IBE312 (2014)Information Architecture:

Part I – Introduction

Notes for Chapters 1-2

Modified for 2014 (JMD) with earlier notes by

Hans Fredrik Nordhaug 2012 and

figures & text by Morville & Rosenfeld, 2007

Information for IBE312 (2014)

The IBE312 Course Web Page for (2014)• Bring to lecture a device that can search the web

Lecture videos from 2013

Lecture videos for 2014• Coming soon (see the Course page)

Questions: Send me Email.

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Part I - Objectives

Defining IA Practicing IA

User Needs and Behaviours• Understanding the needs of the customer• Understanding that needs change over time

Metaphors

Analogies with Architecture• Comparing good design of a

building vs. website• Aesthetics (looks good)• Functionality (usable by intended

group/ personal vs. business)• Reliability (not fall down/not crash)

Other Metaphors: information ecologies, knowledge economies, digital libraries, and virtual communities.

Metaphors help us to structure our perception and understanding Lakoff & Johnson,1980. “Metaphors We Live By”. University of

Chicago Press.

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Some Definitions

Architecture (Merriam-Webster)

: the art or science of designing and creating buildings : a method or style of building : the way in which the parts of a computer are organized

Information (Merriam-Webster)

: knowledge that you get about someone or something : facts or details about a subject

: a service that telephone users can call to find out the telephone number for a specified person or organization

Can you tell what Information Architecture is from these definitions?

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1. The combination of organization, labeling, and navigation schemes within an information system.

2. The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content.

3. The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranets to help people find and manage information.

4. An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Information Architecture

Some notes from Morville & Rosenfeld, 2007

Things that Information Architects do…

Understand user and system requirements Design (and build) organization, navigation, and

metadata systems Evaluate the user experience

Figure out what’s needed

Design itBuild it

Figure out if it works

(compare with physical architects)

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Basic concept of IA (ch1, p5)

Information• IA sits between data and knowledge management

Structuring, organizing and labelling• Structuring – size• Organization – grouping• Labelling – what to call categories

Finding and managing – usability

Art and science – understanding user needs involves experience, intuition and creativity.

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Books VS Web Sites (Table 1-1, p6)

IA concepts Books Web Sites

Components Cover, title, author, chapters, sections, pages, page numbers, table of contents, index

Main page, navigation bar, links, content pages, sitemap, site index, search

Dimensions Two-dimensional pages presented in a linear, sequential order

Multidimensional information space with hyper textual navigation

Boundaries Tangible and finite with a clear beginning and ending

Fairly intangible with fuzzy borders that "bleed“ information into other sites.

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Libraries VS Web Sites (Table 1-2, p7)

IA concepts Libraries Web Sites

Purpose Provide access to a well-defined collection of formally published content

Provide access to content, sell products, enable transactions, facilitate collaboration, ...

Heterogeneity Diverse collections with books, magazines, music, software, databases, and files

Huge diversity of media types, document types, and file formats

Centralization(control)

Highly centralized operations, often within one or a few physical library buildings

Often very decentralized operations, with subsitesmaintained independently

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What isn’t IA? (Ch1, p9)

Graphic design alone isn’t IA, but… Software development alone isn’t IA, but… Closely related disciplines:

• Graphic design• Interaction design (HCI)• Usability engineering (HCI)• Experience design• Software development• Content management• Knowledge management

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Why IA Matters? (Ch1, pp11-12)

Why should a company spend time/money on IA?What is the ROI (if any)? It matters because:• The cost of finding information.• The cost of not finding information.• The value of education.• The cost of construction.• The cost of maintenance.• The cost of training.• The value of brand.

Exercise: Find an example of one of these costs.

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Why IA Matters – in more detail

Cost of finding (time, frustration)

Cost of not finding (bad decisions, alternate channels)

Cost of construction (staff, technology, planning, bugs)

Cost of maintenance (content management, redesigns)

Cost of training (employees, turnover)

Value of education (related products, projects, people)

Value of brand (identity, reputation, trust)

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Employees spend 35% of productive time searching for information online. Working Council for Chief Information Officers

The Fortune 1000 stands to waste at least $2.5 billion / year due to an inability to locate and retrieve information. IDC

Poorly architected retailing sites are underselling by as much as 50%. Forrester Research

50% of web sales are lost because customers can’t find

content fast enough. Gartner Group

Content on a typical public corporate website grows at an 80% rate annually. The CMS Report

Why IA Matters? (examples)

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Vividence Research

“The Tangled Web”

Vividence found poorly organized search results and poor information architecture design to be the two most common and serious usability problems

Most Common Usability Problems

Poorly organized search results 53%

Poor information architecture 32%

Slow performance 32%

Cluttered home pages 27%

Confusing labels 25%

Invasive registration 15%

Inconsistent navigation 13%

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18Figure 1-4, p13

IA Concepts

19Figure 1-5, p14

IA Systems

20Figure 1-6, p15

IA Deliverables

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Ch. 2 - Practicing IA

Who is qualified? Very few IA degrees. May have other titles: user-experience designers,

knowledge managers, find-ability engineers, etc. (Ch. 2, p.17)

Disciplinary backgrounds• Graphic/information design• Information and library science• Journalism• Usability engineering• Marketing• Computer science• Technical writing• Architecture• …

The IA Circles

Moreville & Rosenfeld, Ch2, p. 25

Context

Content UsersDocument/data types, content objects, volume, existing-structure

Business goals, funding, politics, culture, technology, resources, and constraints

Audience, tasks, needs, information seeking, behavior, experience

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Content, Context, Users

IA must uniquely match their context Content – the stuff that makes a site

• Ownership• Format• Structure• Metadata• Volume• Dynamism

IA must match the users’ needs/behaviour

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Introduction to IA, 2012 - Hans Nordhaug

Users Needs and Behaviours (Ch 3)

The “too-simple” information model Information needs

• Everything (exhaustive searching)• A few good things (exploratory searching)

• Don’t know what you need to know

• The right thing (known-item seeking)• Re-finding (kept-item seeking)

Information Seeking Behaviour

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Summary

Defining IA - (Ch1)

Practicing IA - (Ch2)

User Needs and Behaviours - (Ch3)• We will discuss Ch3 further in the next slide set for

chapters 3 & 4.