events and Conferences
Publications and Lists
About [name]
Organization and Governance
Policies
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Contact Us
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
FAQs
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
About the [name] Web Site
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
See Also
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Summer Program
ABC Initiative
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Contextual Navigation
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content. Page content.
[name]:
Questions or comments?
[sponsor credits and logos]
Please
contact us

31. Navigation Systems Global, Local, Contextual: Wachovia.com
Global site navigation.
Local navigation.
Contextual “see also” navigation.

32. Labeling Systems Navigation bar options
Headings, Subheads, sub-subheads
Contextual links
Controlled vocabularies and thesauri
[Icons]
How can we make it easier to find and manage information: use the basic components of a good IA
Describe with an example
E.G. Show Bitpipe (

33. Supplementary Navigation Systems
Topical (site index): New York Times (nyt.com)
Supplementary navigation systems (e.g., table of contents, site map, site index, guides).

34. Supplementary Navigation: Search

35. Supplementary Nav: Searching Sucks
“Using an on-site search engine actually reduced the chances of success.” (1998 Usability Study by User Interface Engineering)

36. …But Users Demand It http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9707b.html
“Search is one of the most important user interface elements in any large web site...Our usability studies show that more than half of all users are search-dominant.” (Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 1997)
Paradox of the active user

37. Top-down vs. bottom-up IA
“Top-down” IA
Birds eye view looking down on the forest.
Tie together disparate pockets of content for improved searching and browsing.
Highly focused on users and information needs.
“Bottom-up” IA
From the ground up, looking at individual trees and leaves on trees.
Improve searching and browsing within a single, high-volume pocket of content.
Highly focused on content (content model, document types and meta-information).
Not mutually exclusive—every project includes both.

38. Where Does IA Fit in the Design Process?
The Elements of
User Experience
Jesse James Garrett

39. User Centered Information Architecture Design Methodology
Iterative process
Discovery
Definition/Conceptual Design
IA Design
Handoff-Implementation
Integrated with content development, interaction design, graphic design,usability

40. Communicating Ideas (deliverables)
Diagrams (conceptual)
Blueprints (structural)
Wireframes (relational)
Text (reports, taxonomies)
Interpersonal (meetings, conversation, blogs)
Example: Show Planned vs Unplanned IA (if time allows)
NOT Finding: pharmaceutical company planning to license new drug delivery platform for 1M; after 1 month of planning/searching, discovered already had in-house option. HFHS: haven’t changed IA structure in 5 years.

41. Affinity Diagram How Users Associate Hardware/Software Content Topics
Project Type:
Strategy and Recommendations, User Needs Analysis
Client Type:
Software and Network Applications
Description:
Affinity diagrams visually interpret the results of card sorting during user testing. They show how the respondents tended to view the relationships between different chunks of content. These results suggest ways to better organize this content.
Lines between boxes show the strength of the associations between topics. The larger gray boxes show major clusters of topics and areas of overlap.

42. Concept Diagram Project Type: Seminar, Client Mentoring, White Paper
Client Type:
E-commerce or Intranet Site
Description:
This concept diagram outlines a general strategy for personalization on a site.
It shows how users, content, and controlled vocabularies relate to the profiling layer used to aggregate information dynamically for presentation in the user interface.
Such diagrams are useful for introducing organizations to complex information architecture ideas. They are especially useful during mentoring and training engagements.

43. Blueprint (Top Down) Project Type: Strategy and Recommendations
Client Type:
International Business Consulting Firm
Description:
This is a top-down view of the overall conceptual structure of an Internet portal site that provides access to international information for affiliate firms.
The XML-based global content repository for the organization can be accessed in multiple ways—by firm, by service, by industry, by topic.

44. Process Flow for Customer Interaction
Project type:
Strategy and Recommendations, Business Analysis
Client:
Networking Products and Solutions
Description:
Process for online product life cycle.
Describes how client can improve sales at different points in sales cycle.

45. Main Page Wireframe Project Type:
Strategy and Recommendations, Conceptual Design
Client Type:
Electronic greeting card public internet site
Description:
Wireframes are used to communicate with the web design team to show navigation and the relationship between content elements. They help flesh out the page by page information architecture of the site before graphic design and programming occur.
The goal of this project was to improve the site’s overall information architecture to make it easier for users to find content.
This wireframe illustrated how to leverage the site’s navigation and classification systems on the main page.

46. Metadata (Bottom Up)
Definition: attributes that describe a content object
Example Metadata Record: Compact Disc(Amazon.com)
Attributes
Attribute Values
Title
Symphonies nos 35-41
Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor
Karl Böhm
Ensemble
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Genre
Classical
Date Recorded
January 23, 1996
Some attributes require controlled vocabularies.
Implementation: Could be embedded meta tags, database records, XML.

47. Controlled Vocabulary Table
Products/Services UI
Accepted Term
Product Code
Variant Term
PS0135
Access Dialing
PCA358
10-288; ; dial around
PS0006
Air Miles
PCS932
AirMiles
PS0151
XYZ Direct
DCW004
USADirect; XYZ USA Direct; XYZDirect card
Project Type:
Conceptual Design, Implementation
Client Type:
Customer Call Center of Global Telecommunications Firm
Description:
Shows part of a controlled vocabulary that was used to organize documents and enhance searching for a call center’s knowledge management intranet.
Table includes accepted terms to be used in tags as well as product codes and variant terms used by the company.

48. Project management & Information Architecture
PM & IA can be a powerful combination
Sources of tension
Big IA/Little IA vs. Big PM/Little PM

49. IA Resources for More Information
Online
AIfIA (
SIG-IA (
Books
_IA for the World Wide Web_ 2nd Ed., Morville & Rosenfeld, O’Reilly, 2002
_IA: Blueprints for the Web_ Wodtke, New Riders, 2001
_Elements of User Experience_ Garrett, New Riders, 2002

50. Wrap Up
Questions?
Contact information:
Samantha Bailey
samantha.bailey (at) wachovia.com