‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’ (3 rd Edition) Mike Kargela Mark Thompson-Kolar SI 658 Winter 2011 Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld 2007

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) 2

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) 3

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) 4

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) 5

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 6Information 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 7Information 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 8Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) Label

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 9Information 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 10Information 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 11Information 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? 12Information 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 13Information 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 14Information 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? 15Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets Format – Kinds of documents, databases, applications used on site. Examples: HTML “pages” XML files Oracle or MySQL databases Word documents PDF brochures Video or audio clips 16Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition)

IA and content: Facets Structure – Specific granularity of documents: Structural mark-up (XML) Whole document (Word) Discrete db fields provided (Product catalog) 17Information 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 ($$$) 18Information 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? 19Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) Flickr / jepoirrier

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? 20Information 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? 21Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) And many more questions (p. 237)

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, 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 22Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) Edward Hicks

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? 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? IA and content: Analysis 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 relate to business concept? 23Information 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 24Information 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. 25Information 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 26Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) Need

IA and content: Design All these steps lead to : 27Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) good content, but even better navigation & user satisfaction

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 28Information 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) 29

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) 30

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) 31

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) 32

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) 33

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) 34

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) 35

The IA Value Checklist 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) 36 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

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) 37

Questions? ? Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd Edition) 38