advanced information architecture- fall 02 the sociotechnical analysis of complex web sites i....

Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02

The sociotechnical analysis of complex web sites

I. Introducing information architecture

II. The roots of IA: social informatics

• What is SI?

• Information ecologies

• The sociotechnical contexts of ITC

III. Conducting the analysis

• How and why do the research?

IV. Elements of IA

• What IAs do




A professional role in web design and the design of digital media collections

IAs are responsible for the overall structure and organization of the site

It involves organizing a site’s content into categories and creating an interface to support those categories

Also designing navigation and searching systems to help people find and manage information

A systematic, question-based process for creating digital products to communicate meaning and improve users’ performance

It is user-centered


Information science:

Social science

Argus Associates. (1998). Information architecture defined http://argus-inc.com/design/architecture.html

[It] involves the design of organization, labeling, navigation, and indexing systems to support both browsing and searching. It plays a central role in determining whether users can easily find the information they need.

[It] begins with research into mission, vision, content, and audience. This ... provides a foundation for the development of a successful information architecture design that supports long-term growth and management


“Proper World Wide Web site design is largely a matter of balancing the structure and relationship of menu or ‘home’ pages and individual content pages or other linked graphics and documents. The goal is to build a hierarchy of menus and pages that feels natural and well-structured to the user, and doesn’t interfere with their use of the Web site or mislead them.”

Lynch, P. J. (1995). Yale University C/AIM WWW Style Guidehttp://info.med.yale.edu/caim/StyleManual_Top


A working definition

A digital information space containing organizational labeling, and navigation schemes

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

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

An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to digital environmentsRosenfeld and Moreville (2002) p. 4


Other definitions

It is the term used to describe the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating information spaces that are humanly and socially acceptable to their intended stakeholdersDillon (2002) JASIST 53(10) p821

The design and development of a wide array of information products and services, and, as such, involves the use and coordination of numerous technical components

Databases, metadata, dynamic content management, multiple media, information modeling

Latham (2002) JASIST 53(10) p825


What does an IA have to know?

Information science: information organization and access

Computer science: programming and databases

Usability engineering: understanding how people use the site

Graphic design: developing imagery that supports the site’s mission

Writing: to explain this to peers and decisionmakers

Marketing: developing the site so that is can be sold to its intended audience

Psychology: understanding the intended audience


What else does an IA have to know?

Interaction design

The creation and maintenance of tasks and processes that users will encounter in an information space

Content management

The processes, policies, and procedures that govern how content is moved through the information space

Knowledge management

The processes, policies, and procedures that govern how the organization handles its “intellectual capital”


What does an IA have to do?

Thinking

What are the relevant content domains?

Given the constraints what can be done?

Planning

How are these domains related to each other?

What is the structure of these relationships?

Designing

What arrangement best supports the structure and organizational requirements?

Managing

What people, tools, and resources are available?


An IA should

Enjoy working with information: gathering, evaluating and organizing it

Like research: interviewing stakeholders and analyzing results

Be curious about tools and processes of site development

Want to improve performance

Be ready to fight battles to help users

Have a good working know edgle of organizations

Be interested in communicating complex ideas clearly


A broad view of IA

It involves developing and communicating a holistic view of a web site

It includes the overall social and technical structure of the site and the relationships among its elements

It requires the classification of site goals and objectives

IA places the web site into a larger social context

How will it affect the work flow, communications patterns, and distribution of power in the organization?

How will it appear to its users?


Basic concepts of IA

Information

Data to which we give meaning

Data: facts and figures

Knowledge: Internalized and interpreted information

Structuring

Levels of granularity for elements in an information space

Organizing

Arranging these elements into meaningful categories and establishing relations among them

Labeling

Naming these categories


Basic concepts of IA

Finding

Designing the information space to enhance users’ abilities to locate what they want

Involves user-centered design

Information management

The processes, policies, and procedures involved in carrying out the information life cycle in an organization

Art and science

Scientific methods to bring rigor to IA research

Usability, experimentation, ethnography

Dealing with ambiguity and complexity is also intuitive


It focuses on digital (web-based) information spaces

A set of items held by an information system and the relations among them

The items may include keyterms, documents, queries, and user representationsNewby (2000) http://www.ils.unc.edu/gbnewby/papers/building4.html

A complex information space (C) stores a total number (N) of information units in a medium (M) of storage

A user (X) has relevant information units (R) in the information space according to the scope of X’ s information foraging goalsAbrams (1997)

http://www.perceptualrobotics.com/people/abrams/thesis/default.htm


Use of the architectural metaphor

Architecture shapes experience

This is easy to understand with physical spaces

Information spaces can be designed using architectural principles

They are constructed to provoke a reaction in you

They can be designed to allow users to carry out tasks

To help you get a job done

To entertain you

To help you learn

Where does this metaphor break down?





• What is SI?





IV. Elements of IA

• What IAs do


II. What is social informatics?

• Technological and social determinisms

There have been two main ways to portray the relationship between Its and society

Technological determinism

Social determinism


Both of these share a number of weaknesses

A deterministic relationship is always one way (an oversimplification)

Technology use in workplaces demonstrates that there is much more contingency and complexity

The “independent variable” is assumed to have causal powers

Technology does have agency

People are not as passive as they are assumed to be

They minimize the social and institutional context

The effects of the same ICT in a school and in a dotcom will be very different


Mutual shaping

There is a third alternative

This approach is an advance because is overcomes the main weaknesses of the previous two

There is no one way causality

It accounts for contingency and complexity

But: it does not account well for the context


Social informatics is a fourth alternative

It is the interdisciplinary study of the design and uses of ICT that takes into account their interactions with institutional and cultural contexts

The focus is on the social aspects of computerization

The roles of ICT in social and organizational change

The uses of ICT in different social and organizational social settings

It is problem-driven

People work in many different disciplines and use different theoretical and methodological approaches


Social informatics is the study of information and computing, their sciences, technologies, applications, influences and effects

It encompasses the information life cycle

creation discovery

organization manipulation

storage

retrieval

processing

presentation visualizationtransmission

use destruction


SI assumes a relationship of mutual shaping among ICT, the people who design and use them, and the settings in which they are designed and used

Mutual shaping

The “setting”


SI is a different approach to studying ICT in society because of the explicit focus on the sociotechnical context

This means focusing on

The ways that the social organization of ICT is influenced by social forces and social practices

The impacts of the beliefs and values of the people designing, maintaining, and using ICT

The impacts of organizational beliefs and values where the ICT are designed and used

SI seeks to understand how people and organizations act on these values and beliefs and use their power in relation to ICT


SI research involves three main orientations

Normative: to recommend alternatives for practitioners who design, implement, use, or develop policy about ICT

Ex: participatory design

Analytical: to develop theories about ICT in institutional and cultural contexts and conduct empirical work designed to contribute to theorizing

The goal is a deeper understanding of how the evolution of ICT use in a particular setting can be generalized to other Its and other settings

Ex: The web of computing


Critical: to challenge commonly held assumptions about ICT

It does not uncritically adopt the beliefs and values of the people and organizations that commission, design, implement, or use specific ICT

It examines ICT from multiple perspectives

These include the people who use them in different contexts, as well as people who design, implement or maintain them

It examines ICT failures and service losses, as well as idealized expectations of routine use

Ex: the paperless office, the productivity paradox


These are examples of the types of SI research

Impacts of ICT in groups, organizations, and larger scale social settings

Analysis of the use of ICT in specific social contexts

Public uses of the internet

Life with computer-mediated communication (CMC)

The social shaping of information systems

The production, distribution and use of electronic texts

The roles of ICT in changing or reinforcing patterns of work life, community life, and the character of institutions





• What is SI?





IV. Elements of IA

• What IAs do



• Why do the research?

Theoretical reasons

Research on organizations can help developers avoid problems that can undermine projects

Practical reasons

It is a necessary step in the project life cycle

It saves time, money, and effort

It allows you to figure out what you have to do

You can get a sense of the existing situation

You can understand what the constraints are and who can impose them


What we can learn from organizational informatics?

1. ICT do not exist in social or technological isolation

ICT are embedded in cultural and institutional contexts that influence them in empirically discoverable ways

These include:

The ways in which they are developed

The kinds of workable configurations that are proposed

How these configurations are implemented and used

The range of consequences they have for the people who use them and their organizations


2. ICT are “socio-technical systems,” an interrelated and interdependent mix of :

People who design and use ICT

Their beliefs, values and social and work practices

Their institutional positions and power

Financial and technical decision makers

Organizational and professional norms of use

Hardware and software

The support systems that aid users

The maintenance systems keeping ICT up and running


3. A “socio-technical system” can also be seen as an “information ecology”

Nardi and O’Day define an information ecology (IE) as

A system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment

In IE, the spotlight is not on technology, but on human activities that are served by technology

It is a setting where people and technology come together in some type of social relationship, guided by the values of the setting, organization, and/or profession


It is a complex system of parts and relationships in continual evolution

“Locality” is important because the IE responds to local environmental changes and local interventions

When one element changes, effects can be felt throughout the system

Local changes disappear if they are incompatible with the rest of the IE

Diversity is essential for change

Different parts of an IE coevolve, changing together according to the relationships in the system

This occurs as new ideas, tools, activities, and forms of expertise arise


A “local habitation and a name” captures the essence of an IE

The “habitation” of a technology is its location within a network of relationships.

This refers to its set of family ties in the local IE

The “name” of a technology identifies its meaning for the people who use it

It positions the technology more directly under the control of its users

Only the participants of an IE can establish the identity and place of the technologies that are found there


4. There are apparently contradictory outcomes from ICT implementation and use

The same type of ICT may have very different effects in two different organizations

In one case, control over work can be centralized while in another, decentralization results

Adding ICT may be enrich and/or deskill work routines

SI accounts for the varying consequences of ICT use in organizations by emphasizing

The importance of the social and organizational contexts

The effects of the context on ICT implementation and use


5. Design continues in use

Many IS are redesigned over their lifetimes (upgrades, bug fixes, customization)

People and groups using ICT reshape them in ways that their original designers did not anticipate because:

Circumstances of the situation of use changes

Needs change

Uses change

People who use the ICT change

The organization changes

Designers should understand the relevant IE


6. There are always political and social consequences from the implementation of ICT in organizations

They can enable and constrain social relationships and work practices

They can legitimate and undermine organizational and personal power

ICT can enable or constrain organizational change

There are typically winners and losers from the implementation of ICT

This helps us understand the motivations for different groups supporting and opposing specific forms of ICT developments


• How to do the research

There are different ways to set up the problem

Ask an open-ended question

Set up a relationship and test it

There are a variety of ways to study an organization

You can talk to people interviews

You can ask people to fill out forms surveys

You can watch people observation

You can test people experimentation

There are variations within these approaches as well


There is a difference between academic research and IA research

There is less need for rigor

You don’t have to worry about generalizability

Peer review is not an issue

There are good reasons to use good research practices

If your methods are reliable, you can reuse them

You can be assured of quality data and reasonable conclusions

You can have consistency within and across projects

Over time this can lead to best practices

You can then train new employees more easily


The goal of the research is to understand the “sociotechnical context” of the web site

Given the constraints of the project, what is the best way to learn about the organization’s “information ecology”?

What is it that you want to know?

What is the “big picture?”

Vision

What is the role of the web in the organization?

How is the current and/or future site viewed in the organization?

What are the short and long term goals for the site?

How does the organization plan to use the site?


What is the “big picture?”

Resources

What can the organization afford?

What types of financial, technical, and human resources can be made available for development?

What is the long term commitment to maintaining and upgrading the site?

Audiences

Why do/should people come to the site?

What do people do when they come to the site?

What are the major tasks that they would like people to do?


Research strategies

Determine who it is you should be talking to

Study the web site carefully

See what departments or groups in the organization are represented on the site

Note all names and contact information

Use your initial contact

Learn how the organization is structured and try to figure out who has a stake in the web site

Confirm your hunches with your contact


Settle on your strategy or strategies

Individual email or telephone interviews?

Group email or conference calls?

Individual face-to-face interviews?

Group meetings

Each has its advantages and drawbacks

Face-to-face interviews and group meetings are good ways to gather information

In addition to the research value, these strategies also serve a social function

You learn about stakeholder biases

You learn about political and power relationships





• What is SI?





IV. Elements of IA

• What IAs do


IV. Elements of information architecture

Components

Constituent parts of a digital information space

Web site: pages, navigation scheme, site map functionalities

Dimensions

Web site: multidimensional information space with hypertext navigation

Boundaries

Lines of demarcation around the information space

Web site: not clear because of linking


Purpose

The functions of the information space

Web site: provide access to information, educate, sell, entertain

Heterogeneity

Characteristics of the content

Web site: many different media types, formats, programming and markup languages

Centralization

How the information space is controlled

Web site: becoming more decentralized in content management and technical maintenance


Orientations to information architecture

Social: Doing the research

What are the mission, vision, and goals for the site?

What will be the central metaphors for the site?

How will the site grow and change over time?

What will be the impacts on the organization?

Technical: Design and build

How will the site be organized ?

What content and functionality will the site contain?

What types of navigation, labeling, and searching will be used?


Doing the research

Preparation

Site goals

The audience

User experience

User scenarios

The competition

The design document


Consider this question:

“What should our team create to give people experiences that are useful, usable, and desirable, that create value for our business and our clients?”

How can we answer it?

Rettig emphasizes the importance of an ethnographic approach

“Go where people work, learn, live and play. Discover unexpressed or masked needs. Let your design be driven by genuine understanding of the people you are trying to serve.”

Rettig, M. (2000). Ethnography and information architecture. http://www.enteract.com/~marc/asis/slide0009.htm


In practical terms, this means:

Observation: go into the setting and watch people

Shadowing: follow them around

Examining artifacts and their uses

Interviews: interview people in their workplace

This can be structured or unstructured

Sampling: can involve time or task sampling

They fill out activity diaries on your schedule

Self-reporting: they have the greatest amount of control

Ask them to take pictures or keep journals


Site design begins well before the first page is ever coded

This early stage requires considerable research

The first step is to understand the goals of the site owners

How well do you understand their business?

What are their main products and services?

What are their business rules?

Then work to understand the audience for the site

Who do they sell to?

Write user profiles and scenarios

Conduct needs requirements


Determining the goals for the site

Can be done informally with conversations with key stakeholders

Can be done formally at meetings with clear agendas

Questions to consider

Who should you talk to or include in the meeting?

Who has to buy in to the concept?

Goal

To achieve a group consensus


The basic set of questions should include:

What is the mission or purpose of the organization?

Check the answers you get against company literature

What are the goals of the site?

As people talk about goals for the site, categorize them into short term and long term goals

Who are the intended audiences?

Check these answers against the company’s market research

Why will people come to the site?

What are the main tasks that people are expected to perform?


Gather all of the data and begin analyzing them

This involves sorting and categorizing

Goals, activities/tasks, main content areas

Prepare a preliminary listing of these and use “member checking”

Be prepared for conflict, disagreement, and compromise

There should be a deliverable (a design document)

It summarizes the key points of the site and acts as an initial blueprint

The major stakeholders should all sign off on the document


Technical: Design and build

<html><head><title>Web page</title><script language=javascript></script></head><body>Text<IMG SRC=image.gif”></body></html>

Code

Scripts

Words

Images

Presentation: visual display

Structure: Organization of content

Behavior: What people do on the site

Basics of web architecture


Site design and basic questions

Where am I?

What can I do here?

Where can I go?


IAs work with four kinds of systems

Organization/structural systems

These constrain the ways content can be grouped

Labeling systems

Artifacts of taxonomies that determine logical relations among content groups.

Navigation systems

Provide means of moving through the site based on the scheme for the labeling

Searching systems

Help resolve user problems with navigation, labelling and organization


What do IAs deliver?

Site map

This is a visualization of the taxonomy and structural relationships among content domains

It also provides an overview of the navigation scheme

Content maps

These are detailed depictions showing what is on each page and how content on some pages is linked to content on other pages

Page view

A drawing or block diagram showing what information, links, content, promotional space, and navigation will be on each page


What else?

Prototypes:

An outline or storyboard of a functional prototype

Could also be a working prototypes with HTML, Flash, Director, or PowerPoint

Written reports

A narrative description of the site linking it to organizational mission, messages, and marketing constraints

Change management

How will the site grow and change over time?

What will be involved in maintenance?


Test, test, test

Track down participants through customer lists, related organizations, discussion lists, conferences

Pay them if you can afford it

What should you ask?

Get their name and use it

Find out their web skill level and familiarity

Ask other questions essential to viewing the results

What should they do?

Give them tasks, watch, and listen

Let them browse, watch, and listen


The process of information architecture

Planning and strategy: predesign analysis

Information organization: Content development

Launch

Conceptual design: prototyping

Production: Navigation systems Search tool

Labeling systems Operations

Testing: Quality assurance

and usability

Feedback and redesign

Maintenance and updating

advanced information architecture- fall 02 the sociotechnical analysis of complex web sites i....

Documents

information science

information ecologies

information spaces

digital information

web design

design of organization

principles of design

structural design