This document discusses information architecture (IA), which is defined as organizing information so that it is findable, manageable, and useful. IA involves planning the navigation, hierarchy, layout, and structure of content from a user-centric perspective. It is an important part of website design and success. The document also discusses different examples of IA used on websites like the BBC, ABC, and CNN. It poses questions about the importance and future of IA, and discusses Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville's "three circles of information architecture" model regarding content, users, and context of use.

1. Week 4: Information Architecture MDIA 5003Online and Mobile Media Thai Cong Phan z3310808 Jin Zhou z3388165 Olivia Yao Gu z3249790

2. You just draw boxes, don't you? ------NO! What is “Information Architecture”? Bailey’s (2002) definition of IA IA is the art and science of organizing information so that it is -findable, -manageable -and useful. There is also a perspective from enterprise architecture that views information architecture as an enterprise wide activity that includes such aspects as -data architecture, -metadata management -and knowledge management (Stiglich, 2007).

3. The role and importance of Information Architecture Without proper thought and planning and a user centric blueprint, most websites will fail to inspire. IA involves the planning and engineering of: Navigation as articulated in a Sitemap, Hierarchy of information, On page layouts, Organising the content into a user centric structure, Creating and plotting the user/visitor journey

4. Information Architecture as an Extension of Web Design “Web designers have been led to believe that they’re restricted to doing what they’ve always done and should leave the information architecture to the information architects. This does not have to happen. ” -Information architects underestimate the Web designer’s role within a project -Information architects think they should write the site specification and that designers should code it

5. IA Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville defined the 'three circles of information architecture' as content, users and context of use.

6. Let’s find the Information Architecture √ Organisation systems √ Navigation systems √ Search systems √ Labelling systems

7. Information Architecture in use BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) from England simple and easy to follow slide technique spreading the topic to assist the audiences to explore the website. ABC (http://abc.com.au/) in Australia slide technique to demonstrate the hottest news, and combine the multimedia (TV, radio) Attrctive CNN (http://www.cnn.com/) simple, make use of space The pictures are limited using navigation system

8. A Dinosaur Family Explains Information Architecture http://www.flickr.com/photos/boltron/4329185089/

9. Questions Can you read Information architectures? Have you ever paid attention to IA? Do you think we need Information architecture? Or it can be replaced by web designer or web planner one day? In the “three circles of information architecture”? What’s your opinion on UX (user experience) and tell us some of your experiences as a user.