Fundamentals of Information Architecture Workshop

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals 1 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Cognitive Science Ethnography Sociology Industrial Design Instructional Design Organisational Behaviour Ergonomics Cognitive Psychology Anthropology Human Computer Interaction Computer Science Usability & UX Software Engineering Interface Design Programming Marketing & PR Technical Communication Artificial Intelligence Graphic Design Branding Object Modelling Writing & Editing Data Modelling Journalism Publishing Information Science Film & Media Data Management Indexing Librarianship Architecture Business Intelligence Knowledge Management Merchandising Business Analysis Teaching Abstracting Other: Project Management Linguistics Administration Law © Kate Simpson 2009 Management 2

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals The Day’s Plan...  What is IA?  Homepages  Audiences & Users  Heuristics  Tea/Coffee Break  Navigation & Labelling  Information-Seeking Methods & Behaviours  Heuristics  Lunch  Search & Search Results  Heuristics  Tea/Coffee Break  Facets & Filters  Metadata & Taxonomies 3 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA n. information architecture 1. The structural design of shared information environments 2. The combination of organisation, labelling, search and navigation systems within websites and intranets 3. The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and findability 4. An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape : Information Architecture for the World Wide Web - Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld (O’Reilly 3rd Edition 2007) ‘The Polar Bear Book’ 4 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA document/data types, content objects, volume, structure content users context audience, tasks, needs, information seeking business goals, politics, behaviour, experience culture, technology, resources & constraints 5 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA What Does That Mean? searching systems Go broader term Global Navigation language variant synonym Local Navigation node acronym Contextual Navigation related term related term narrower term Utility Navigation navigation systems semantic networks 6 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA To Produce... Home | Your Account | Site Map | Help blueprints/site structures wireframes metadata schema & controlled vocabs 7 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA Where Does IA Fit : IA vs Usability? They are interdependent; one cannot happen without the other... Your system isn’t “usable” if the information within it isn’t “findable” and Your information can’t be “findable” if the system isn’t “usable” 8 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA Where Does IA Fit : IA + Usability vs UX?  Peter Morville’s UX Honeycomb  Jesse James Garrett’s Elements & Planes  Richard Dalton’s Rainbow  The Ultimate User Experience: Louis Rosenfeld & Jess McMullin’s Radial Disciplines 9 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA Where Does IA Fit in the Organisation?  Louis Rosenfeld’s Enterprise IA Roadmap  But really it’s just about: 10 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Introduction to IA Why Is It Important? 1. The cost of finding information 2. The cost of not finding information 3. The cost of build and re-build 4. The cost of training 5. Business intelligence/reporting 6. Cross-selling/integration 11 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part I A. Homepages  Point of Homepages?  What does this site do? Where should I start? Why am I here? Does it meet my needs?  Exercise One: understanding the purpose of homepages 12 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part I A. Homepages What do you remember about the page?  words you remember  images you saw  anything else that struck you 13 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part I B. Audience/User Analysis  Why do people come to your site in the first place?  Exercise Two: understanding your users 14 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part I B. Audience/User Analysis  Exercise Two: understanding your users  Creating Personas... 15 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part I C. Webpage Evaluation & Heuristics “Don’t Make Me Think!” : Steve Krug (New Riders 2nd Edition 2006) <- obvious obscure -> 16 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals C. Webpage Evaluation & Heuristics 17 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals C. Webpage Evaluation & Heuristics  Is it clear what the site is about, what you can do and what the organisation does? Circle what you find  Is there a clear starting point - does it emphasise highest priority tasks? Are there direct links (to help new vs frequent visitors?) Circle what you find  Is it easy to spot where the About/Contact Us section is? Circle what you find  Is it easy to scan or is there a lot of ‘clutter’? Circle an example of the ‘clutter’  Do the headings and labels make sense? Are they consistent in format, tense, meaning, size and design? Circle a bad example  Is it clear what’s ‘clickable’ (ie. the hypertext links) on the page? Circle what you’re not sure is a link  Do the images/photos have a purpose and are somehow connected to the site? Find a good & bad image example  What feelings do the images give you when you look at them? Note them down for each website  What words do you think of when you look at each of these websites? Note them down for each website 18 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part I Break: 11.15 - 11.30am 19 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II A. Navigation & Labelling  Where Am I? What’s Here? Where Can I Go From Here?  Global, Local, Contextual & Utility  Process for creating a new structure  Exercise Four: Navigation Stress Test 20 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II A. Navigation & Labelling courtesy of Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liesje/179184909/ 21 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II A. Navigation & Labelling 22 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II A. Navigation & Labelling  Exercise Four: Navigation Stress Test 23 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals 24 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II B. Re-architecting a website content users context 25 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II B. Re-architecting a website context 1. Context Analysis  business goals?  funding?  politics?  culture?  technology?  intended audiences/target markets?  why do we want them to come?  what worked in the past? what didn’t? 26 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II B. Re-architecting a website users 2. User Analysis  usage statistics & clickstreams  search log analysis  who is our audience & why are they coming?  user surveys & questionnaires  focus groups  contextual enquiry/field studies  persona development  card sorting & user testing 27 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II B. Re-architecting a website content 3. Content Analysis  content inventory/full audit  content needs analysis  document types & structure?  metadata analysis  taxonomies in use?  labels used?  groupings used?  how will content be created & managed? 28 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II B. Re-architecting a website Home | Your Account | Site Map | Help blueprints wireframes metadata schema & controlled vocabs 29 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II C. Information Seeking Methods 1. Users tend to use keyword searching to retrieve the: example: A12345 Go... • Things you know you know, and • Things you know you don’t know example: Pensions 2. Users tend to browse an information space to retrieve the: State Old Age Pension (SOAP) Additional Pension • Things you don’t know you know (ie. that which you’ve forgotten), and Graduated Pension State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) • Things you don’t know you don’t know Contracting Out Calculations State Second Pension Other State Provision 3. A final information seeking behaviour is to ask another user/expert: • As a last resort after trying a search or after browsing, or • When the user is pushed for time 30 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II C. Information Seeking Behaviours It is rarely as simple as: User asks a question MAGIC! User receives answer It is more likely to be: Reformulate Query Query Search System Information Formulate Navigate Need Query Browse System Scan Success Results Ask A Person Examine Failure Documents 31 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II D. Navigation & Labelling Heuristics  Exercise Five: ‘Click Fatigue’  Exercise Six: Consistent Labelling  Exercise Seven: Chunking Decisions  More on Labelling... 32 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II D. Navigation & Labelling Heuristics 33 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part II Lunch: 1pm - 1.45pm 34 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search searching systems Go 35 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  Simple vs Advanced Screens 36 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  Query Builders & Search Clarifying Features - type-ahead - spell-checkers - ‘Did You Mean...?’ - ‘Other People Searched For...’ or ‘Most Popular Searches...’ - ‘More Like This...’ - ‘Our Editors Suggest...’ - phonetic tools - stemming - natural language - controlled vocabularies 39 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  Type-ahead, eg: 40 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  Spell-checkers, eg: 41 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  Most Popular Searches, eg: 42 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  ‘More Like This...’ eg: 43 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  ‘Our Editors Suggest...’ (Best Bets) eg: 44 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III A. Search  Stemming, eg: 45 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III B. Search Results Reformulate Query Query Search System Information Formulate Navigate Need Query Browse System Scan Success Results Ask A Person Examine Failure Documents 46 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III B. Search Results  Which content components to display?  How many to display?  Sorting  Clustering  Facets & Filters (more later)  Best Bets 47 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III C. Search Heuristics 48 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Front-End IA : Part III C. Search Heuristics & Exercise Eight 51 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals C. Search Heuristics & Exercise Eight  Is it clear how many results have been returned? Circle the best examples  Are 'Best Bets' used and are they helpful/accurate to the search entered? Circle the best example  Is there a feature available that allows you to find similar or related documents? If so, is it helpful and offer good suggestions? Circle good examples  Are useful components displayed for each search 'hit' that help users scan and select the most appropriate result for them? Circle a good and bad example  Are the results listed in a useful way? Can the user sort them differently? Circle the best sorting options  Is it clear how recent or up to date the returned results are? Circle an example  Is it possible to filter or narrow your results using any categories? Circle a good example 52 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification A. Fundamentals  Metadata  Taxonomies  Facets & Filters  Why back-end IA is fundamental to front-end IA 53 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification B. Metadata  What is it?  ‘Data about data’  ie. The stuff that describes a piece of data 54 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification B. Metadata 55 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification B. Metadata  : A Document Whether Microsoft or Apple - certain metadata is captured at the time of creation 57 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification B. Metadata  UK  Sales  HR  IT  Operations  Procedures  Projects  Intranet Replacement  Project Initiation Document intranetPID08.doc 58 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification B. Metadata http://www.flickr.com/photos/daphnecys/780929870/ 59 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification B. Metadata http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/kishimoto/273501270/ http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/pickard/90251635/ 64 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies 65 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies folksonomies & free tagging Simple Equivalent Terms Synonym Rings Authority Files Hierarchical “Taxonomies” Thesauri Associative Terms Ontologies Complex 66 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies  Synonym Rings from The Polar Bear Book 67 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies  Authority Files Preferred Term from The Polar Bear Book 68 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies  Taxonomies 69 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies  Thesaurus 70 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification C. Controlled Vocabularies  Ontology 71 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification D. Folksonomies & Free Tagging 72 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification Break: 3 - 3.15pm 75 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  Findability: aid information retrieval 76 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters 77 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters To support the multiple information-seeking behaviours of users, websites have begun to invest in ‘faceted classification’ providing multiple paths to and from content; allowing users to “slice-and-dice” the content in as many ways as they need A very simplified example: Multicoloured Heel Height Brown High (over 3”) Black Colour Flat (under 1”) Mid (1” - 3”) All <black> boots, that are <mid-calf> with any <heel height> All <over-knee> boots, with a Mid-Calf Ankle Over-Knee heel height of <Mid (1”-3”)> in Boot Length any <colour> 84 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters Another way of visualising facets is through the use of venn diagrams (again, using a very simplified example) of just three facets... All <black> boots, that are <mid-calf> and have a heel height of <Mid (1”-3”)> Colour <black> <Mid (1”-3”)> Heel Height All <black> boots, that are All <mid-calf> boots, with a heel <mid-calf> but with any <mid-calf> height of <Mid (1”-3”)> but in <heel height> any <colour> Boot Length 85 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters Trees vs Buckets: 86 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters Buckets: Digital Cameras  Brand  Canon  Under £100  £100 - £200  3 to 4 Megapixels  4 to 5 Megapixels  Sony  ... 87 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters Facets: Digital Cameras Brand Canon Sony ... Price Under £100 £100 - £200 ... Quality 3 to 4 Megapixels 4 to 5 Megapixels ... 88 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters  S.R. Ranganathan  Five Laws of Library Science: 1. Books are for use 2. Every reader his/her books 3. Every book its readers 4. Save the time of the reader; save the time of the library staff 5. The library is a growing organism  Colon Classification  Who : Personality (ie. Subject or Topic)  What : Matter (ie. Form or Physical Properties)  How : Energy (ie. Process)  Where : Space (ie. Location)  When : Time (ie. Date) 90 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters who when where when how where how what how what 91 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification E. Facets & Filters Faceted Categories Google-like UI Easiest to Use 23 8 Most Flexible 24 6 Helped You Learn More 31 1 Overall Preference 29 2 92 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  Findability: browse & navigation structures 93 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  Organise & Structure: distribute content 94 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  Classify: auto-classification  Author: Jane Bloggs   Department:  Marketing?   Date: 22 Sept 2008  Document Type:  Press Release?  News Article?  Subject:  Environment?  Climate Change?  Recycling? 95 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  See Patterns: infer relationships 96 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  See Patterns: business intelligence / risk & opportunities 97 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  Sense-Making: understand a domain / find common ground 98 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Back-end IA : Content & Classification F. Taxonomies What do we want our taxonomies to do?  Governance & Use: storage and management http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/girlleastlikelyto/378967564/ 99 © Kate Simpson 2009

Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Information Architecture: Exploring the Fundamentals Questions & Discussion: Taking this back to your organisation? Contact: kate@tangledom.com 100 © Kate Simpson 2009

Fundamentals of Information Architecture Workshop

0 comments

Notes on slide 1

5 Favorites