![Packages (cont’) [Control] Mechanisms control display (scroll, jump, zoom) usage monitor (histories, bookmarks, ISP, IP address) query analytical (Boolean; with/without relevance feedback; dynamic) Selection Dynamic manipulation cut and paste add value (e.g., concordance, link plots--who links to the site, who you link to?) information visualisation )](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/Week11LectureSlides-122562627419-phpapp01/85/Information-Architecture-and-User-friendly-design-30-320.jpg)
![Events Exchange cycle e.g., a smile acknowledged, an http requested page returned, cookie stored (client-server model) Share cycle (eg. social networking) perception, processing, comprehension of an information package by more than one [person/package/object] Manipulation of the information. Cannot control it once it’s out there…](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/Week11LectureSlides-122562627419-phpapp01/85/Information-Architecture-and-User-friendly-design-31-320.jpg)
Information Architecture and User-friendly design
- 1. Information Architecture: What is it?
- 2. Is it real? Most major corporations have an information architecture team, or at least one IA person. Number of jobs on seek.com.au Number of jobs on HotJobs.com Perhaps it is real, after all. Or is it just a new term for something we have been / or ought to have been doing?
- 3. So, what is Information Architecture? The definition: The art and science of organizing and labeling information to improve browsing and searching The thing: The structure of information and components for searching and browsing that information
- 4. What are its components? Structuring: Chunking, grouping, and ordering content Organizing: Taxonomies/hierarchies, auto-classification Labeling: Indexing, vocabularies, thesauri Navigating: Menus, tables of contents, site indices, search systems
- 5. IA: The practice Balances characteristics and needs of users, content and context Three phases: Research Design Implementation
- 7. IA:Where it fits within User Experience From Jesse James Garrett’s “ The Elements of User Experience” www.jjg.net/ia/elements.pdf
- 9. Who does it? Technical writers Graphics artists Architects Film makers Information specialists librarians publishers web designers database administrators
- 11. Emergent Fields: No one has the whole picture © © Louis Rosenfeld
- 12. Why Information Architecture? Inform scholarship common good instruction Persuade advertise/promote/sell control Entertain passive active Create
- 13. Factors Context Message Audience Media Goals
- 14. Context Cultural setting social acceptance Timing Costs
- 15. Goals Transfer/Lookups Education Social Good Business Political/Legal
- 16. Messages Content (discipline, organization) Scope Complexity Novelty
- 17. Audience Range (who, where, why) Knowledge base (what can you assume?) Experience base (including the use of the interfaces) Receptivity (physical, mental, emotional; factors like anxiety)
- 18. Media Technical requirements Format Number of channels (multimedia) Transfer rate (bandwidth issues) Degree of interaction (upload, download)
- 19. Users Information (Knowledge) Information (Data) Information Architect Use - Navigate - Search - Browse - Evaluate - Design - Implement - Structure - Tag/index - Analyze - Model - Classify - Evaluate - Create - Own - Edit - Manage - IA Goals - satisfy user needs - mediate - make usable add value manage interaction - Disciplines Standards Technology Policies Information Architecture Model ver. 0.01 (from IA Summit in 2000) (synthesis of ~900 terms from 250 cards) CLIENT END USER
- 20. Discussion Question (for Blackboard) How is the electronic medium different from: books/newspapers? film/TV? paintings/sculpture? What are the implications for users? for designers? for intermediaries?
- 21. Electronic medium and the ‘Information Overload.’ “ Everyone spoke of an information overload, but what there was in fact was a non-information overload.” Richard Saul Wurman, What-If, Could-Be (Philadelphia, 1976)
- 22. Design Process (is very much like Systems Analysis) Mission definition Problems/needs, materials, skills, vision Feasibility Needs assessment, cost-benefit analysis Prototyping and evaluation Implementation Evaluation and maintenance
- 24. Aggregation of Packages Screen 1 Screen 2
- 25. Smaller packages, more linkages Designing messages for electronic consumption suggests small chunks Screen real estate limitations Scroll, paging limits Hyperlinks give flexibility but also add cognitive load (lost in cyberspace) Implications of search engine entry points Everything is becoming more like a reference work and less like a novel??
- 26. Packages Objects physical attributes (e.g., size, color, shape, pre-iconographic) conceptual attributes denotation (e.g., iconographic) is cultural connotation (e.g., iconological) is personal and cannot be indexed. behavior (e.g., display, compute, compare) (based on Erwin Panofsky’s “three strata of subject matter or meaning” from Studies in Iconology (1972)
- 27. Packages (cont’) Relationships Intrapackage relationships (like pronouns) physical (next page, previous screen, see Figure #, position, order) conceptual (anaphora) Interpackage relationships physical (citations) conceptual (Allusions & metaphors. These cannot be machine generated)
- 28. Use of metaphors in IA Organisational Metaphors: shopping cart, wastebasket etc. Functional Metaphors : cut and paste, paintbrush etc. Visual Metaphors: homepage, window, music interface buttons that look like a stereo, folders etc.
- 29. Metaphors can become tired, or carry no meaning. Metaphors that are too obvious: Tree for a family tree etc. Metaphor Overkill : They cannot convey meaning for you if you stretch the metaphors beyond their limits. Colours carry metaphors too: Be careful how you use them. Can be culture-specific also. (Blue Zone, Red Line, Yellow Fever, Red Light etc.)
- 30. Packages (cont’) [Control] Mechanisms control display (scroll, jump, zoom) usage monitor (histories, bookmarks, ISP, IP address) query analytical (Boolean; with/without relevance feedback; dynamic) Selection Dynamic manipulation cut and paste add value (e.g., concordance, link plots--who links to the site, who you link to?) information visualisation )
- 31. Events Exchange cycle e.g., a smile acknowledged, an http requested page returned, cookie stored (client-server model) Share cycle (eg. social networking) perception, processing, comprehension of an information package by more than one [person/package/object] Manipulation of the information. Cannot control it once it’s out there…
- 32. www Design Know the audience Universal access Iterative design and testing Consider the development curve Organise, organise, organise Be consistent Appropriate use of media Avoid gratuitous ‘bells and whistles’ Leverage interactivity Maintain interest Gather feedback
- 33. Organisational Structures List Array ( a link list) Hierarchy (trees) Network Hybrids (DNA organisation?) (This is not apparent in traditional information organisations, but happens in our heads, perhaps?)
- 34. Organizational Schemes Alphabetical Chronological Geographic Topical Numerical Administrative Parts/Units Importance, size Task User group Metaphor Random
- 35. Control Mechanisms (Navigation) Context (where am I? Branding?) Consistency (layout, labeling, etc.) Links (types, labels; currently not bi-directional or computed, although the early days of digital hypertext was conceived in that way) Input forms Menus Toolbars TOCs, sitemaps, tours Mouse events, zooms
- 36. Expression Words Appropriate and controlled vocabulary Clear, concise statements and prompts Images Appropriate Browser friendly Video, sound Appropriate controls Interactivity and Flow
- 37. Planning Storyboards Scenarios Templates Feedback from users (eg., Children’s Digital Library that was created with input from children; Fiction Finder created by Reference Librarians who interact with the users as opposed to Cataloguers who mostly interact just with the books) Maintenance
- 38. Implementation Tools Wireframes Software (e.g., Visio, Flowcharter) Evaluation Maintenance Content management Digital libraries
- 40. Examples of wireframes, cont.
- 41. Examples of wireframes, cont.
- 42. IA Bibliography Constantine, Larry L., and Lucy A.D. Lockwood. Software for Use . Reading, Mass.:Addison Wesley, 1999. Krug, Steve. Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Indianapolis, IN: Circle.com Library, 2000. Morville, Peter. Semantics Archive . Semantics Studio Archives. Web site. Available from http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/ Morville, Peter. Ambient Findability . O’Reilly Media: Safari Books, 2005. Nelson, Theodor. Computer Lib/Dream Machines , Redmond, WA: Tempus Books of Microsoft Press, 1987 Nielsen, Jakob. Usability Engineering . San Diego, CA: Morgan Kaufman, 1993. Nielsen, Jakob. Designing Web Usability . Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 1999.
- 43. IA Bibliography Cont’ Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things . New York, NY: Doubleday, 1990. Rosenfeld, Louis, and Peter Morville. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web . Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 1997. Shneiderman, Ben. Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction . 3rd ed. Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley, 1997. Tufte, Edward R. Envisioning Information . Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press, 1990. Wurman, Richard Saul. Information Architects . Zurich, Switzerland: Graphis Press Corporation,,1996.
- 44. http://www.edwardtufte.com Explore this website. Edward Tufte is a pioneer in Data Graphics and in the presentation of information with visual simplicity, as opposed to ‘Chart Junk.’ His ideas are very useful in transmitting information in organisational settings. He believes PowerPoint is evil, and it may well be :-)