Information Architecture For Educators

Slide 1: Information Architecture for Educators and Students Michael Zarro & Dave Cooksey

Slide 2: About Us • Mike Zarro, MSLIS • Information Architect at gsi interactive, a Division of GSI Commerce, Inc. • Co-founder of The Educational Technology Center at Bryn Mawr College. • Web / multimedia technology lead for the Virtual Curriculum at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. • Dave Cooksey, MA, MSIS • User Experience Lead at gsi interactive, a Division of GSI Commerce, Inc. • 2007 - 2008 Chair of PhillyCHI, Philadelphia chapter for the ACM’s special interest group in Human-Computer Interaction (SIG-CHI) • Speaking Invitations: ACM SIG-CHI, IA Summit (ASIS&T) • Performed taxonomy / IA work for:Ace Hardware | Babies’R’Us | Bath & Body Works | Dick’s Sporting Goods | Ecko | Filson | Hershey’s Gifts | iRobot | Linens ‘n Things | Toys’R’Us

Slide 3: • Introduction to Information Architecture (IA) • Information Seeking Behaviors • State of Educational IA • Best Practices • Conclusion & Resources • Q&A

Slide 4: Introduction to Information Architecture (IA)

Slide 5: Information Architecture Is “the art and science of organizing and labeling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability.” - The Information Architecture Institute “What Is Information Architecture?” - http://iainstitute.org/documents/learn/What_is_IA.pdf

Slide 6: Why IA? As information proliferates exponentially, findability and usability become critical. Good IA lays the groundwork for an information system that makes sense to users. - The Information Architecture Institute “What Is Information Architecture?” - http://iainstitute.org/documents/learn/What_is_IA.pdf

Slide 7: The Facets of IA • An Occupation • A Job Title • Series of Design Activities • An Industry • Community of Practice • A Frame of Mind

Slide 8: The New Order

Slide 9: 3 Circles of IA Context Content Users

Slide 10: Educational IA

Slide 11: Traditional Teacher Classtime, syllabus, readings, assignments & exams, library Student

Slide 12: Electronic extends the traditional model Teacher Email, course management software (Blackboard), discussion boards, multiple school sites (especially library and e- reserves), external websites (Phila Free Library), Google, YouTube, Flickr, books & resources at: Amazon & etc… Student

Slide 13: Places • MIT – Open Courseware • University of California, Berkeley iTunes U • Oxford University Internet Institute • Harvard University Extension School – YouTube video classes

Slide 14: Statistics • Pew Internet – Dec 2006 70% of American adults use the internet. That currently represents about 141 million people. • Among internet users: 57% - Research for school or training 12% - Take a class online for credit toward a degree of some kind 13% - Take a class online just for personal enjoyment or enrichment

Slide 15: Information Seeking Behavior

Slide 16: Satisficers & Maximizers • “It’s good enough” Researchers & students will use convenient, easy to find, information… even if they KNOW there are better resources out there.

Slide 17: • Satisficers – choose the first option that matches their needs & are satisfied with easily found information – Herbert Simon, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science (1978). Generally, little cost to being a satisficer on the web.

Slide 18: • Maximizers – choose the best possible information, and put in the work to get it. • Often left feeling unsatisfied… “Did I miss something?”

Slide 19: Fitts’ Law

Slide 20: MT = a + b log2(2A/W + c) Guess what, you already know it!

Slide 21: Fitts’ Law for the web • Move “targets” close together. • Make important “targets” bigger. Continue Exam Continue Exam

Slide 22: On Screen Reading • Highlight keywords • Use headers with meaning • Use bulleted lists. • One idea per paragraph. • Be concise.

Slide 23: Labels Which one is a link? • Important Readings • Important Readings • Important Readings • Important Readings

Slide 24: Rule of 3 it’s not really a rule • Information should be accessible within 3 clicks of entry to the site. • Course Homepage – Syllabus • Reading list

Slide 25: Scrolling • Users will scroll if they think there is important information “below the fold” • Be aware of your students’ screen size. 800 x 600 1024 x 768 • Perhaps a quick “technology survey” would be useful. • Horizontal scrolling is still not recommended.

Slide 26: MCOL Website: 800x600

Slide 27: MCOL Website: 1024 x 768

Slide 28: Information Scent used to predict a path’s success Cold Getting Warm Getting Warmer Burning Up! Success

Slide 29: Berry Picking

Slide 30: • Information needs evolve. • Selections of bits and pieces along the way.

Slide 31: Berrypicking http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/berrypicking.html

Slide 32: Site Statistics • Browser, operating system, page(s) visited, etc… Bryn Mawr College

Slide 33: 5 second tests • Look at a site for 5 seconds. • What can you remember?

Slide 35: Questions • What is the mission of the school. • What kind of students does the school teach?

Slide 36: Answers • The mission of the Center for Arts & Technology is to engage students in the academic and technical preparation needed to continue their education and launch their careers. • The Center for Arts & Technology specializes in providing high school students with the technical training and academic preparation to be successful in work, in college, and in life.

Slide 37: Personas • What is a persona? Fictional characters created to represent the different user types. An aggregate of the real users based on research data about users. • What’s included? – Name, photo, age, gender – Tasks, scenarios, settings, social context – Interests, desires, needs & goals

Slide 38: Scenarios • Users interaction with the system. • What they want to do, rather than exactly how. • Example: Jane wants to find the assignments due for week 6. She is on a shared library computer with a 30 minute time limit.

Slide 39: Sitemaps & Wirefames The IA basics

Slide 40: Sitemap •Home •Syllabus •Discussion •Readings •Week 1 •Week 2 •Week 3

Slide 41: Wireframe

Slide 42: Sketch

Slide 43: Collaboration Webs New Media Consortium & Educause • Happening this year • Virtual collaboration • Students creating and maintaining their own content. • Examples: Google Docs, Flickr, and Facebook • Beats a $160+ cell phone bill incurred by a naïve graduate student…

Slide 44: Conclusion • Put yourself in the student’s shoes (and vice versa). • Ask questions, open a dialogue. • Sketch out the user interface and your website. • Iterations… changing technology and user expectations. • Have fun, there are very few wrong answers and a lot of right ones.

Slide 45: Resources Information Architecture • Morville & Rosenfeld: “Information for the World Wide Web, Third Edition” http://www.amazon.com/Information-Architec ture-World-Wide-Web/dp/0596527349/ • Information Architecture Institute (professional organization) http://iainstitute.org/ • Boxes and Arrows (peer-written industry journal) http://boxesandarrows.com/ • Information Architecture Summit (annual industry gathering hosted by ASIS&T) http://www.iasummit.org/

Slide 46: Resources User Experience • Norman: “The Design of Everyday Things” http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Don-Norman/dp/0465067107/ • Krug: “Don’t Make Me Think” http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ • Garrett: “The Elements of User Experience” http://www.amazon.com/Elements-User-Experience-User-Centered-Design/dp/0735712026/ • User Experience Network http://uxnet.org • PhillyCHI (Interest group for Human-Computer Interaction sponsored by the ACM) http://phillychi.acm.org

Slide 47: Resources • http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/jakob_nielsen_on_e_learning/ • http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ • http://www.uie.com/articles/five_second_test/ • http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2008-Horizon-Report.pdf • Pew Internet and American Life: http://www.pewinternet.org/ • University of Minnesota, Duluth: Information Architecture Resources http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/architecture.html Will be available at www.mikezarro.com/resources

Slide 48: Thank You Mike Zarro Dave Cooksey mzarro@gmail.com dave@saturdave.com mikezarro.com saturdave.com