a brief (and practical) introduction to information architecture
DESCRIPTION
Keynote presentation by Louis Rosenfeld at the Usability and Accessibility for the Web International Seminar; 26 July 2007, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, MexicoTRANSCRIPT
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A Brief (and Practical) Introduction to Information Architecture
Usability and Accessibilityfor the Web International Seminar
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
July 26, 2007
Louis Rosenfeld
www.louisrosenfeld.com
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My path and biases
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The “Polar Bear” book
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Agenda: emphasis on practical
1.Introduction to information architecture
2.How to think like an information architect
3.Some practical advice on methods and design approaches
4.Where the field is going
Questions? Please write them down
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Introduction: IA in six slides
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A definition and a diagram
Definition: the art and science of structuring, organizing and labeling information to help people find and manage information
Balances characteristics and needs of users, content and context
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Where we’re from/what we do:User-orientation
Disciplines Methods
Human Computer Interaction Anthropology Marketing Sociology
Usability testing Contextual inquiry Card sorting Persona and scenario development
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Where we’re from/what we do:Content-orientation
Disciplines Methods
Librarianship Technical communication Graphic design Journalism Computer science
Content inventory and analysis Content modeling Metadata development Server and search analytics
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Where we’re from/what we do:Context-orientation
Disciplines Methods
Management Systems engineering Organizational psychology
Stakeholder interviews Project planning Specifications development
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What we do: A series of balancing acts
Structured vs. semi-structured
IAs stronger in the latter, though data is ascendant
Centralization vs. autonomy
IAs develop balanced workflows and processes
Formal vs. emergent
IAs integrate both as part of broader info ecology
Build vs. buy Technology agnostics who go beyond tech requirements
Customers vs. business
IAs improve knowledge of the former; neutral balancers
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Information architecture’s single rule
Pareto Principle (“the 80/20 rule”)
Information architecture is all about prioritization: determine which 20% is most important (information needs, content, design)
There are no other rules, just guidelines
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Before we continue: A question
Aren’t usability and information architecture
really just the same thing?
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CiteSeer: Strong on findability, weak on usability
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UseIt: Strong on usability, weak on findability
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IA for novices and veterans: Start with Two Big Questions
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My questions for you
1. Who are your site’s major audiences?
2. What are each audience’s primary information needs (and how well are you addressing them)?
Are you confident in your answers?
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Q1: Who are your site’s major audiences?
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Audience definition is surprisingly difficult
Too little data… or too much Who/what/where/why/when/how questions
Political challenges Defining audience by silo leads to
stakeholder infighting Goal: err toward apolitical segmenting that
cuts across silos; examples: Job functions (admin, clerical, research, mgmt) Demographics
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Q2: What are their major information needs?
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexin/
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Information needs are common tasks and topics
Examples How do I obtain a driver’s license? Are there scholarships available for my
18-year old son? Who are my elected representatives? Can the state government help me find
investors?
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Uncovering information needs:Ask people who would know
Webmasters and the “hate mail” they receive
Switchboard operators and their FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Subject Matter Experts and the people who bother them
Who else?
Avoid: focus groups
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Uncovering information needs:Analyze behavioral data
Switchboard logs
Server logs (Web Analytics)
Search logs (Search Analytics)
Information and call center logs
Where else?
Grouping log data can help you (re)define audience segments
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Big Answers for Big Questions
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The end of redesigns
Redesigns are Expensive and wasteful Cosmetic User-hostile Pointless
Instead, institute a process Ask and answer these Big Questions on a
regular basis Allows all aspects of IA and UX to become
procedural and institutional
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Sample Method: Search Analytics
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Anatomy of a search log
Google Search Appliance; critical elements in bold: IP address, time/date stamp, query, and # of results:
XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:46 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8&client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&q=lincense+plate&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 971 0 0.02
XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:48 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=www&q=license+plate&ud=1&site=AllSites&spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 8283 146 0.16
XXX.XXX.XX.130 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:24:38 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8&client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&q=regional+transportation+governance+commission&ip=XXX.XXX.X.130 HTTP/1.1" 200 9718 62 0.17
Full legend and more examples here:http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/blog/log_sample_google_appliance/
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The Pareto Principle in action
Sorting queries by frequency results in a Zipf Distribution
Can we improve performance for the most popular queries?
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What users want and when:Sorting and clustering queries
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Diagnostics from search analytics: What can you fix or improve?
User research
Interface design: search entry interface, search results
Retrieval algorithm modification
Navigation design
Metadata development
Content development
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Best Bet search results: Big answers for Big Questions
Manually-assigned recommended links Ensure useful results for top search
queries Useful resources for each popular query
are manually determined (guided by documented logic)
Useful resources manually linked to popular queries; automatically displayed in result page
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Best Bets example: NCI
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Best Bets also improve navigation
Comprehensive A-Z site index automatically generated from best bet keywords
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Guides:Bigger answers to Big Questions
Guides are single pages that contain A selective set (5-10) of important links
related to a Big Question Narrative text that explains the topic and
what’s available to help with that topic
Generally linked from the main page, but also used in more specific contexts Subsite main pages Search results
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Vanguard links to guides on main page
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Vanguard’s guide to itstax information
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Guides are painless and efficient
Low impact on IT (single HTML page)Cut across departmental silosGap fillers; complement comprehensive
methods of navigation and searchCan be timely (e.g., news-oriented
guides, seasonal guides)Minimize political headaches by creating
new real estateCan grow into fuller subsites
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Sample Design Approach: Contextual Navigation
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Contextual navigation:Focusing on where users are
Contextual navigation supports users deep in site Where am I? Where can I go from here?
Critical in a Web 2.0 worldTop layers of information systems are increasingly
bypassed Search engines Syndication (RSS, Atom) Banner advertising
Deep content becomes starting point
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A common content model
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Contextual navigation is powered by content models
“Data modeling for semi-structured content”
Content modeling process helps narrow down both content and metadata choices
Content models consist of1. Content objects
2. Links between objects
3. Metadata
Use sparingly to support high-value contextual navigation
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Hewlett-Packard content model for product information
HP’s content model for products includes overview, supplies, support, drivers…
Content model is exposed as part of search results to enhance navigation
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BBC content model for music
artist descriptions
album reviews
album pages
artist biosdiscography
concert calendar
TV listings
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Content modeling use metadata to connect content objects
Content Objects…
…link to other Content Objects…
…by leveraging common Metadata Attributes
album page album review, discography, artist Album Name, Artist Name, Label, Release Date…
album review album page Album Name, Artist Name, Review Author, Source, Pub Date…
discography album review, artist description Artist Name, Album Name, Release Date…
artist description
artist bio, discography, concert calendar, TV listing
Artist Name, Desc Author, Desc Date…
artist bio artist description Artist Name, Individual Artist Name…
concert calendar
artist description Artist Name, Tour, Venue, Date, Time…
TV listing artist description Artist Name, Channel, Date, Time…
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At last: A little bit of inspiration
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The past and future of IA… in logos
timeExternal IAs Internal IAs
Senior information architectDirector of User ExperienceChief Experience OfficerChief Information Officer…CEO?
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What I’ve covered
1. Introduction to information architecture
2. How to think like an information architect
3. Some practical advice on methods and design approaches
4. Where the field is going
Now, about those questions…
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How to reach me
Louis Rosenfeld705 Carroll Street, #2LBrooklyn, NY 11215 USA
+1.718.306.9396 voice+1.734.661.1655 fax
lou@louisrosenfeld.comwww.louisrosenfeld.comwww.rosenfeldmedia.com