s510: introduction to information science fall 13 designing information architecture: theory and...

S510: Introduction to Information Science Fall ‘13

Designing information architecture: theory and practice

I. IA as theory

• Information interaction as a basis for IA

• Cognitive work analysis

II. IA work

• IA checklists

• IA and library portals

III. IA practice

• What do IAs have to know?

• What do IAs do?

• IA deliverables


I. IA as theory

Information interaction: Providing a framework for information architecture

Toms believes that there is a gap in our understanding of how we interact with information technologies

The model of information interaction can address this gap and provide a theoretical basis for IA

~What is an example of a way in which a web interface enhances the information task? Of an interface that hinders an information task?

~Apply the concept of information interaction to your use of a web site - what happens?


I. IA as theory

Toms argues that the initial focus should be how people interact in information-rich environments

Interaction: situated action with an IS involving querying, browsing (filling a gap in HCI)

Primarily use of GUI with some command line work

We “immerse ourselves” in info

IA enables access by providing a systematic and primarily visual approach to the organization of

content

IA facilitates the quest for informationToms, E.G. (2002). Information interaction: Providing a framework for information architecture. JASIST, 53(10), 855-862.


I. IA as theory

How information interaction (II) occurs

We can come to a system with an “information task”

Problem-solving: we go through a patterned process and end with a relevance judgment

We can also have chance encounters, encounters with information, scanning activities

These are less patterned but still end with some type of judgment

Then we browse, navigate, search, evaluate…

II is the basis of the person’s use experience and is shaped by web technology


A model of information interaction

Formulate goal: object or purpose

Select category: approach system and select search term

Note cues: landmarks

Extract information

Integrate information

EvaluateToms (2002; 658)

I. IA as theory


I. IA as theory

II depends on system, user, and content

User-system: browsing or querying the system;

respond to system output

System-content: applying rules to content for storage,

manipulation, retrieval

User-content: reading, evaluating, analyzing output

Could be most importantToms (2002, 859)


I. IA as theory

A case study of collaborative information retrieval

Fidel et al use a “cognitive work analysis” approach to conduct a case study of collaborative IR to uncover the factors that influence people's information behaviors

After contrasting psychological, social, and multidimensional approaches to information

behaviors they focus on the human-information interactions that occur in people's routine work activities

~How does collaboration in the workplace influence people's information behaviors?

~What is the advantage of using cognitive work analysis to study ways people use information in the workplace?


I. IA as theory

Recent activity has focused on theoretical development in human-information interaction

Critical: what is the set of variables that matter when considering this interaction?

Prior work as focused on a single dimension

They use a naturalistic approach to uncover the factors that make a difference in this type of II

They found that the factors that influence CIR are in different dimensions that interact with each otherFidel, R., Pejtersen, A.M., Cleal, B. and Bruce, H. (2004). A multidimensional approach to the study of human-information interaction: A case study of collaborative information retrieval. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 55(11), 939 - 953.


I. IA as theory

The prevailing approach in information behavior research in LIS is psychological

It focuses primarily on cognitive factors and less on others, such as affective and perceptual factors

How cognition shapes information behavior

Allows quantification and measurement, and prediction

The objects of study are cognitive states and processes in relation to information behavior

Important concept is “information need”

Problem: ignores sociocultural, organizational, and technical dimensions


I. IA as theory

The social approach focuses primarily on social, organizational, and political states and processes as impetus for information behavior

Focuses on the social context, interactions, and discourse through which II occurs

Does not consider the concept of information need as central to the understanding of information behavior

The study of information behavior cannot be based on isolated individuals, or outside a specific context

Problem: research with the social approach offers few descriptive generalizations about information behavior


I. IA as theory

Multidimensional approach assumes human information behavior takes place in complex contexts

Also that we are goal driven

The better this complexity is understood and analyzed, the more relevant the outcomes of research will be to the design of information systems and services

Requires flexible methods to understand information seeking in context (use as well)

Studies using a multidimensional approach typically focus on a specific group of people, in a certain context, performing a particular task


I. IA as theory

They use “cognitive work analysis”

Based on general systems thinking, adaptive control systems, and ecological psychology

Focuses on work activities, their organizational relationships, and constraints of the work place

Also actors’ cognitive and social activities and guidingvalues, priorities and personal preferences performing tasks on the job

It is a holistic approach that makes it possible to account for several dimensions



I. IA as theory



II. IA work

• IA checklists


III. IA practice


• What do IAs do?

• IA deliverables


II. IA work

Building an Information architecture checklist

Downey and Banerjee describe the method by which they developed an IA checklist that can be used in the evaluation of system architecture

Their goal is to embed the checklist in the larger process of an architectural review

~What is the version of IA that is used in their approach? How does it differ from the approach we have discussed?

~If you were evaluating the IA of a system, would you use the checklist? Why or why not?


Definition: The art and science of organizing information to support findability, manageability and usefulness from the infrastructural level to the user interface level

An enterprise wide activity that includes dataarchitecture and metadata and knowledge management

Can be strategic and top down (big IA) or tactical and bottom up (small IA)

Big IA focuses on user experience, little IA focuses on information organization

IA must be part of the systems development processDowney, L. and Banerjee, S. (2011). Building an Information Architecture Checklist: Encouraging and Enabling IA from Infrastructure to the User Interface Architecture. Journal of Information Architecture 2(2).

II. IA work


Checklist: a mechanism for reminding and prompting attention to issues or topics

Can be general: outlining the steps in a process

Can be specific: listing detailed items to be addressed

Used in software engineering architectural review

Find design problems early

Manage and leverage software and hardware infrastructure

Identify technology gaps

Enable most productive use of information assets

II. IA work


Purpose: remind reviewers of pertinent areas and specific issues to be addressed during systems design

Existing IA checklists checklists focus more on process, design, and design review

Do not include issues of infrastructure, platform, services, technology, policy, and standards

Exception: an informal search checklist

Includes system architecture, performance, access control, relevance tuning, federated search and analytics

II. IA work


Building the checklist: basic structure

Preparing and organizing information

Architecture: structure and composition of a repository, information collection or individual document

Intelligence: enriched content, metadata, categorization

Accessing information

Search and retrieval: querying information and obtaining matching results

Findability: quality of being locatable or navigable

II. IA work


Revised checklist

Information organization: Taxonomy, modeling, structure, semantics

Information generation: content, user experience, system interface, scalability, standards

Information integration: analytics, search, composition

Information consumption: search, metrics, monitoring

Information governance: stewardship, master data management, reuse, policy

Information quality of service: security, availability, reliability, usefulness

II. IA work


Final checklist

Consumption: general, availability, metrics

Generation: general, extraction, characteristics, metrics

Organization: modeling, classification, semantics, structure, user experience

Access: search, discovery, analytics, user experience, navigation, system interface, metrics

Governance: stewardship, classification, policy

Quality of service: security, availability, reliability, scalability, usefulness

II. IA work


Embedding

Business unit identifies need for new information system

OIT Intake process: checklist is used with high level questions

Contract award: detailed IA solution considerations used

Implementation: IA activities carried out

II. IA work


Library portals and information architecture: Librarians emerging info-architects

Eke argues that librarians should be the main IAs when designing library portals because they are uniquely qualified to do this work

Roles include: content creators, copyright experts, digital reference service personnel, metadata creators, portal creators

~Do you agree that librarians make good IAs?

~Think of a library portal with which you are familiar - how could its IA be improved?

II. IA work


Portal: a web site or service that provides information content to serve a specific community

An “anchor” or starting point making all the types of information (destinations) available to a designated audience by passing through the one point

Systems which gather a variety of useful information resources into a single, “one stop” web page

A browser experience that has an entry point (or gateway) that is a starting point for a user experienceEke, H.N. (2011). Library portals and information architecture: Librarians emerging info-architects. International Research: Journal of Library and Information Science. 1(2), 101-113

II. IA work


II. IA work

A library website has three types of content:

1. Information about the library: staff directories, departmental descriptions, maps, hours

2. E-versions of traditional library services: online tutorials, book renewals, ILL, and status reports, purchase requests, online chat/reference, virtual tours

3. Access to library content: catalogs, indexes, full-text magazines and journals, digitized special collections,

free and commercial ebooks, government documents, Internet resources, licensed content from vendors

Library portals are organized gateways that structure access to information for patrons


Components

A single-search interface across multiple electronic sources and the return of results in a consistent library customizable format—but identified by source

User and patron authentication by checking the clients against a library database

Locally created files on its web server

Resource linking allows a library to seamlessly tie electronic resources together

Content enhancement: tables of contents, book jacket images, author biographies, and reviews

II. IA work


Who designs the IA and organizes and manages the library portal?

Librarian training is directly applicable to IA so how information is structured on the library portal is their responsibility

Developing information classification schemes, the creation of hierarchies, thesauri and databases, and concentration on information navigation and access

Librarians are content creators, copyright experts, work with metadata

They provide digital reference services

II. IA work



I. IA as theory



II. IA work

• IA checklists


III. IA practice


• What do IAs do?

• IA deliverables


III. IA practice

How has the job of the web administrator changed over time

Several years ago, a “webmaster” would

Plan and develop the site

Design web pages

Hand code HTML

Write scripts and programs

Create content

Configure, maintain, and secure the web server

Today, these tasks are a smaller part of the jobwww.boyscouttroop261.org/Webmaster.jpg


III. IA practice

These days

Coders mark up the pages

Content developers write the pages

Graphic designers create the images

Programmers and database designers manage the back end

Technicians configure, maintain, and secure the computer equipment

jceo.org/_uploads/web%20team.JPG


III. IA practice

And the web site administrator

Describes how the site should be organized

Describes what a web site ought to look like

Explains how it integrates into an overall management or marketing strategy

Manages web designers and developers

The job has evolved into more of a management position

What has it become?


III. IA practice

These days most large scale information design projects are done by teams

In the team, the IA plays a key role

IAs are deeply involved in web design but can work with any type of information design project

Software, game design, educational CDs

It is a professional role in web design and the design of digital media collections

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


III. IA practice

It is 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

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


III. IA practice

A practitioner’s definition of IA

“At its most basic, [IA] is the construction of a structure or the organization of information.

In a library, for example, [IA] is a combination of the catalog system and the physical design of the building that holds the books.

On the Web, [IA] is a combination of organizing a site’s content into categories and creating an interface to

support those categories. It stems from traditional architecture, which is made up of architectural programming and architectural planning.”Kimen, S. (2003). 10 questions about information architecture. Builder.com builder.com.com/5100-31-5074224.html


III. IA practice

www.xmlbystealth.net/images/NY-69194-full.jpg


III. IA practice

The evolution of the web site development has been in the direction of greater specialization

Technical

Managerial

Conceptual

Database designer

Programmer

HTML coder

Graphic designer

Content developer

Information architect

The company


III. IA practice

What should an IA know?

LIS: information organization and access

Computer science: programming and databases

Usability engineering: how people use the site

Graphic design: developing imagery to support the site’s mission

Writing: to explain to peers and decision makers

Psychology: understanding the intended audience

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


III. IA practice

What else does an IA have to know?

Interaction design: creation and maintenance of tasks and processes that users will encounter in an information space

Project management: strategies, skills, and procedures to organize, lead and bring tasks to closure

Content management: processes, policies, and procedures governing the creation and

transfer of content

Knowledge management: processes, policies, and procedures that govern the organization’s

use of its “intellectual capital”


III. IA practice

What does an IA have to do?

Planning: what are the main goals and strategy for the site?

Given the constraints what can be done?

What are the relevant content domains?

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, resources are available?


Basic activities of IA

Structuring information

Data (facts and figures) to which we give meaning

Knowledge: Internalized and interpreted information

Structuring information spaces

Levels of granularity of different elements

Organizing content

Arranging these elements into meaningful categories and establishing relations among them

Labeling content and naming categories

III. IA practice


A broad view of IA work

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?

III. IA practice


What IAs do:

Illustrate key concepts or steps through graphics

Design site maps

Create metaphors to brand content and promote navigation

Develop style and formatting templates for elements of information

Conduct user analyses and test user experience

Create scenarios and storyboards

Build taxonomies and indicesDillon and Turnbull, 3

III. IA practice


III. IA practice

In a typical project you can expect to:

Gather information from end-users and stakeholders

Design and conduct online surveys, interviews and the ethnographic technique of contextual inquiry and

analysis

Test the system in a manner with experts

Run usability tests in the lab

Encourage people to use the prototype

Solicit feedback, analyze search logs and continually learn from personal interaction with employees requesting information and research


III. IA practice

An IA helps clients define their Internet strategies

Research, design, architect, develop and implement solutions that execute those strategies

Typically involves defining and documenting a site’s structure, navigation and interactivity

Based on translating client business rules and user needs into web structures and processes

The work becomes a blueprint contributing to the overall strategic direction, vision and scope of a

project

The IA works with “user experience modelers” to analyze and model user tasks and usage scenarios


The elements of user experience: User-centered design for the web

Garrett argues that IAs must attend to the elements of the user experience when designing a digital space

The focus is on the five planes: strategy, scope, structure, skeleton and surface

Goal: take all aspects of the user experience into account

~ What are three main design scenarios and what are the problems with each?

~How can an IA understand user needs better than the users?

III. IA practice


III. IA practice

The key to a successful web site is a successful user experience

This produces value in some way for the site’s owners

Increased sales, conversion rate, decreased abandonment

The goal is to improve efficiency

Helping them work faster or make fewer mistakes

There is a conceptual framework that can be used to deconstruct the elements of the user experienceGarrett, J.J. (2003). The elements of user experience: User-centered design for the web. Boston, MA: New Riders.


III. IA practice

The planes of user experienceThe surface plane

Web pages, text, images, multimedia + functionalities

The skeleton plane

Buttons, tabs, blocked out space (for text/images etc)

The structure plane

The hierarchical organization of the information chunks

The scope plane

The range of content on the site

The strategy plane

What the site is supposed to do


III. IA practice

Garrett’s model of the user experience

Web as interface

Web as hypertext

http://www.cmsreview.com/Resources/images/JJGElements.gif


III. IA practice

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?


III. IA practice

To evaluate the site visitor’s experience, use search, access and error logs

To check on search terms, where people go, and places where problems occur

To evaluate the site

Competitor analysis and comparison with previous versions

Have typical visitors do card sorts to assess chunking

Assess completeness of content and functionality: can you do what you are supposed to be able to do?Toub, S (2000). Evaluating information architecture: A practical guide for assessing web site organization. Argus Associates.


III. IA practice


Assess how the component parts are organized and interlinked

Determine the parent-child relationships and look for similar siblings grouped together

Determine degree of overlap among sections

A good hierarchy has both high within-category similarity and low between-category

similarity

A bad one has much overlap between categories

This can be done by inspection


III. IA practice


Evaluate the labeling scheme

How predictable are they?

How well do they reflect major categories and labels used in the business or educational sector?

How effective are they?

Other criteria for evaluation

Does the site use language that visitors can understand?

How does the site handle errors?


III. IA practice

Other criteria for evaluation

How often does the navigation require that the visitor return to the home page to go elsewhere in the site?

How effective is the use of icons?

How well are the forms constructed?

Is the design consistent throughout the site?

How well do the help file, site map or other finding tools work?

Is there a site map or other help function?


Design of social space

http://www.susqu.edu/campus_activities/Images/Social_Space/blueprint.jpg

III. IA practice


Design of information space

http://www.prosight.com/files/screenshots/solutions-architecture-overview.jpg

III. IA practice


Design of information space

http://www.chathamanimalrescue.org/images/site2.gif

III. IA practice


Another view

http://www.mnsu.edu/its/web/wtf/categories1.jpg

III. IA practice


III. IA practice

Site map for DoD Information Analysis Centers

http://iac.dtic.mil/site_map.html


III. IA practice

UN Environment Program: Division of Technology, Industry and Economics

http://www.uneptie.org/energy/site_map/index.htm


http://knowledgefoundry.unc.edu/Webpage_for_Russian/Russian_Content_Map_v3_ch2.jpg

III. IA practice


III. IA practice

Web strategy for SI alumni website project

http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~kansaln/info-arch1.htm

s510: introduction to information science fall 13 designing information architecture: theory and...

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theory information interaction

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