The Future of Information Architecture Christina Wodtke

Christina Wodtke Boxes and Arrows Book Asilomar Consultant www.aifia.org www.eleganthack.com www.boxesandarows.com www.blueprintsfortheweb.com

Boxes and Arrows

Book

Asilomar

Consultant

www.aifia.org www.eleganthack.com www.boxesandarows.com www.blueprintsfortheweb.com

Information Architecture is Architecture in information spaces.

Architecture in information spaces.

Understanding IA Why has IA survived the crash? What value does it have? How can it thrive? What’s next?

Why has IA survived the crash?

What value does it have?

How can it thrive?

What’s next?

Who cares? Once there were people with cows And people without cows The people with no cows were hungry

Once there were people with cows

And people without cows

The people with no cows were hungry

They took to the road And met at the market And the people with no cows bought cows The people with cows had fewer cows, but money for other things

They took to the road

And met at the market

And the people with no cows bought cows

The people with cows had fewer cows, but money for other things

Now there are people with information And people with no information The road is the computer And the market is the web

Now there are people with information

And people with no information

The road is the computer

And the market is the web

But the market is really big And the people can’t find each other So we have ignorant people And people with no money The cows are okay with this Business is not.

But the market is really big

And the people can’t find each other

So we have ignorant people

And people with no money

The cows are okay with this

Business is not.

The Goal The players Users, seeking information (cowless) Businesses with information (with cows) Intermediaries such as search engines and directories, profiting on the exchange (marketplaces) The goal is to get the users seeking the data to the businesses offering the data

The players

Users, seeking information (cowless)

Businesses with information (with cows)

Intermediaries such as search engines and directories, profiting on the exchange (marketplaces)

The goal is to get the users seeking the data to the businesses offering the data

Missing information is dangerous In the news, US government’s information management problems

In the news, US government’s information management problems

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.

“ 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.

Missing information kills “ Like all primary care physicians, Dr. Bob Goldszer must stay on top of approximately 10,000 different diseases and syndromes, 3,000 medications, 1,100 laboratory tests, and many of the 400,000 articles added each year to the biomedical literature. That's no easy task. And it is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. The Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, To Err Is Human, suggests that more than a million injuries and 90,000 deaths are attributable to medical errors annually . Something like 5% of hospital patients have adverse reactions to drugs, another study reports, and of those, 43% are serious, life threatening, or fatal. Many knowledge workers have problems similar to Dr. Goldszer's (though they're usually less life threatening). No matter what the field, many people simply can't keep up with all they need to know .” --Harvard Business Review, Jul 1, 2002

“ Like all primary care physicians, Dr. Bob Goldszer must stay on top of approximately 10,000 different diseases and syndromes, 3,000 medications, 1,100 laboratory tests, and many of the 400,000 articles added each year to the biomedical literature. That's no easy task. And it is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. The Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, To Err Is Human, suggests that more than a million injuries and 90,000 deaths are attributable to medical errors annually . Something like 5% of hospital patients have adverse reactions to drugs, another study reports, and of those, 43% are serious, life threatening, or fatal. Many knowledge workers have problems similar to Dr. Goldszer's (though they're usually less life threatening). No matter what the field, many people simply can't keep up with all they need to know .”

--Harvard Business Review, Jul 1, 2002

Missing information Lost sales - Expensive support - Duplicated effort - Lost trust - Lost lives?

Lost sales -

Expensive support -

Duplicated effort -

Lost trust -

Lost lives?

Classification has Consequences A physician who doesn’t see a new cure A poor student who can’t find financial aid A store where a product isn’t found

A physician who doesn’t see a new cure

A poor student who can’t find financial aid

A store where a product isn’t found

IA has consequences Tagging with metadata Organizing with CV’s Creating navigation systems Optimizing search Information Architecture manages information to make it findable

Tagging with metadata

Organizing with CV’s

Creating navigation systems

Optimizing search

And IA can build brands.

And IA can build brands.

Branding in 10 seconds create fullfilled by Brian Collins’ Model of Brand brand promises brand experiences Brand managers

Brand and the User Experience Hugh Dubberly’s Model of Brand Creating a good customer experience is the essence of good branding

IA Realizes Brand

Product Quality = Brand Loyalty I get asked a lot why Apple's customers are so loyal . It's not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That's ridiculous. It's because when you buy our products, and three months later you get stuck on something, you quickly figure out [how to get past it]. And you think, "Wow, someone over there at Apple actually thought of this!" And then three months later you try to do something you hadn't tried before, and it works, and you think "Hey, they thought of that, too." And then six months later it happens again. There's almost no product in the world that you have that experience with, but you have it with a Mac . And you have it with an iPod .

I get asked a lot why Apple's customers are so loyal . It's not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That's ridiculous. It's because when you buy our products, and three months later you get stuck on something, you quickly figure out [how to get past it]. And you think, "Wow, someone over there at Apple actually thought of this!" And then three months later you try to do something you hadn't tried before, and it works, and you think "Hey, they thought of that, too." And then six months later it happens again. There's almost no product in the world that you have that experience with, but you have it with a Mac .

And you have it with an iPod .

Benabar n’est pas jazz?

What is this?

What are these?

They are all birds (ornithologist)

The Cassowary is not a bird! (the Karam)

From “Why the Cassowary is not a bird”, R. Bulmer, Man , Vol. 2, Issue 1, (Mar. 1967)

From “Why the Cassowary is not a bird”, R. Bulmer, Man , Vol. 2, Issue 1, (Mar. 1967)

Who Cares? Ornithologists The Karam Information Architects

Ornithologists

The Karam

Information Architects

Dewey Decimal System 200-299 – Religion Categories 40+ categories related to Christianity 1 for Judaism 1 for Islam (& related)

200-299 – Religion Categories

40+ categories related to Christianity

1 for Judaism

1 for Islam (& related)

Who Cares? Religious Scholars Librarians Information Architects Jews and Muslims

Religious Scholars

Librarians

Information Architects

Jews and Muslims

Classification reflects social and cultural organization Information Architect must understand this context We can change how people think via classification and labeling

Classification reflects social and cultural organization

Information Architect must understand this context

We can change how people think via classification and labeling

Frames Voter revolt Tax Relief War on terror Free Market Poison free George Lakoff, author of “Don’t Think of an Elephant

Voter revolt

Tax Relief

War on terror

Free Market

Poison free

Business reframes

Design Look 46.1% Information Design/Structure 28.5% Information Focus 25.1% Company Motive 15.5% Information Usefulness 14.8% Information Accuracy 14.3% Name Recognition & Reputation 14.1% Advertising 13.8% Information Bias 11.6% Writing Tone 9.0% Identity of Site Operator 8.8% Site Functionality 8.6% Customer Service 6.4% Past Experience with Site 4.6% Information Clarity 3.7% Performance on Test by User 3.6% Readability 3.6% Affiliations 3.4% “ While information structure is often associated with usability , the comments here show how information structure has implications for credibility . Sites that were easy to navigate were seen as being more credible.”

Design Look 46.1%

Information Design/Structure 28.5%

Information Focus 25.1%

Company Motive 15.5%

Information Usefulness 14.8%

Information Accuracy 14.3%

Name Recognition & Reputation 14.1%

Advertising 13.8%

Information Bias 11.6%

Writing Tone 9.0%

Identity of Site Operator 8.8%

Site Functionality 8.6%

Customer Service 6.4%

Past Experience with Site 4.6%

Information Clarity 3.7%

Performance on Test by User 3.6%

Readability 3.6%

Affiliations 3.4%

Trust me

Trust me

Big trend #1 Search: the magic box

Search: the magic box

Speed of People Searching People take only a second to search People want to take only a second

People take only a second to search

People want to take only a second

Fast, Fast, Fast

Query block?

Articulation Problems Average Search 2.5 words 30% of searches are 1 word searches Another third at 2 word searches– often single concept search “New York” This trend is not changing From E-Sex to E-Commerce: Web Search Changes -- Amanda Spink, Pennsylvania State University, Bernard J. Jansen, US Army War College, Dietmar Wolfram, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University

Average Search 2.5 words

30% of searches are 1 word searches

Another third at 2 word searches– often single concept search “New York”

This trend is not changing

Mind-reading expected And increasingly delivered

And increasingly delivered

Human disambiguation How do you use editorial to best effect? Humans don’t scale.

Zipf curve (for search) Most common searches (head) Least common searches (tail) Obama Jennifer Lopez Britney Spears Zipf Curve Peter Morville Information Architecture

Best Bets Analyze the head Analyze content Maximize the knowledge

Analyze the head

Analyze content

Maximize the knowledge

Answers

Trend #2 Organizing Search

Organizing Search

Clusty: organizing

A9: classifying

Trend #3 Folksonomies

Folksonomies

Del.icio.us: Folksonomy ascendant

Flickr: Metadata is fun

Trend #4 Pagelessness

Pagelessness

The page

RIA

Where is your data going?

How can people find…anything? On a stove!

Trend #5 Visualization

Visualization

When was it above 20ºC during this month? Source: Karl Fast www.livingskies.com 15 17 19 15 22 10 15 15 10 11 15 20 12 18 14 23 12 15 18 12 17 13 11 21 10 29 12 17 29 12 Mon Sun

Now when was it above 20? 15 17 19 15 22 10 15 15 10 11 15 20 12 18 14 23 12 15 18 12 17 13 11 21 10 29 12 17 22 12 Mon Sun Source: Karl Fast www.livingskies.com

Now add some interaction controls 15 17 19 15 22 10 15 15 10 11 15 20 12 18 14 23 12 15 18 12 17 13 11 21 10 29 12 30 22 12 20 29 0 35 Mon Sun Source: Karl Fast www.livingskies.com

Newsmap: Understanding

Kartoo: no dang sense

Grokker: interact and understand

Trend #6 Person-based Organization

Person-based Organization

A9 is chasing

Yahoo is chasing

Social Networking- with a purpose

Trend #7 IA as Bossman

IA as Bossman

“ We will never make progress as long we are resources and not leaders. Resources don't discuss the business plan, the marketing strategy. Resources don't help decide what the product or service will be in the first place. Resources are called in when the leaders think they are needed. They do their job and then get out of the way. ” - Don Norman A quote

Moving Up in Influence Manager New Employee Employee Director & Up Needs Help for everything Self-Sufficient, Contributes Individually Contributes via others Contributes via influencing organizations From “Novations” by Gene W. Dalton

Director of Design Vice-president of Web Services Director of Product Vice-president of Design Management Consultant CEO Who are you next?

The Next IA Will be invisible, like search Or visible, like Newsmap And it will be human- for, by and with humans. It will help business. And you will make it happen.

Will be invisible, like search

Or visible, like Newsmap

And it will be human- for, by and with humans.

It will help business.

And you will make it happen.

Books and Things Information Architecture: Blueprints for the web What the CEO wants you to know Information Architecture for the World Wide Web Boxes and Arrows Aifia.org Eleganthack.com IAslash.org IAwiki.net