Beyond Findability: Context

The Function of Context for Information Architecture Andrew Hinton IAI Pre-Conference Workshop IA Summit 2009 1

Context is nothing new in design ... 2

But it’s a big deal for IA “Page” vs “Context” 3

What I mean by ‘web’ today ... What you do Hyperlinked in a vs Environments “browser” 4

Maps that create territories Representation Instantiation 5

Shaping context with connection Architectural Function: “Utilitas” Links shape, and organize, hyperlinked spaces. 6

Prescribed Storage & Retrieval www.stjohnscollege.edu http://iac.dtic.mil/images/site_map.jpg For storage & retrieval, context is mostly about categorization & relevant proximity. 7

Emergent Expression, Creation & Function Now, context involves almost everything. www.designers-revolution.com 8

It’s all information -- just language ... Information that explains ... ... the information that contains ... ... the information that is contained Just so we’re clear ... 9

The power of syntax Eats Shoots and Leaves Eats, Shoots and Leaves 10

Radically different spaces vs Obvious difference. 11

Small difference with radical implications d vs @ Not so obvious. 12

“Possibility Spaces” Will Wright 13

Beyond Findability? Findability Content Designing Context 14

Some models for context 15

Personal-Behavioral Context THINKING cognitive assumptions, education, learning ability Cognitive DOING Physical physical activity & ability, habits, preferences, sensory Emotional FEELING psychological state, anxiety, conﬁdence, stress, desire “Persona” 16

Personal-Situational Context Task Task Need Task Situation Task Need Need Task Task Task Task “Scenario” 17

The Situation/Behavior Complex Task Task Need Cognitive Task Situation Physical Task Need Need Emotional Task Task Task Task Time 18

Systems To accomplish Tasks, we need Tools Task For complex tasks, we need systems. 19

Fuzzy Human Stuff Made Into Data Our ambiguities rendered into binary attributes. 20

Machines in the image of our needs & desires 21

A symbiosis Person System Organic, Artiﬁcial, Analog Binary We create systems, imperfectly, in our own image. 22

Systems In Context Situation Need Cognitive Task System Person System Organic, Artiﬁcial, Analog Physical Binary Emotional 23

Architectural Systems 24

Maison À Bordeaux: Rem Koolhaas quot;You see here two systems colliding... the systems of the kind of platonic conception of cleaning with the platonic conception of architecture ... it's two ideologies confronting each other.quot; http://www.koolhaashouselife.com/ http://www.oma.eu/index.php?option=com_projects&view=portal&Itemid=10&id=19 http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/11/koolhaas-houselife-is-a-ﬁlm.php 25

Christopher Alexander’s Patterns “A Timeless Way of Building” p 253 26

Wyly Theatre http://rex-ny.com/work/wyly-theatre/animation 27

No user is an island ... 28

Social context 29

Social is everywhere (and always was) Artifact The Web has social DNA Artifact Artifact http:// Artifact Asynchronous “conversation” 30

Groups of complex individuals 31

Common Goals & Patterns of Behavior Need Need Need 32

Boundaries shape context What are the goals of the context? 33

Even in “play” spaces Highly limited identity expression “out of character” 34

A system for every side of ourselves Task Need Photographer-me Task Need Task Situation Task Situation Need Need Working-me. Private- Situation thoughts-me Task Need Situation Dating-me Situation Task Need Task Craft-selling-me Need Party & Music-me 35

Client-side devices shape context too. Web / Twitterifﬁc: - Single column - Serial feed - Narrow aperture - Peripheral attention iconfactory.com Tweetdeck: - Multi-column - Parallel feed tweetdeck.com - Very wide aperture - Central attention SMS: - Single-message - No “feed” - Tiny aperture - Interruptive / alert Users of these applications & devices treat the Twitter www.webmaster247.co.uk/ “space” very differently. They act as if they are in completely different places. You can’t control the whole experience. 36

You cannot engineer your users. You can only accommodate them. 37

The Flickr Context System Home Pages act as context maps for inﬂuencing attention, setting priorities. 38

The Object Viewing Context Many embedded More contexts Tasks within the primary context. Other contexts this object belongs to Task (Rule-based Access) Conversation 39

The “Organize” Task Context Task Inventory Object (“Content”) 40

Identity Context Self-description & links to other facets -- sub- contexts of your presence/identity. Reputation At Flickr, your identity is, in part, a construct of your social connections. 41

Connecting to & Embedding in Other Contexts yahoo.com 42

Some context challenges 43

YouTube / “Context Collapse” The problem is not lack of context. It is context collapse: an inﬁnite number of contexts collapsing upon one another into that single moment of recording. The images, actions, and words captured by the lens at any moment can be transported to anywhere on the planet and preserved (the performer must assume) for all time. The little glass lens becomes the gateway to a black hole sucking all of time and space – virtually all possible contexts – in upon itself. Michael Wesch, July 2008 mediatedcultures.net 44

OLPC “This was, almost in every way, a traditional top down product development, that involved the rural children in India, Africa and China only in the late stages. Near-ﬁnished prototypes were tested out late in development, brought to village kids as a “gift.” It would have been far better to begin in the villages, spend time there and build from the bottom up. Negroponte might have discovered there was little need for this kind of machine. Cell phones are far more popular as the means to connect to the net in much of the Third World and cell-phone type devices rather than cute little laptops might have made much more sense. Tons of research show this to be true.” Bruce Nussbaum - Business Week Sept 2007 45

Google Finance / News Correlation? Causation? 46

MyBlogLog “As you visit MyBlogLog-enabled sites, your photo shows up on the widget - a virtual calling card. Clicking on your photo leads to your proﬁle and all the stuff you share.” Far below the fold ... 47

Open ID The Problem of Uniﬁed Reputation “For example, I may not want my Suicide Girls account linked to my Wikitravel account. If I participate in fringe- politics or drug-rights forums, I may not want that identity associated with my quot;businessquot; persona. As more and more sites become OpenID-enabled, the value of unifying your reputation across them is greater, but also the danger.” Evan Promdromou http://evan.prodromou.name/OpenID_Privacy_Concerns 48

Facebook Beacon “Beacon” 49

Vanguard 50

Discuss ... 51

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Beyond Findability: Context

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