INFM 700

Course Review

Paul JacobsThe iSchoolUniversity of Maryland

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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Today’s Topics Course outline

Review of highlights and tricky issues

Ground rules for exam

Q & A

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Course Outline Introduction

Principles, organization and navigation (M&R chs. 1-7) (2 sessions)

Techniques and technology (M&R chs. 10-12 plus case studies) (2 sessions)

Taxonomies and metadata (M&R ch. 9)

Search (M&R ch. 8, Manning chs.) (2 sessions)

Software and business issues (M&R chs. 15-18 plus survey)

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Information Architecture What is it? (for starters)

Architecture – structural design [of web sites] to support function and form

Information – organized [electronic] content

So our goal is to master the design of web sites for organizations that effectively deliver information to their users

Consider: the information ecology (users, context, content) Goals; signs of good and bad architecture Basic skills and techniques for achieving goals

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The IA Circles (“Ecology”)

from M&R, p. 25

Context

Content Users

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The Process 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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Users and Methods Users are tough, fickle, inarticulate, lying,

complaining, ignorant, obtuse, inconsistent, …

…but user experience is still our main measure of success

So what do we do? Use varying strategies/components Apply “90-10” or “80-20” rules (you can’t please

everyone) Accommodate variability in our measurements/design

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Information Architecture Components Organization systems

“How we categorize information”

Labeling systems “How we represent information”

Navigation systems “How we browse or move through information”

Searching systems “How we search information”

from M&R, pp. 49-52

Loosely, “structured”

Loosely, “unstructured”

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Architecture Components (examples) Major organization systems (e.g., by topic, task,

community, chronology, …)

Major navigation systems (e.g., navigation bars, breadcrumbs, top-level links)

Local navigation systems

“Contextual” navigation systems

Indices and guides (e.g., sitemap, table of contents, site guide)

Search

Invisible components

from M&R, pp. 49-52

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Organization Systems Hierarchical organization

What is a hierarchy? Why organize hierarchically Shallow and broad vs. deep and narrow (why the

tradeoff, where is the optimum)

Relation to navigation, layout, blueprints

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Navigation Systems Global

Shown everywhere Tells the user “what’s important”

Local Shown in specific parts of the site Tells the user “what’s nearby”

Contextual Shown only in specific situations Tells the user “what’s related”

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Research & Strategy Research: identify goals & issues

User needs Organizational/context Content and other issues

Strategy: build and sell the plan

Context

Content Users

Business goals, funding, politics, culture, technology, human resources

Data types, content objects, metadata, volume, existing structure

Audience, tasks, user behavior, experience, vocabulary

MR, p. 233

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Process Overview (More Detail)

“The Elements of

User Experience”

Jesse James Garrett

http://jjg.net

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Research and Strategy Methods User and requirements analysis (inc., e.g.,

interviews, competitive analysis)

Content analysis

Role of user studies (e.g., surveys, user testing, card sorting)

From research to strategy

Relationship to documentation

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Design and Documentation Deliverables

Conceptual Diagrams

Blueprints (structural)

Wireframes (physical)

Text (e.g., reports)

Presentations and meetings

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Blueprints - Process

Mostly “Big Projects,” scaled down for small projects- yearly, quarterly

Mental Model ValidateDiagram &Prototype

I nitialDiscovery

AudienceDefinition

Content Audit

Task Analysis

Prioritiztaion

Mental Model

Content Model

Align MM & Content

Define the Audience

Prioritize

IA &Interaction

Diagrams and Prototypes

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Top-down and bottom-up

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Metadata Literally “data about data”

“a set of data that describes and gives information about other data” ― Oxford English Dictionary

Why do we need this?

Types of metadata Descriptive/subjective/content (e.g. author, subject, keywords,

…) Administrative (e.g. owner, rights, cost, creation date, version, …) Technical (e.g. format, size, dependencies, programs) . . . .

In practical terms: Metadata helps users locate, navigate, interpret content Metadata helps organizations manage content Metadata helps systems manipulate content

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Related Concepts & Uses Taxonomies

Anything organized in some sort of hierarchical structure

Tagging Adding almost any kind of metadata to content, but now

often descriptive and user-provided

Thesauri Focus on relations between terms Focus on “concepts”

Ontologies Usually model a specific domain or part of the world Generally machine-readable

Increasing complexity and richness

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Goals for Search Sessions Understand the basic issues in information

retrieval (searching primarily unstructured text)(e.g. words vs. concepts, word problems, recall and precision)

Know the techniques generally used by modern search engines (vector space model, term weighting)

Learn how search engines can be used most effectively in information architecture (e.g. configuring search, integrating search and browsing, tricks like “best bets”)

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What we control (the IA part)? Requirements and search engine selection

Developing search requirements Build vs. buy Vendor evaluation/selection Consultants?

Content selection What to search/zones/etc. Tags

Search engine configuration Zones, what gets indexed, sometimes how Number of results, sometimes recall vs. precision Others (very often interface-related)

Interfaces

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Software Tools: Overview Maybe the most important decision you make

Trends in the industry Increasing complexity Consolidation Interoperability (e.g., objects, XML)

Key IA software tools Back-end databases Content management systems Portals “Middleware” Personalization, other utilities

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Business Issues (Early On) Many mentioned already (e.g., politics, enlisting

stakeholders, money, existing infrastructure. etc.)

Making the business case: ROI vs. “Columbus and the New World” Budgets and total cost of ownership “Buy in”

Defining the strategy Align actions with business goals Show examples Iterate, and involve users

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Business Issues (What Goes Wrong)

We’re late, and we’re over budget – why? Overly optimistic projections Done in by the vendor/consultant sales team Client doesn’t supply needed input Can’t find the right people (“mythical person month”)

Nothing seems to work – why?

Other vendor/people issues

It looks great to me, but the client doesn’t agree Requirements creep Management changes Business changes

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Ground rules for exam

What can be on it Anything that’s “really” covered, not passing mention Focus on concepts, but can include definitions,

examples

Style of exam As objective as possible Mostly multiple choice, some matches, short answers Designed to fit in < 1.5 hours

Degree of difficulty and grading

Prepare, but try to make the most of it and enjoy!