Modeling Information Experiences: A Recipe for Consistent Architecture

IBM Client Technical Content Experience (CTCX)
Modeling Information Experiences:
A Recipe for Consistent Information
Architecture
Andrea L. Ames
IBM Content Experience Strategist/Architect/Designer
Alyson Riley
IBM Content Strategist
STC Web Seminar
03 October 2013
© IBM Corporation 2013. All Rights Reserved

2
About Andrea
Technical communicator since 1983
Areas of expertise
Information experience design: Content strategy,
information architecture, and interaction design
for content display and delivery, within products
and interactive information delivery systems
Architecture, design, and development of embedded assistance (content within or
near the product user interface)
Information and product usability, from analysis through validation
User-centered process for information development and
information experience design
IBM Senior Technical Staff Member on corporate Client Technical
Content Experience team in the IBM CIO office
University of CA Extension certificate coordinator and instructor
STC Fellow, past president (2004-05), former member of
Board of Directors (1998-2006), and Intercom columnist (with Alyson
Riley) of The Strategic IA
ACM Distinguished Engineer

3
About Alyson
Technical communicator since 1995
Areas of expertise
Content strategy
Content metrics—the business value of
content
Information architecture (my first love!)
Interaction design for content delivery vehicles,
and interactive content
Information and product usability, from analysis
through validation
User-centered processes for content strategy
and scenario-driven information architecture
IBM Senior Content Strategist on corporate
Client Technical Content Experience team in
the IBM CIO Office
Senior Member of STC, and Intercom
columnist (with Andrea Ames) of The
Strategic IA

4
Agenda
Part One
Models, defined
Why we (should) care
What models do for us
Part Two
Key types of models: Use, Content, Access, and Information
Developing models
Applying models
Backup: Model-development details

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Introduction: IA & models
IA is scientific:
It requires us to follow repeatable processes
It requires us to clearly define metrics
It requires us to define and validate theories
It requires us to identify variables
It requires us to know about things like human cognition
IA is art:
We develop a deep understanding of the human experience
We create meaning
We create simplicity and elegance out of complexity and chaos
Models help IAs blend science and art to achieve measurable results:
They help us follow the scientific method by defining and refining theories until we
achieve predictable, consistent results
They help us ask the right questions, discover patterns, and tolerate the ambiguity
that comes from dealing with people
They help us discover solutions by applying concepts in a systematic manner
nuanced by a vision for the human experience—NOT by following rules and recipes

6
Models, defined: an example
Model house
A blueprint that shows the ideal state of the
whole and ideal relationships between
constituent components
A pattern for perfection
A representation of what’s possible if price
were no object
Real house
 Might differ from the model—
sometimes significantly—but is
still recognizable as a home
 Purpose, form, and structure
are the same
 Details may vary as a result of
the humans involved

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Lessons about models from our model home example
Models are a pattern, not a rule
Patterns are always adapted to the “fabric” with which you’re working
Fundamental purpose, form, and structure remain the same
Details may vary according to human need or circumstances
Note: If your circumstances include things like “the developer says so” or “but we’ve
always done it this way,” we strongly encourage you to roll up your sleeves and fight for
your user!
Sometimes details are a big deal
Which house would you want to live in?
Good architects leverage the flexibility of the model only in ways that
benefit the humans involved (example: “I just don’t like windows” isn’t a
reason to break from the model)
Good architects always balance business issues (cost, time, etc.) with
user issues (wants and needs)
What’s boring in neighborhoods can be good for user experiences
Consistency is predictability
Consistency leads to recognizable brands and strong identity

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In case you’re still lost: another example
model real

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Why models? Models help businesses think
Think, not cut-and-paste
For many larger organizations, it’s too expensive to develop templates for every
possible design context
Templates are hard-coded and can’t handle more than cut-and-paste design work
Scalability and adaptability
Abstract models scale with increases in complexity, number and diversity of users
Models are abstract, and as a result, ensure the information architecture remains
above the fray of trends and change
Abstract models can be adapted to handle technological innovation, changes in
strategy, flux in a product portfolio, new business processes, and evolution in the
market
Focus on high-value user interactions
Abstract models force an organization to identify, prioritize, and design for the user
interactions that are critical to business success
Technology, marketing strategies, and brand identity may evolve— core
user interactions are more stable
Consistency, with room for creativity
Abstract models can be used to align all aspects of a content experience
Abstract models drive focus on predictable user interactions while
allowing for interesting change at the presentation level

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Why models? Models help users think
What users want to think about
Users want to think about their primary goals and tasks
Users do not want to spend time on figuring out how to use our frameworks to
achieve their goals and tasks
Our job is to eliminate cognitive load and help users focus mental space on
what’s really important to them
Toward an invisible architecture
Good abstract models are based on cognitive science and user-centered design
principles
As such, abstract models help us deliver an information architecture that users
don’t have to think about
Abstract models help our users maintain focus the things they really care about
—not navigating our framework
Abstract models make obvious things like:
What to do next
Where to go next
Whether the information answers the question
How to find more or different information that will answer the question
Thanks to Steve Krug and
his first law of usability
—“Don't make me think!”
Thanks to Steve Krug and
his first law of usability
—“Don't make me think!”

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Why models? Models help communicators think
Abstract models remove the guesswork for technical communicators
Abstract models provide a framework for teams to think through things like:
Access
Delivery
Content
Presentation
Currency
Maintenance
Invaluable for teams new to information architecture or who lack a dedicated
information architect on their projects
Abstract models encapsulate lots of helpful theory
The best abstract models reflect current theory and research into human
cognition, user information-seeking and processing behaviors, and so on
This enables teams to focus less on theory and more on the specifics of their
target users and their needs, and how best to apply the models in their
design contexts
Teams learn by experience, with a solid foundation

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Why models? Models help IAs think
Abstract models encourage an IA to:
Keep user needs and business strategy in the forefront of her
thinking
Take risks and be creative in an intelligent, calculated, data-
centered, purpose-driven manner
Maintain the integrity of the overarching experience—that is,
ensure that the fundamental purpose, form, and structure of the
information experience remain the same
Tailor an information experience to meet specific user needs or
business challenges—that is, allow freedom in the details as
dictated by user need
Avoid confining an information experience to template
boundaries
Keep the focus on outcomes—results, not rules

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Key types of models
Use Model
Content Model
Access Model
Information Model
Defines ideal interactions between users and information—what they
need, why they need it, what they’re doing when they need it, and
how they’ll use it.
Defines standard building blocks of content, from the atomic level to
larger “deliverables,” including subject, presentation, taxonomy, and
metadata.
Defines a vision for how users will find your information, including
organization, structure, relationships between chunks of information
and full deliverables, and a big picture view of navigation strategies.
Defines how all dimensions of the information experience fit together
and how content teams can apply product-, solution-, project- or other
kinds of offering-specific details to produce a concrete, project-
specific, and user-centered information architecture

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Developing a Use Model: Steps
1. Develop use scenarios.
Describe user interactions with the system.
Develop a scenario for each type of system/subsystem in the product,
offering, or solution.
List the high-value tasks (vs. system features).
2. Develop information-use scenarios.
Describe the ideal user interaction with content.
Ensure that information scenarios follow use scenarios.
3. Validate the model.

15
Developing a Use Model: Result
A standard set of scenarios that describe an optimal user
experience with information
A standard set of user information requirements for specific
product or system contexts
A document describing how the use model can be applied to
produce an offering-specific information architecture

1. Leverage your use model to determine users’ information needs:
The subjects and atomic units of information your users will need
The best ways to structure and combine the information
The best presentation style and media to communicate the information
The deliverable (or delivery vehicle) that will work best
1. Standardize common subjects of information in an enterprise-level taxonomy
(a structured collection of terms that describe what the information is about).
2. Standardize your list of required atomic units of information—the information
objects that you can’t break down into smaller pieces without making them
meaningless.
3. Define standard information deliverables and delivery vehicles, specifying
how to combine atomic units of information and common
subjects to deliver understandable, stand-alone information
products that humans will see and touch.
4. Develop presentation templates, indicating how to
use media to present the information deliverables
for human consumption.
6. Validate your model.
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Developing a Content Model: Steps

17
Developing a Content Model: Result
A document describing required and optional deliverables
(collections of information atoms), how they relate to one
another and are used and delivered, and how the content
model can be applied to produce an offering-specific
information architecture
A collection of templates—one for each deliverable—describing
the required and optional elements of each

18
Developing an Access Model: Steps
1. Leverage your use model to determine how users are most likely to
access (or need to access) your content to:
Searching for and finding relevant information
Following leads when searching
Scanning an information space to develop a sense
of its contents
Staying informed about updates or new content
Evaluating information for relevance
Using information to achieve a goal
1. Define the overarching strategy for user access to information.
2. Depict how a collection of access methods work together to
accommodate the wide range of user behaviors when navigating to
and within an information space.

A document describing the overall access strategy, how
multiple access methods work together, and the details
about how specific areas of access can be supported, as
well as how the content model can be applied to produce an
offering-specific information architecture
Any technology, business requirements, and user needs
that emerge from the detailed access-related patterns,
schemes, and strategies
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Developing an Access Model: Result

20
Developing an Information Model: Steps
1. Start with the output of the other three modeling processes—use each
of the other models as input to the Information Model.
2. Define a high-level information architecture that defines the entire
information strategy and experience.
3. Define one or more low-level information
architectures that are focused on the details of
specific pieces of the total information solution.

21
Developing an Information Model: Result
A written description of an information strategy—that is, a document
describing the abstract model that includes:
How all dimensions of the information experience fit together
How content teams can apply product-, solution-, project- or other
kinds of offering-specific details to the abstract information model in
order to produce a concrete, project-specific, and user-centered
information architecture

22
Applying your models, part 1
Models have value when applied systematically:
They enable IAs to develop usable architectures that in turn make it easy
for users to accomplish their goals with your product, project, solution or
other kind of offering.
They provide a consistent information experience across multiple
products, product families, or enterprises—even if information in various
places are developed by different writers and architects, or if offerings
have different product strategies or goals.
They also help writing teams by providing a framework for discovering
important details such as:
The order of user tasks
Which tasks to emphasize (and not)
The appropriate level of detail to include
The type of information to provide (expertise vs. “click this”)
The potential for gaps between tasks or across components
or products
Content to include in any examples or samples

23
Applying your models, part 2
It’s important to validate across several different instances of the
applied model to ensure that the model works when instantiated with
various types of products or systems.
The key to applying the models is in the process of developing your
offering-specific information architecture.

24
Additional resources
Web resources:
The Society for Technical Communication—http://www.stc.org
Be sure to check out Intercom magazine’s regular column, “The Strategic IA,” written by Andrea Ames and
Alyson Riley. In particular, check out and leave your thoughts on the January 2012 edition—a special
edition devoted to information architecture!
Boxes and Arrows—http://www.boxesandarrows.com
The Information Architecture Institute—http://iainstitute.org
Print resources:
James Kalbach. “Designing for Information Foragers: A Behavioral Model for Information Seeking
on the World Wide Web.” Internetworking, Internet Technical Group newsletter. 27 January 2001.
Available at http://www.internettg.org/newsletter/dec00/article_information_foragers.html.
William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. (2010) Universal Principles of Design. Beverly, MA:
Rockport Publishers. (ISBN 978-1592535873)
Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld. (1998) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.
Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media. (ISBN 978-0596527341)
Jeffrey Rubin and Dan Chisnell. (2008) Handbook of Usability Testing, 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Wiley
Publishing, Inc. (ISBN 978-0470185483)
Richard Saul Wurman. (1997) Peter Bradford, ed. Information Architects. New York: Graphis.
(ISBN 978-1888001389)
These charts on slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/aames/modeling-information-
experiences-a-recipe-for-consistent-architecture

Questions? Comments?

Backup
Model-development details

and how content teams can apply product-, solution-, project- or
other kinds of offering-specific details to produce a concrete, project-
27
Key types of models
Content Model
Access Model
Information Model
Defines ideal interactions between users and information—what
they need, why they need it, what they’re doing when they need
it, and how they’ll use it.
metadata.
Use Model

28
Developing a Use Model, part 1
1. Develop use scenarios
Describe user interactions with the system.
Develop a scenario for each type of system/subsystem in
offering/solution.
Be sure the scenarios provide insight into questions such as:
Who are the users? What are their goals?
What’s the purpose of the product, system or solution?
What tasks will users do with the product? (Be sure to
decompose high-level tasks into lower-level tasks or
procedures. Identify prerequisite tasks and any dependencies
for successful task completion.)
Which tasks are the high-value ones necessary for achieving
a broader goal, and which ones are tasks merely required as
a result of product design or system features?

29
2. Develop information-use scenarios
Describe the ideal user interaction with content.
Ensure that information scenarios follow use scenarios.
Be sure the scenarios provide insight into questions such as:
What information do users need to complete the tasks defined in the
product- or system-usage scenarios, and at what points during product
use is the information needed?
What information do users need to achieve their broader business or
personal objectives?
How will users experience or interact with that information, both for their
own goals and as required by product or system tasks? Be sure to
address this question for each of the necessary tasks you have defined in
your product or system lifecycle.
How close to the product or system user interface does the information
need to be? Is it the interface? Or does it support the interface? Is it
task-disruptive to take the user away from the primary product or system
interface to access the information they need?

30
3. Validate the model.
Socialize it.
Conduct reviews with members of your IA community.
Validate with customers, in several concrete contexts, if
possible.

31
Key types of models
Use Model
Access Model
Information Model
Defines standard building blocks of content, from the atomic
level to larger “deliverables,” including subject, presentation,
taxonomy, and metadata.
Content Model

32
Developing a Content Model, part 1
1. Leverage your use model to determine users’
information needs:
The subjects and atomic units of information your users
will need
The best ways to structure and combine these building blocks
of information to reflect the user’s task flow
The best presentation style and media to communicate this
information to users given their skills and the tasks they’re
trying to accomplish, such as, interaction or information, text or
images, static images or moving images, audio, or
combinations of these
The deliverable (or delivery vehicle) that will work best, such
as, product- or system-embedded information, topics and
multimedia in a hypertext environment, animation with voice-
over, podcast

33
2. Standardize common subjects of information, or a
common collection of terms that describe what the
information is about, in an enterprise-level taxonomy.
3. Standardize your list of required atomic units of
information, or the information objects that you can’t
break down into smaller pieces without making them
meaningless.
Hint: Consider DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)
and its information types (concept, task, and so on) and
specializations.

34
4. Define standard information deliverables and delivery
vehicles, or how you combine atomic units of
information and common subjects to deliver
understandable, stand-alone information products that
humans will see and touch.
5. Develop presentation templates, or how you will use
media to present the information deliverables for human
consumption.
Consider the templates necessary to ensure an integrated,
consistent user experience.
Develop new templates by starting with those that are most
impactful to your user’s information experience or that support
business priorities.

35
Socialize it.
Conduct reviews with members of the enterprise-wide IA
community.
Validate with customers, in several concrete content contexts,
if possible.

36
Key types of models
Use Model
Content Model
Information Model
metadata.
Defines a vision for how users will find your information,
including organization, structure, relationships between chunks
of information and full deliverables, and a big picture view of
navigation strategies.
Access Model

Developing an Access Model, part 1
Stay informed about updates or new content
How will you ensure that users have the most
up-to-date content?
How will you communicate the availability of
fresh or refreshed content?
Evaluate information for relevance
How will you help users discover the value of
your information as it relates to their goals and
needs?
What techniques will you use to distinguish
information objects from one another?
Will you allow users to apply their own
metadata to help themselves and others with
differentiation?
Use information to achieve a goal
What techniques will you use for in-page or in-
task wayfinding and discovery?
Will you allow users to customize the
information or the space for their own use, and
if so, how?
Search for and finding relevant information
How do your chosen approaches for
information delivery impact its findability?
What are the likely entry points into your
information architecture—marketing pages,
out-of-box materials, Google, “likes” on
Facebook?
How will your information architecture promote
search engine optimization (SEO)?
Follow leads when searching
How will users find their way through your
information space once they’ve found it?
Where do your users want or need to go next?
How will you enable discovery?
Scan an information space to develop a
sense of its contents
How will you enable users to develop a good
mental model of the information within a
particular space?
How will users self-locate within a navigation
hierarchy or other structure?
37
1. Leverage your use model to determine how users are most likely to access
(or need to access) your content to:

38
Developing an Access Model, part 2
2. Define the overarching strategy for user access to
information.
3. Depict (with text, images, wireframes and prototypes) how a
collection of access methods work together to
accommodate the wide range of user behaviors when
navigating to and within an information space. Drill down
into the user experience and interface associated with
specific areas of access, and define things typically
associated with IA work like navigation patterns, labeling
schemes and linking strategies.
4. Validate your model: Socialize it. Conduct reviews with
members of the enterprise-wide IA community. Validate
with customers, in several concrete content contexts, if
possible.

39
Key types of models
Use Model
Content Model
Access Model
metadata.
Information Model Defines how all dimensions of the information experience fit together

40
Developing an Information Model, part 1
1. Start with the output of the other three modeling
processes—use each of the other models as input to the
Information Model.
2. Define a high-level information architecture that defines
the entire information strategy and experience.
3. Define one or more low-level information architectures
that are focused on the details of specific pieces of the
total information solution.
Example: Business strategy or product usability issues might
require an information architect to give particular focus to the
information strategy in support of a product out-of-box
experience—one specific piece within an overarching
information architecture.

41
Developing an Information Model, part 2
Socialize it.
Conduct reviews with members of the enterprise-wide IA
community.
Validate with customers, in several concrete content contexts,
if possible.

Modeling Information Experiences: A Recipe for Consistent Architecture

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