Its related to UX and IA - information_architecture

1. INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE AND
NAVIGATION

2. Introduction to a spatial metaphor
• Many user interfaces are essentially tools for finding,
collecting, consuming, and producing information
• We can think of these untamed hordes of data as
information spaces
• Information architecture is the art/science of designing
information spaces

3. Expanding the spatial metaphor
• When architecting physical spaces, things are by default
visible; you have to work to hide something
• When architecting information spaces, things are by
default invisible
You can see through a doorway…
…but the only way to know what
that link leads to is to click it.

4. Wayfinding in information spaces
• Just like a first-year trying to find a stairwell in the CIT, a
computer user needs to learn how to navigate an
interface
• How a user will do so depends on how much information
they already have
• They may know exactly what they are looking for
• They may know a keyword associated with what they are looking
for
• Or they may not know what they are looking for until they find it
• A successful user experience is in part based on how well
an interface supports wayfinding, i.e. browsing and
searching

5. INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE

6. Visualizing information spaces: A datum

7. Two data

8. Relationships between data

9. More data means more complexity

10. But soon, patterns emerge

11. You are an information architect
• Seeing patterns is what the human brain is optimized for
• Sometimes, it seems to be a little too optimized
• Apophenia: the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or
connections in meaningless or random data
• Logical fallacies such as mixing up correlation and causation
• If you have ever written an essay or made a deck of
slides, you have architected information!

12. Organization schemes
• How do we organize information into categories? How
order information within a category?

13. Exact organization schemes
• These schemes divide information into well-defined,
mutually exclusive sections which typically have a
standard order
• Standard ordering systems include: alphabetical,
chronological, geographical, etc.

14. Exact example: OCRA

15. Exact example: flickr

16. Ambiguous organization schemes
• These schemes categorize information by common
associations
• They are not inherent or natural
• They are, however, very useful
• Canonical examples include ordering by topics, tasks,
audience, etc.

17. Ambiguous example: The Boston Globe

18. Ambiguous example: Delicious

19. Ambiguous example: Brown.edu

20. Ambiguous example: Hybrid navigation

21. Going from organization to architecture
• Now we have an idea of how we might categorize and
order information.
• How can we build a system which enables users to
access this information?

22. Implicit architectures
• These architectures consist of the relationships inferred
by the user
• They are often unintentional
• They are often caused by juxtaposition

23. Explicit architectures
• These architectures are made apparent to the user
• Common example: navigation bar
• Note that “explicit” does not necessarily mean “clear”
Unless preceded by “homework”, this
word never belongs in a navigation
bar

24. Random access architectures
Examples: CDs, magazines, dictionaries

25. Non-random access architectures
Linear (traditional
narrative)
Nonlinear
(hypertext)
House of Leaves

26. A note on organization and architecture
• Clearly, these two concepts are closely related
• Both are very important
• However, if you are building a system which includes
massive amounts of information, even the most
comprehensive organization scheme will fail if the system
is not architected in such a way that users’ needs are
supported
• Prioritize common use cases
• How many times have you searched for a book by title? By author?
By subject? By ISBN?

27. NAVIGATION

28. From Point A to Point B
• Navigation is how users locate themselves and move
around within the context of a system
• It can be free-form or goal-oriented
• It can be accomplished through browsing or queried
search
• How easily a user can navigate will be determined largely
by how well you organized and architected your
information space

29. Modes of information seeking
• Sometimes, users just want to check out a system
• They may be forming an initial impression or testing its limits
• Or they may be killing time by consuming content indiscriminately
• But often, users have a goal or set of goals in mind
• These situations can be described as follows

30. Known-Item information seeking
• In this case, the user
• Knows what they want
• Knows what words to use to describe it
• May have a fairly good understanding of where to start
• Examples:
• A Brown student wants to know when reading period begins
• Someone is looking for the website of a local Chinese restaurant
• A traveler needs to know how to say “train station” in Japanese

31. Queried search

32. A-Z indices and site maps

33. Fat footers

34. Exploratory information seeking
• In this case, the user
• May have some idea of what they want to know
• Does not know precisely what words to use to describe it
• May not know where to start
• Examples:
• A user who wants to plan a site-seeing trip to France, but who has
never been there before and isn’t familiar with the area
• A first-year CS student who is looking for an internship or research
opportunity for the summer, but who doesn’t know what jobs they
are qualified for

35. Recommendations

36. “See also” links

37. Semantic webs

38. Re-finding
• In this case, the user wishes to find information they have
previously accessed
• This behavior can be supported with active features
(which require user input) or passive features (which track
information access automatically)

39. Bookmarks

40. History

41. The Awesome Bar

42. For further investigation:
• Information Architecture Institute: Library
• The Information Architecture of Everyday Things
• Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design
for Them
• Search User Interfaces by Marti A. Hearst