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
---------
---------
---------
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
---------
---------
---------
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
---------
---------
---------
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
---------
---------
---------
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
---------
---------
---------
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
Navigation is important, but often overrated
Good navigation enables the user to focus on the content
Navigation should answer three questions
Where am I now?
Where can I go from here?
How do I get to where I want?
Different types of navigation
Global vs local navigation
Functional navigation
I.e. index, sitemap, log in, search, navigation path, feedback, etc
Contextual navigation, within content
Global + functional navigation Local navigation Contextual navigation content Functional navigation

removed

IA Process: Surface Strategy Specfication Structure Skeleton Surface
---------
---------
---------
Visual design
Experience and emotion
Consistency, color use
Contrast, typography
Final labelling

BI screendump

Real Beauty Comes From Within http://www.baxleydesign.com

Questions or comments? Thank You!

Next time
Central Concepts of IA – mainly navigation
The Politics of IA: Short Case Studies
Site search
IA 1.0 vs 2.0
What do you want to hear about?

http://marpaoly.wordpress.com	38
http://www.slideshare.net	15
http://www.iallenkelhet.no	13
http://www.slideshow.com	3
http://slideshow.com	2
http://metanotes.kicks-ass.org	1

Information Architecture in Real Life - Part I

by Are Halland on Dec 11, 2006

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

6 Embeds 72

Statistics

Information Architecture in Real Life - Part I — Presentation Transcript