IBE312 (2014) Information Architecture: Part I – Introduction Notes for Chapters 1-2 Modified for 2014 (JMD) with earlier notes by Hans Fredrik Nordhaug  2012 and figures & text by Morville & Rosenfeld, 2007

Information for IBE312 (2014)  The IBE312 Course Web Page for (2014)IBE312 Course Web Page Bring to lecture a device that can search the web  Lecture videos from 2013 Lecture videos from 2013  Lecture videos for 2014 Lecture videos for 2014 Coming soon (see the Course page)  Questions: Send me . 2

3 Part I - Objectives  Defining IA  Practicing IA  User Needs and Behaviours Understanding the needs of the customer Understanding that needs change over time

Metaphors  Analogies with Architecture Comparing good design of a building vs. website Aesthetics (looks good) Functionality (usable by intended group/ personal vs. business) Reliability (not fall down/not crash)  Other Metaphors: information ecologies, knowledge economies, digital libraries, and virtual communities.  Metaphors help us to structure our perception and understanding  Lakoff & Johnson,1980. “Metaphors We Live By”. University of Chicago Press. 4

5 Some Definitions  Architecture (Merriam-Webster) Architecture  : the art or science of designing and creating buildings  : a method or style of building  : the way in which the parts of a computer are organized  Information (Merriam-Webster) Information  : knowledge that you get about someone or something : facts or details about a subject  : a service that telephone users can call to find out the telephone number for a specified person or organization Can you tell what Information Architecture is from these definitions?

6 1.The combination of organization, labeling, and navigation schemes within an information system. 2.The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content. 3.The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranets to help people find and manage information. 4.An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape. Information Architecture Some notes from Morville & Rosenfeld, 2007

Things that Information Architects do…  Understand user and system requirements  Design (and build) organization, navigation, and metadata systems  Evaluate the user experience Figure out what’s needed Design it Build it Figure out if it works (compare with physical architects)

8 Basic concept of IA (ch1, p5)  Information IA sits between data and knowledge management  Structuring, organizing and labelling Structuring – size Organization – grouping Labelling – what to call categories  Finding and managing – usability  Art and science – understanding user needs involves experience, intuition and creativity.

9 Books VS Web Sites (Table 1-1, p6) IA conceptsBooksWeb Sites ComponentsCover, title, author, chapters, sections, pages, page numbers, table of contents, index Main page, navigation bar, links, content pages, sitemap, site index, search DimensionsTwo-dimensional pages presented in a linear, sequential order Multidimensional information space with hyper textual navigation BoundariesTangible and finite with a clear beginning and ending Fairly intangible with fuzzy borders that "bleed“ information into other sites.

10 Libraries VS Web Sites (Table 1-2, p7) IA conceptsLibrariesWeb Sites PurposeProvide access to a well- defined collection of formally published content Provide access to content, sell products, enable transactions, facilitate collaboration,... HeterogeneityDiverse collections with books, magazines, music, software, databases, and files Huge diversity of media types, document types, and file formats Centralization (control) Highly centralized operations, often within one or a few physical library buildings Often very decentralized operations, with subsites maintained independently

11 What isn’t IA? (Ch1, p9)  Graphic design alone isn’t IA, but…  Software development alone isn’t IA, but…  Closely related disciplines: Graphic design Interaction design (HCI) Usability engineering (HCI) Experience design Software development Content management Knowledge management

12 Why IA Matters? (Ch1, pp11-12)  Why should a company spend time/money on IA? What is the ROI (if any)? It matters because: The cost of finding information. The cost of not finding information. The value of education. The cost of construction. The cost of maintenance. The cost of training. The value of brand.  Exercise: Find an example of one of these costs.

13 Why IA Matters – in more detail  Cost of finding (time, frustration)  Cost of not finding (bad decisions, alternate channels)  Cost of construction (staff, technology, planning, bugs)  Cost of maintenance (content management, redesigns)  Cost of training (employees, turnover)  Value of education (related products, projects, people)  Value of brand (identity, reputation, trust)

14  Employees spend 35% of productive time searching for information online. Working Council for Chief Information Officers  The Fortune 1000 stands to waste at least $2.5 billion / year due to an inability to locate and retrieve information. IDC  Poorly architected retailing sites are underselling by as much as 50%. Forrester Research   50% of web sales are lost because customers can’t find content fast enough. Gartner Group  Content on a typical public corporate website grows at an 80% rate annually. The CMS Report Why IA Matters? (examples)

15  Vividence Research  “The Tangled Web”  Vividence found poorly organized search results and poor information architecture design to be the two most common and serious usability problems Most Common Usability Problems Poorly organized search results53% Poor information architecture32% Slow performance32% Cluttered home pages27% Confusing labels25% Invasive registration15% Inconsistent navigation13%

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18 Figure 1-4, p13 IA Concepts

19 Figure 1-5, p14 IA Systems

20 Figure 1-6, p15 IA Deliverables

21 Ch. 2 - Practicing IA  Who is qualified? Very few IA degrees.  May have other titles: user-experience designers, knowledge managers, find-ability engineers, etc. (Ch. 2, p.17)  Disciplinary backgrounds Graphic/information design Information and library science Journalism Usability engineering Marketing Computer science Technical writing Architecture …

The IA Circles Moreville & Rosenfeld, Ch2, p. 25 Context ContentUsers Document/data types, content objects, volume, existing- structure Business goals, funding, politics, culture, technology, resources, and constraints Audience, tasks, needs, information seeking, behavior, experience

23 Ch 2, p.27 Content, Context, Users  IA must uniquely match their context  Content – the stuff that makes a site Ownership Format Structure Metadata Volume Dynamism  IA must match the users’ needs/behaviour

24 Introduction to IA, Hans Nordhaug Users Needs and Behaviours (Ch 3)  The “too-simple” information model  Information needs Everything (exhaustive searching) A few good things (exploratory searching) Don’t know what you need to know The right thing (known-item seeking) Re-finding (kept-item seeking)  Information Seeking Behaviour

25 Summary  Defining IA - (Ch1)  Practicing IA - (Ch2)  User Needs and Behaviours - (Ch3) We will discuss Ch3 further in the next slide set for chapters 3 & 4.