The DIY Future
2007 Italian IA Summit

Joe Lamantia
Involved in user experience / Internet since 1996
In 2000, became an entrepreneur and started my own company
Creator of the leading freely available tool for card sort analysis
Creator of the Building Blocks design framework for portals and user experiences
Currently based in New York - but enjoys Europe a great deal…
On the Web
JoeLamantia.com
Boxesandarrows.com
Tagsonomy.com
Email to joe (at) joelamantia.com
Where to get a good bowl of noodles
Your favorite kind of hot sauce
2
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

IA means?
design means?
3
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Big tent!
(all inclusive)
4
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

7 Years Ago
functional requirements
content templates
site map
branding
card sort
style guide
content inventory
form design
wire frames
taxonomy / controlled vocabulary
navigation model
task flow
usability evaluation
category structure
personas
metadata
5
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Traditional Model of Information Architecture
6
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

netNumina User Experience Development Process
Wireframes
Mental Model
Site Map
Content
Matrix
User Creative Brief
User
Personas Scenarios
User Needs
Matrix
Visual Design
Direction
Typography and Visual Design
User-centered final
Branding Options Options
Screen design
Business
Requirements
Document
Business
Requirements Functionality
Matrix
7
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Wireframe (UI Concept)
8
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

User Experience Design Concept
9
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

How about you?
10
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Now
service design multivariate testing
brand resonance behavior analytics
emotional triggers enterprise architecture
design ethnography conceptual modeling
social metadata systems collaboration environments
ontology / semantic networks mobile experience
metadata repositories knowledge management
organizational culture rich internet
business transformation social media
information value chains innovation pipelines
scenario based visioning network mechanisms
enterprise 2.0 adoption
11
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

And now...?
12
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

What’s changed?
Why are things different?
13
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

We’re designing different things.
We’re designing things
differently.
14
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Integrated Experiences:
multi-lateral
co-created
multi-dimensional
15
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Integration = increased complexity
...experiential impact of design
...challenges for design(ers)
16
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

2 Cycles
17
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

The Centralization Pendulum
Technologies oscillate from centralized to decentralized architectures
Centralized
Mainframe
Client-server
PC
Internet
De-centralized
18
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Permeability
Networks and systems are more or less permeable (open)
Permeable
Red Cross Volunteers
U.S. Supreme Court
Impermeable
Permeable: A substance, substrate, membrane or material that absorbs or allows the passage of water.
Permeable: A substance, substrate, membrane or material that absorbs or allows the passage of information.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/permeable
19
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Permeable
From Wiktionary:
A substance, substrate, membrane or material that absorbs or allows the
passage of water.
A substance, substrate, membrane or material that absorbs or allows the
passage of information.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/permeable
15
20
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Why does this matter?
21
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New models = de-centralized, permeable
Centralized
FaceBook
Green Zone YouTube
in Baghdad Amazon
Permeable
Impermeable
Blogosphere
Virus
P2P
De-centralized
Sometimes both...
22
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Amazon
Tags
Reviews
Lists
Ratings
Registries
Stores
Used Books
Author Pages
Author Blogs
API
S3 service
23
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Others?
24
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

3 Shifts
25
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

3 shifts in culture show growing
technology permeation
26
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

quot;According to Moor, the computer revolution is occurring in two stages.
The first stage was that of quot;technological introductionquot; in which computer
technology was developed and refined. This already occurred in America
during the first forty years after the Second World War.
The second stage -- one that the industrialized world has only recently
entered -- is that of quot;technological permeationquot; in which technology gets
integrated into everyday human activities and into social institutions, changing
the very meaning of fundamental concepts, such as quot;moneyquot;, quot;educationquot;,
quot;workquot;, and quot;fair electionsquot;.
Computer Ethics
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-computer/
27
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Design decisions now affect more
people, in more ways.
28
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

1.Social shift
2.DIY shift
3.Rise of the SPIME
29
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

1. Social Shift
30
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Product / Service + Social Elements
Identity
Presence
Relationships
Group Structures
Direct Communication
Membership Criteria
Lifecycles
Reputation
Tokens
Public speech
Arbitration / Negotiation
31
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Network mechanisms amplify the
effects of design decisions to
include whole communities!
32
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

More than social networking
Diverse user groups
Self-defined user communities
Shifting user communities
Overlapping identities (personal / professional)
New group and community dynamics
Social memory
Social identity mechanisms
Reputation banking & influence trading
Cultural differences
Power distance indexes
Shifting organizational contexts
Knowledge markets
Tagging / folksonomies
33
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Unilateral is now multilateral
34
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

2. DIY (Do It Yourself) Shift
35
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New economic and production models?
“Small Pieces Loosely Joined”
Lowered barriers to entry
Commoditized design and development
Empowered amateurs
Business designers
‘Shadow IT’
Free or low-cost tools and data sources
Open source
APIs
Web Services / SOA
Public data sets
Public infrastructure for mashups
Yahoo Pipes
Google Gadgets
36
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

In DIY everyone designs / co-creates
37
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

iPad Touch
Product
Concept
Renderings
From:
http://factoryjoe.com
38
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

3. Rise of the SPIME
39
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

When Blobjects Rule the Earth
“Scenario: You buy a Spime with a credit
card. Your account info is embedded in the
transaction, including a special email
address set up for your Spimes.
After the purchase, a link is sent to you with
customer support, relevant product data,
history of ownership, geographies,
manufacturing origins, ingredients, recipes
for customization, and bluebook value.
The spime is able to update its data in your
database (via radio-frequency ID), to inform
you of required service calls, with appropriate
links to service centers.
This removes guesswork and streamlines
recycling.
40
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

When Blobjects Rule the Earth
“So …you would be able to swiftly understand:
• where it was
• when you got it
• how much it cost
• who made it
• what it was made of
• where those resources came from
• what a better model looked like
• what a cheaper model looked like
• who to thank for making it
• who to complain to about its inadequacies
• what previous kinds of Spime used to look like
• why this Spime is better than earlier ones
what you could do to help that happen
• what people think the Spime of Tomorrow might look like
• the history of the Spime's ownership
41
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

When Blobjects Rule the Earth
what it had been used for
where and when it was used
what other people who own this kind of Spime think about it
how other people more or less like you have altered or fancied-up or modified their Spime
• what most people use Spimes for
• the entire range of unorthodox uses of Spimes by the world's most extreme Spime geek fandom
• and how much your Spime is worth on an auction site
And especially -- absolutely critically -- where to get rid of it safely.”
SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, August 2004
42
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Emerging SPIME ecology:
• RFID
• GIS / geo-location
• tagging
• white-label social networking
• smart objects
• ubiquitous connectivity
• PLM (Product Life Cycle Management)
New niche: Collective services
>> GetSatisfaction.com
43
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

SPIMEs bridge physical and virtual worlds
“Mostly virtual, occasionally physical”
Physical manifestation
Temporal persistence
Real in all worlds at the same time
Geolocatable
Semantically interconnected
Tied to deep pools of collective metadata
Findable
Full lifecycle awareness
Must be sustainable / green
44
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Virtual experiences now affect the
physical realm, and vice versa.
45
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Design = multi-dimensional
46
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Traditional Model of Information Architecture
47
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New Model for Information Architecture / UX
(Still 3 circles...)
48
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New Audiences
49
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

DIY Audiences:
contributor
(architect, designer, builder)
remixer
aggregator
(editor, synthesizer)
commenter, rater
recommender
consumer
50
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New Environments
51
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

socially sensitive
legally regulated
contextually ambiguous
physically uncomfortable
cognitively stressful
erratically connected
biologically / medically sensitive
ecologically constrained
52
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New Challenges
53
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Integration = increased complexity
...experiential impact of design
...challenges for design(ers)
54
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

55
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

56
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

57
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

58
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Designing Web Applications for Use
By Larry Constantine, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd. - Dec 11, 2006
“A third problem with users is that there are so many of them. And they are all
different. They want different things and like different things and react
differently.
I have watched teams run in circles as they redesign for each new user who
gives them feedback on a paper prototype or each new group passing through
the usability lab.
The genuine diversity of real people can distract designers from the
commonality of their needs and interests.”
http://www.uie.com/articles/designing_web_applications_for_use/
59
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Does the integrated experience
mean design must resolve new
kinds of conflict?
60
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Multilateral = potential conflicts
61
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Co-creation = conflicting agendas
62
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

New dimensions = new conflicts
63
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Integration = many new conflicts
64
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Possible conflicts in integrated experience
Name and Branding Open / Closed Architecture
Privacy Language
Cultural Concepts
Function
Ownership and rights
Interaction
Pace and delivery
Materials and makeup
Lifecycle
Time place of use
Emotion
Mental Model
Identity
Ecological Impact
Confidentiality
Shipping, storage, and handling
Legality
Energy Consumption
Symbolic value / role
Price
Transparency
Information Needs
Meaning
Labeling & terminology
65
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

The New Designer / Architect
66
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

business savvy
technologically capable
skilled analyst & visualizer
narrative communicator
holistic thinker
strategic innovator
customer empath
tool maker
mediator
67
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

business modeling
financial analysis
technologically selection
organizational network analysis
change management
business anthropology
knowledge management
industrial design
systems analysis
68
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

and ?
69
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Conflict: The Missing Ingredient
70
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Current design approaches do not
adequately address conflict.
71
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Many frameworks, theories, methods...
Elements of Experience
Emotional Design
Forces of User Experience
Experience Design
Design Maturity Model
Making Meaning
User Centered Design
User Experience Honeycomb
User Centric Design
Contextual Design
Activity Centered Design
Participatory Design
72
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

What can we do?
73
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Treat conflict as a natural element of context
Conflict = “new layer” of context
Advantages
Use existing design tools and methods
No disruption to stakeholder models
No new artifacts or deliverables
74
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

How to address conflict as context?
Adapt common design methods and tools
Include conflict as a subject from the start
Address conflicts as they arise
Insist on resolution
75
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

4 Step process to resolve ethical conflicts
1. Discover
2. Understand
3. Communicate
4. Resolve
76
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Address conflict throughout the design cycle.
“Bake it in…”
User Roles +
Interviews &
User Needs Personas Scenarios
Findings
= Matrix
Search for Relevant Research
Learn about Client.com
Surveyor View Latest Research
Evaluate New Product
Understand Methodology
Monitor Portfolio
Track 1:
Researching Complex Topic
Information
Respond to Customer Call
Retrieval
Evaluate/Rate New Issue
Monitor credit risk over time
Learn about Client.com
Understand the rating agency
Track 2: Identify and compare entities
Unified Service
Access ratings, research & opinion
Delivery
Perform customer service
Perform credit risk analysis
77
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Vision Themes
‘Talking points’ for design vision
Allow stakeholders to communicate shared
vision
How To Address Conflict:
Prioritize themes for importance to vision
Treat conflicting themes as optional
Require unanimous vote to include themes
78
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Stakeholder / Business Goals
Defined as part of vision phase
Translate business needs into aspects and capabilities
of solution
How To Address Conflict:
Track active disagreements in documentation
Map relationships between conflicting items
Use Delphi process to resolve
79
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Map conflicts to business strategy and goals
Barriers to Product Adoption
Data & Employees
 Limited integration of data and features
Analytics  Lack of common user experience
Data & Analytics Markets
Quantitative Users
Barriers to Ratings and Research
Xyz Ratings & Expansion Adjacent Markets
Research Equity Investors, Hedge Fund Managers
 Ineffective Basic & Advanced Search
 Limited related research navigation
Traditional Markets
Issuers, Intermediaries & Fixed
Barriers to Emerging Market Income Investors
Development
Global
 Numerous barriers to getting basic information
Expansion Emerging Markets
 Lack of integration between the main website and New Issuers, Intermediaries, & Investors
local content
Non-Client Users
Barriers to Value Perception
Maintain
Co
Shareholders, Regulators, Recruits
 Inconsistent research content & Journalists
Integrity &  Sub-standard user experience
Reputation
80
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Personas
Describes types of user / customer / person
How To Address Conflict:
Flag personas associated with conflicts
Enumerate any singular features / functions
Map persona landscape to show relationships
and conflicts with other personas
81
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Identify conflicts relevant to individual personas
Chen Xiang Surveyor: Emerging Market Development >
Corporate User
Investment Banker, Shanghai, China Subsidiary Seeker
“I’m looking for a ratings agency I can partner with.”
General Description Critical User Needs
 Learn about Client.com and their operations in China
Chen is a recent graduate and a new employee of the
Bank of China. In his role as an investment banker he  Select the agency he feels will be best for his clients
will be helping to structure debt offerings and sell them
in China’s emerging capital markets. He knows that a
Key Job Functions
respected and authoritative third party assessment of
 Assist corporations in raising funds in China’s emerging capital
the debt will increase its liquidity and improve its price
markets
in the marketplace.
 Provides strategic advisory services for mergers, acquisitions
As such he is working to assess the relative
and other types of corporate financial transactions
advantages and disadvantages of using the emerging
local ratings agencies versus the internationally
Conflicts and Opportunities
established agencies such as Client.com. He is looking
to find the highest levels of transparency, so that he
 Highlight the breadth and depth of information offered in each
can be confident in whom he chooses to work with
country / region
moving forward.
 Support localization, allowing content, search parameters,
currency, reference indices, and formatting styles to be
By gaining Chen as a client, Client.com would likely
targeted to user’s preferred region and language
gain the issuers he’ll eventually bring to market.
82
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Goals and Needs Matrices
Itemizes goals and needs by type of user
How To Address Conflict:
Identify specific instances of conflict between
groups or goals
Score conflicts on a heat scale to highlight
trouble spots
Total the conflicts associate with each goal and
user type to prioritize resolution efforts
83
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Functional Requirements
Synthesize findings of discovery activities for
business, user and system perspectives
How To Address Conflict:
Cross-reference conflicting requirements by
owner / sponsor
‘Narrow the funnel’: reduce # of allowed
conflicts at each review / revision
Auction limited set of conflict slots
Owners can bid’ on requirements with fixed
number of points
84
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Scenarios
Scenarios should narrate aspects of the user
experience and vision
How To Address Conflict:
Label scenarios that contain internal conflicts
Cross reference scenarios that conflict with
one another
Identify which personas agree with / conflict
with each scenario
85
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Share the experience of conflict via scenarios
A poor user experience lowers perceptions of services and offerings
!
! ! !
Detail page contains Related Research tab shows Research is split across a Goes to competitor’s site
assorted links and tabs; a seemingly random list number of ill-defined doc first, because competitor’s
content not on one page of assorted documents types, published at site is easier to use
different times
86
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Share the experience of conflict via scenarios
A poor user experience lowers perceptions of services and offerings
Example Scenario: View Latest Research
Ratings
Advisory
!
! ! !
Detail page contains Related Research tab shows Research is split across a Goes to competitor’s site
assorted links and tabs; a seemingly random list number of ill-defined doc first, because competitor’s
content not on one page of assorted documents types, published at site is easier to use
different times
“I’ll go to (a competitor’s site) first, then I’ll go to (the company’s) if I have the time…”
— Director, Global Ratings Advisory
86
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Share the experience of conflict via scenarios
A poor user experience lowers perceptions of services and offerings
Example Scenario: View Latest Research
Ratings
Advisory
!
! ! !
Detail page contains Related Research tab shows Research is split across a Goes to competitor’s site
assorted links and tabs; a seemingly random list number of ill-defined doc first, because competitor’s
content not on one page of assorted documents types, published at site is easier to use
different times
“I’ll go to (a competitor’s site) first, then I’ll go to (the company’s) if I have the time…”
— Director, Global Ratings Advisory
User Conflicts
Business Conflicts
 Research content is inconsistent
 Hampers deepening of relationships
 Related research functions are ineffective
with established clients
 Sites are difficult for users to understand
 Detracts from the company’s reputation as
and navigate
an authoritative source of high quality info
86
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Concept Maps
Define key conceptual objects and map
relationships
How To Address Conflict:
Begin with simplified single view
Create additional views to reflect conflicting
understandings
Document conflicts via color and annotation
layers
List contested objects / concepts
Require resolution for signoff
Use mapping tool that can track and show
dependencies in relationships
87
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Site Maps
Summarizes structure and flow through information
space / environment
How To Address Conflict:
Compare / contrast conflicting high-level structures
Build modularly, highlight areas of conflict
Document conflicts in navigation model separately
Flag conflicts in content structure and detailed IA
discussed in other artifacts - topic maps, taxonomies,
etc.
Cross-reference to alternative functional interactions
and flows (use cases and process flows)
88
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Wire Frames
Schematics capture function, layout, interaction
How To Address Conflict:
Identify screen components affected by conflict
Cross-reference to conflicting personas / scenarios
89
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Use Cases
Document behavior of system and actors
How To Address Conflict:
Write use cases for all understandings
Cross-reference alternate / conflicting use cases
90
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Designing Different Things
91
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

platforms and frameworks
networks
(social, conceptual, ??)
processes and services
(public, private)
games and self-teaching systems
physical and emotional environments
communities
systems
92
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Pattern:
Higher level of abstraction
93
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Designing Things Differently
94
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Design Feedback Methods
social dynamics
network effects
gamelike interactions
realtime analytics
simultaneous variations
parallel iteration
95
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Pattern:
Diverse and rapid insights
96
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Principles For the DIY Future
97
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Control is now negotiation
98
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Solutions are now frameworks
99
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Designs are now templates
100
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Discovery is now facilitation
101
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Advocacy is now empowerment
102
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Demographics is now self-
definition
103
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Change is now transformation
104
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Production is now creation
105
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Feeds are now streams
106
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Destinations are now nodes
107
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Structures are now networks
108
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Architectures are now systems
109
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Systems are now ecosystems
110
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Ecosystems are now ecologies
111
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia

Full version: www.slideshare.net/MoJoe
Domande?
Grazie!
112
Italian IA Summit : 2007 Joe Lamantia