Towards A Cross-context IA

Luca Rosati & Andrea towards a cross-context Resmini IA from digital to physical spaces (and back) Europe's Third Information Architecture Summit Barcelona, September 21-22 2007 Paper available at http://lucarosati.it/download/from-digital-to-physical.pdf

towards a cross-context IA Foreword Information architecture is not just for the Web: information architecture has a larger impact on many offline activities and affects our daily experience in many different ways Its contribution becomes crucial where complexity, unfamiliarity and information overload stand in the way of the user (Image: Jim Benson, http://ourfounder.typepad.com/leblog/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA A Unified Model of IA We would like to outline a unified model of information architecture able to traverse the diverse contexts we encounter daily, from digital to physical spaces, providing a conceptual framework for the design of cognitive and informational continuity between environments Within this model we propose to apply organizational and interactional models typically used on the Web to the design of physical objects and spaces (Image: Paul Walsh, http://segala.com/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA From Digital to Physical Space We believe this evolution of information architecture is a strategic part of the general evolution of design, from the design of objects to that of processes By enabling coherent bridge-experiences, information architecture can provide better and more satisfying Human Information Interaction (HII) in both worlds, online and offline (Image: Clipart ETC, http://etc.usf.edu/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Laws of Findability In this presentation, we will briefly outline some of the laws, principles or rules we believe define the boundaries of a successful cross-context model, focusing on  Coherence  Flexibility  Correlation and following a path of scents, suggestions, occasional detours, and case-studies (Image: Patrick Lambe's Map of Findability, greenchameleon.com) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA coherence (Borges, Foucault, Lakoff and classification) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA The Animal Menagerie  Seals (gray, tiny and white)  Elephant (small, tiny)  Sheep  Dogs (German shepherd, Scottish collie)  Rabbit  Penguin  Platypus  Skunk (one stripe)  Donkey How do we classify these? (Image: some sort of seal, courtesy of O'Reilly) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Karl von Linné Says (1)  Karl von Linné (1707-1778)  Born Linnaeus, then ennobled, Swedish botanist and scholar  Envised the classification scheme for all living beings  In Linnean Taxonomy, all of these anymals belong to Eukaryota (Domain), Animalia (Kingdom), Chordata (Phylum), Vertebrata (Subphylum), Mammalia (Class), except for the penguin, whose Class is Aves (birds) (Karl, relaxing after some taxonomy work) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Karl von Linné Says (2)  Linnean Taxonomy is an example of classical, Aristotelian classification where: carnivor a  category is an abstract container caniformi a  things are in the same category if and only phocida if they have common properties e canida e halichoeru  category has clear boundaries s cani halichoerus s  category is defined by common properties grypus of the members canis familiaris  category is cataloger-independent  no members have any special status  all levels in a hierarchy are equivalent (Image: animal pictures courtesy of O'Reilly). Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Gaia Says  Gaia, 7-year-old  Italian, 3rd grader  Owner of a large collection of plushes (well, make that rather large)  Wildly loves animals  What does she say? First let's have a closer look at the animals (Hey! Isn't that tower leaning? Now wait a sec) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA The Animal Managerie Redoux Mmmmh, plushes... Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Looks Like Gaia Has a Point!  The seal, the small elephant and the donkey are friends  The dogs stay by themselves since they are predators and eat the others animals. We need to sedate them at times  The rabbit and the sheep spend time together when the rabbit is not hiding in his hole because they come from the same place (a farm, possibly)  The penguin and the skunk go together because they are both black. Plus, the penguin is teaching the skunk to swim  The platypus and the tiny elephant are the same age and play together. So do the two other tiny seals, since they are the same size (Gaia in mum's shoes, self portrait) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Quick Recap (Gaia, carnivor prototypical) a donke caniformi y a small phocida elephant e se canida al halichoeru s e halichoerus pengui grypus n cani shee skun s p k rabb it canis familiaris on predate platypu border s collie other german elephant (Karl, shepherd classical) courtesy of O'Reilly and Gaia) (Image: animals Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA A Classification for Drugs  National legislations often have ideological roots: alcohol and tobacco for instance are socially accepted drugs in many countries  Dangerousness is a sum of factors: privileging one over the other, for example chemical composition, leads to skewed classifications  Currently drugs are classified as Class A: cocaine / crack, heroin, ecstasy, LDS, magic mushrooms, crystal meth; Class A/B: amphetamines; Class C: cannabis, ketamine  Nutt and his group used a 3-way system which compounds toxicity, dependency, effects on social life and compared it to the Misuse of Drugs Act (Image: http://oskool.com/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Comparing Classifications Misuse of Drugs Act The Lancet Group  based on the drug's chemical  based on a pool of parameters (social formula: its essence harm, physical harm; dependence)  alcohol and tobacco are absent  5th and 9th place respectively  Aristotelically coherent but  Aristotelically incoherent but coherent incoherent in respect to its in respect to its social context social context Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA A Different Graph  Color classes A, B, C refer to the Misuse of Drugs Act  Unclassified drugs are listed in gray  The graph shows the new classification emerging from Nutt's study, with some surprises Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Coherence Coherence in classification is deeply tied to context, culture and prototypical mapping “The animals are divided into: a. belonging to the Emperor, b. embalmed, c. trained, d. suckling pigs, e. mermaids, f. fabulous, g. stray dogs, h. included in this classification, i. trembling like crazy, j. innumerable, k. drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, l. et cetera, m. just broke the vase, n. from a distance look like flies” (Jorge Luis Borges , The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, in The Analytical Language of John Wilkins, 1960) (Image: chinese dragons, www.orientaloutpost.com) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA flexibility (to each their own mapping) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Binding Two Worlds  The map of the library from The Name of the Rose  The real world is mapped, via a clever mnemonic system, onto the physical space of the library  There is a certain degree of correspondence: to go from Yspania to Anglia you have to travel through Gallia and Germania  Books are classified geographically  But another cognitive model is often superimposed which amends errors: this is not the world as it is, but the world as it should have been (Image: U. Eco, The Name of the Rose. Gruppo Bompiani) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA A New Kind of Supermarket asdsa  by applying web guidelines to physical spaces  by tracking our interaction stories with items and spaces  to allow re-finding, customization, suggestions/correlations (Image: TVScoop, http://www.tvscoop.tv/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Rethinking Retail (Mapping the web page on the supermarket) (The ICA web page, http://www.ica.se/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA A Map of Correspondences (Detailed sample correspondence map) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Tracking Paths Flexibile navigation can be provided by accurate wayfinding and signage and combined with tracking technologies:  Icons for departments, letters for aisles, numbers for racks and shelves  Colors for shortcuts and navigational themes (using ceiling or floor signage)  Personal paths (customer card or reader registering shopping patterns via RFID or similar technologies)  Smart labels Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Flexibility Goals, cognitive and cultural models strongly impact behavior: different individuals search differently, and single individuals modify their patterns according to context, time, and goals To work effectively, then, a classification system has to be able to adapt to these ever changing information seeking strategies “Traditional classification and new social systems aren't competing for supremacy: rather, they complement and improve each other” (Jim Kalbach, Navigating the long tail, talk at EuroIA 2007) (Paths in a radial retail space model) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA correlation (circularity and the paradox of choice) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA (You read the Bible? There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17 [...] I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass.) (Image: Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Stories along a Circular Path Pulp fiction is a wonderful example of non- linear storytelling. The storyline moves in circles and the beginning and the end of the movie are tied together in a Möbius band The narrative moves freely back and forth in time and space and the movie ends up looking like a tightly integrated series of different episodes which continuously reference one another and other movies These correlations which link elements belonging to different physical and digital collections constitute what we call information circularity, something we think fuels positive feedback loop which favors berrypicking and information scent (Image M.C. Escher, Moebius Band II, http://www.mcescher.com/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA If You Like x You May Also Like y Correlations can then be used to improve the IA of retail space and its wayfinding and classification systems, using technologies such as RFID, to propose:  Theme paths, such as regional recipes, organic products  Personal paths, based on previous data  Coupling paths: if you like a we suggest b, that you may find there  Recommended or best selling products, to further reduce the burden of choice Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Building Orthogonal Paths Moreover, findability can be improved by mixing alternative classification models to produce multiple seek paths. These could be:  faceted classification  social classification (top views, other users also bought, reviews)  collaborative tagging  customization based on navigation  network paradigms (topic maps) (Correlation creates paths orthogonal to the aisle / rack model) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Reducing The Paradox of Choice  Contextualization and customization help reduce the paradox of choice as well  Following the long tail model, it's not about having fewer choices, but about showing these choices  at the right moment  in the right way  in the right context (Reducing the paradox of choice in a supermarket's electronic scale) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Correlation RFID, touchscreen technology, mobile phones, PDAs, are increasing the amount of data our enhanced selves constantly produce, receive, process and transmit These could be used to improve the relational dimension of IA in physical spaces, allowing related-items links among products and alternative ways of navigation which free themselves of the shelf “I've often imaged gazes surviving the act of seeing as if they were poles, measured distances, lances in battle” (Valerio Magrelli, Nearsights, 1991) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA conclusions (Building bridge experiences) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Design the Process Information architecture should inform and structure a company's Internet and Intranet presence, its documents and its physical spaces as an integrated, tightly related whole which spans across environments. We need a traversal integrated information architecture model that moves away from industrial design, where we shape physical or digital objects, into the new territories of process design, where we shape the very processes in which objects, information, context and users talk to each other and constantly produce new meanings (Image Fractal Tree, http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~sequin/) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Design for the Cognitive Shift We have to design for a cognitive shift which effectively reshapes the user experience and moves  From artifacts to processes  From interfaces to human-information interaction  From objects to users  From a static, isolated view of products and information to a dynamic, fluid view of space- time data-rich items in a synchronic society  From end-users to wranglers, who play, as much as the designers, an important active role in the building of objects / information and have with them a continuous change- inducing interchange  From today to tomorrow (Image Bruce Sterling, Spime Meme Map) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA Thank You! (Bringing it all back home, with a twist. Coherent, flexible, related) Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

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Towards A Cross-context IA

by Andrea Resmini

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