Information Architecture in Real Life - Part I

Information Architecture in Real Life HiO, October 31 2006

Who am I?

Senior Information Architect in NetLife Research

Formerly with WM-data/IconMedialab

Main areas: search, navigation, content

Local ambassador UXnet Norge

Blogging on brukaropplevingar.com and iallenkelhet.no

Master in Media and Communications from Universitetet i Oslo

Customers include a.o. AkerKværner, Handelshøyskolen BI, Cappelen, Forsvaret, Lånekassen, Norge.no, SFT, Telenor, Vinmonopolet

Agenda – IA part 1

Why Information Architecture

User Experience and IA - An introductory Example

Central Aspects of User Experience

Process and Deliverables

Why Information Architecture?

Information explotion

Consequenses

"A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate it efficiently" - Herbert Simon

The challenge is no longer to make information available, but to answer information needs where and when they occur

Increasing user demands Geoffrey Moore: Crossing the Chasm

Missing information is expensive

“ The Fortune 1000 stands to waste at least $2.5 billion per year due to an inability to locate and retrieve information .”

“ While the costs of not finding information are enormous , they are hidden within the enterprise, and…are rarely perceived as having an impact on the bottom line.”

The High Cost of Not Finding Information

An IDC White Paper, July 2001.

What is Information Architecture?

” Defining the Damn Thing” is not that important...

“ Architecture for Information Space” - Christina Wodtke

IA is an important component in crafting the overall “ user experience ”

http://www.iawiki.net/DefiningTheDamnThing

An introductory example

Hunting for ”skillingsboller”

Scenario

Find and print Kokke-Lise’s receipe for ”skillingsboller”

Bookmark NRK’s receipe pages

Trigger words:

skillingsboller

oppskrift (receipe)

mat (food)

frokost-tv (breakfast tv)

kokke-lise

Utskrift

Unnecessary mental leaps Skillingsboller What is NRK’s multichannel strategy? Print receipe But I still have to write it down on web-TV... This is gonna be expensive and ugly! Where’s my scissors? Norsk Tipping, Sesam, NRK??? Web-TV? Plugins? TV? Radio? Magasin? Tidlig?

Basic Level Categories Virveldyr Pattedyr Rovdyr Hundeaktige dyr Hund Schäfer Kommunikasjon Eterbaserte medier TV TV-programmer Frokost-TV Kokke-Lise Internett Magasiner Tidlig

More about Basic Level Categories

http://www.poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2003/11/20/1944/basic-level-categories

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-basic-level-category.htm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Fire-Dangerous-Things-Categories/dp/0226468046/

User Experience

The end users subjective experience across channels

Aspects of User Experience

The User Experience Honeycomb brukarvennleg lettfunnen nyttig tiltalande tilgjengeleg truverdig verdifull http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php

Usable – for who?

Myths about usability

Three clicks

Seven elements

Avoid scrolling

Lots of functionality

Looks good

Imitates Windows

Usability defined

The extent to which a product can be used

by specified users

to achieve specified goals

with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction

in a specified context of use .

( ISO 9241 -11)

Usefulness - utility

Perfect usability is no good if nobody needs your service

” I will accept poor usability if I get what I need, if the total experience is great. I will reject perfect usability if I am not rewarded with a useful, engaging experience.” - Donald Norman

A Question of Trust

” If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don't mind annoying users and losing credibility.”

http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines

Location  Trust  Hits Location Location

Is it easy to find?

find ·a·bil·i·ty n

The quality of being locatable or navigable.

The degree to which an object is easy to discover or locate.

The degree to which a system or environment supports wayfinding, navigation, and retrieval.

am ·bi·ent findabilty

the ability to find anyone or anything

from anywhere at anytime

Findability Facts

For every search on cancer.gov, there are over 100 cancer-related searches on public search engines.

Of these searches, 70% are on specific types of cancer.

What Value does the solution create?

Value for the end user

Usefulness

Experience

Return on Experience

Value for company/organisatio

Making money

Saving money

Return on Investment

The User Experience Honeycomb brukarvennleg lettfunnen nyttig tiltalande tilgjengeleg truverdig verdifull http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php

An Expanding Universe of Diciplines

Process and Deliverables

IA Process: Overview Strategy Scope Structure Skeleton Surface

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Concrete Abstract Strategy is where it all begins: What do we want to get out of the site. What do our users want? http://jjg.net/elements/ Scope transforms strategy into requirements: What features/content will the site need to include? Structure gives shape to scope: How will the pieces of the site fit toghether and behave? Skeleton makes structure concrete: What components will enable people to use the site? Surface brings everything together visually: What will the finished product look like?

IA Process: Strategy Strategy Scope Structure Skeleton Surface

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User requirements

Workshop

Expert evaluations

User observations

Task analysis

Questionnaries

Log analysis

Personas and scenarios

Content strategy

Business strategy

Workshop

Bencmarking

Strategy development

Target group definitions

Creative concept

Conflicting Goals User goals

Inform about our organization

” Keep” the user on our pages

Get rid of stock items

Highest price

Get as much info about the customer as possible

Business goals

Get answer to questions

Use as little time as possible

Find one particular item

Lowest price

Don’t give up personal info

Example: Registration process

Scenariobased Design 2. What are their goals? 1. Who are the users? 3. How can we help them achieve their goals?

IA Process: Scope Strategy Scope Structure Skeleton Surface

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Content specification

Content Inventory

Document analysis

Card sorting

Content modelling

Functional specification

Use cases

Functional scenarios

CMS requirements

Workflow

Search

Top-down vs bottom-up Categories Content Categories Content

Content Inventory

The process of getting a full overview of our content

Typically documented in an Excel spreasheet

Documentation of existing content:

Identify content elements

Identify who’s responsible

Identify metadata

Enables us to:

Remove ROT (Redundant, Outdated, Trivial content)

Revamp, rework, resample existing and new content

Map what’s missing

Add columns and rows as needed

Content Inventory – summary

Card Sorting

Simple, efficient user-centred IA method

Based on Content inventory, pick 30-40 content elements

Ask users to sort the cards in heaps, depending on ”what goes together with what”

IA Process: Structure Strategy Scope Structure Skeleton Surface

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Information architecture

Organization principles

Information structuring

Sitemaps and site flows

Metadata og taxonomies

Controlled Vocabularies

Interaction design

Conceptual models

Application flow

Error handling

Interaction principles

Top-down vs bottom-up Categories Content Categories Content

A typical sitemap

Conceptual sitemaps

Site flows

IA Process: Skeleton Strategy Scope Structure Skeleton Surface

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Information design

Selection and priorization among page elements

Wireframes

Content chunking

Legibilty

Navigation design

Global og local menues

Contextual navigation

Navigation aids

Section

Generic sketch

Logo/ID Global navigation Local navigation Other relevant entrances Featured news Most important content element Short intro Other entrances / sitemap More news / content elements

Wireframe Browse 312 jobs worldwide Asia-pacific (98) Europe (124) America (90) Administrative (74) Engineering (128) Construction (110)

Young and hungry?

Trainee programs

Meet other freshmen

On-site education programs

111 jobs for young people

Experienced

Professionals

Career paths

Meet other professionals

232 jobs for seasoned professionals

Frequently Asked

Questions

What help do I get if I want to move abroad?

How should I prepare for a job interview?

Search jobs: Go . . . . . . Clickable world map Vizualises "a world of opportunities", and indicates "hot regions". Clicking a region should take users to job listings for the country/region. Facets and search Provides fast and direct access to job listings, sorted by relevant aspects for target groups. The search should tackle job numbers, freetext, synonyms, etc. Persuasion paths for target audiences These boxes should give relevant keywords and "information scent" to content pages that persuade users to read more about key benefits and adresses all relevant concerns.

Crash Course in Navigation