Information Architecture

1
Information Architecture

• Professor Larry Heimann
• Carnegie Mellon University
• 88-272 Lecture Notes Fall 1999

2
Agenda Announcements

• Announcements
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Online
• What Does an Information Architect Do?
• Organizing Information
• Navigation Systems
• Labeling Systems
• Developing Information Architecture Plans

3
Finding the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Online

• What do you hate about surfing the web?
• What do you like about surfing the web?

4
Who Are Information Architects?

• According to Wurman (1996), IAs are
• 1. The individual who organizes the patterns
  inherent in data, making the complex clear
• 2. A person who creates the structure or map of
  information with allows others to find their own
  personal path to knowledge
• 3. An emerging 21st century professional
  occupation addressing the needs of the age
  focused upon clarity, human understanding, and
  the science of organizing information.

5
Difficulties in Organizing Information

• Problem 1 Ambiguity
• language is ambiguous define pitch (15
  definitions)
• ambiguous label definitions add to confusion
• Problem 2 Heterogeneity
• differing levels of information granularity
• problem of multiple formats
• Problem 3 Differences in perspectives
• Problem 4 Internal politics

6
Organization Schemes

• Difference between schemes and structures
• org. scheme defines the shared characteristics of
  content items and influences the logical grouping
  of those items
• org. structure defines the types of relationships
  between content items and groups
• Exact organization schemes
• alphabetical schemes
• chronological schemes
• geographical schemes

7
Organization Schemes (continued)

• Ambiguous organization schemes
• why use ambiguous organization schemes?
• topical schemes
• task-oriented schemes
• audience-specific schemes
• metaphor-driven schemes
• hybrid schemes
• Ambiguous vs. exact organizational schemes
• exact works best when user knows precisely what
  is wanted
• ambiguous best for browsing and associative
  learning

8
Organizational Structures

• Hierarchical structure
• used to organize information since the beginning
  of time
• examples of hierarchy include
• books
• family trees
• classifying life

life
plant
animal
...
flower
tree
...
annual
perennial
...
...
usually good to start with hierarchical
approach
9
Designing Hierarchical Structures

• Hierarchical categories are (for the most part)
  mutually exclusive
• may place some ambiguous items in 2 categories
• too many cross-listings and hierarchy loses value
• Important to consider the balance between breadth
  and depth in an information hierarchy
• breath remember cognitive limits use 7 2 rule
• depth usability testing show that people get
  frustrated going past 4 levels and more likely to
  leave site.
• plan for and consider changes/growth in the future

10
Hypertext Structures

• 2 components to the hypertext model
• chunks of information to be linked
• the links existing between chucks
• allows for great flexibility and complexity
• potential for confusion high if a user cant
  formulate a (correct) mental model of the site
• not unusual for users to get lost in highly
  hypertexted sites
• In addition to context issue, hypertextual links
  are often personal in nature
• Best used as a complement to other structures

11
Database Structure

• Why use a relational database model to organize
  information on a web site?
• powerful field-specific searching capability
• content usually (substantially) easier w/
  database
• facilitate distributed content management (w/
  proper security!)
• Limitations of the database model
• rigid rules may not fit well with other
  heterogeneous content
• technically more difficult than plain HTML
• Examples of the use the database model

12
Designing Navigation Systems

• The importance of navigation systems
• Browser navigation features
• review of common features
• how site designers sometimes disable these
  features
• The need to build context for navigating
• helped by including organizations name on each
  page
• side bars or headers which present structure of
  the information hierarchy and current location
• Improving flexibility of the hierarchical model
  via navigation systems

13
Example of Gopher Site
Example of Hypertext System
14
Types of Navigation Systems

• Hierarchical navigation systems
• Global navigation systems
• may be as simple as graphical navigation bar at
  bottom
• sensitive to the flow of movement within site
• Local navigation systems
• large sites often have sub sites which have
  unique flavor
• special navigation system may be developed
  specifically for the sub site (e.g., game
  software _at_ Interplay)
• careful integrating local global navigation --
  dont confuse
• Ad hoc navigation

15
Integrated Navigation Elements

• Navigation bars
• graphical vs. text navigation bars
• placement of navigation bars
• Frames (a controversial navigation element)
• screen real estate taken up by frames
• confuses page model concept may interfere w/
  bookmarking
• display speed is hurt used w/ heavy graphics
  makes it worse
• adds a layer of complexity to the design
• Pull down menus
• easy to (over)pack these menus with lots of
  options

16
Remote Navigation Elements

• Remote navigation elements supplement the
  information hierarchy and other navigational
  elements.
• Table of Contents
• Index
• Site Map
• Guided Tour

17
Importance of Labeling Systems

• Labeling is a form of representation used to
  communicate information efficiently.
• Users have limited attention spans -- will not
  try too hard to decode label meanings.
• Ambiguous labels make bad impressions -- web
  users tend to be unforgiving.
• Self-centered labels may work for internal
  people, but turn away external users

18
Contrasting Labeling Systems

• Unplanned Us Labeling System
• Faculty Skunkworks
• Office for Instructional Technology
• K12 PDN Projects for Web Page
• Digital Libraries Project
• Office of Technology Management
• Office of Communication Mngt
• Extension Services
• The New Media Center
• Institute for Information Technology
• Project 2000
• English Composition Board
• Technology Dissemination Board

• Planned Us Labeling System
• Humanities Social Science
• Business Education
• Engineering Education
• Fine Arts Drama
• Computer Services
• Instructional Technology
• Alumni Relations
• Housing Office
• Student Life
• Y2K Planning
• University Business Office
• Campus Police/Security Services

19
Types of Labeling Systems

• Labels with navigation systems
• need to be consistent
• some conventions are emerging
• can be augmented by brief description
• Labels as indexing terms
• Link labels
• Labels as headings
• Iconic labeling systems

20
Creating Effective Labeling Systems

• Successful labeling systems mirror the thinking
  and language of a sites users, not owners
• Where do these labels come from?
• from content
• from users/search engine logs
• from experts or established sources
• from other sites
• using what already exists

21
Developing IA Plans

• Defining goals
• what is the mission of the organization?
• how does the website support the org. mission?
• does the web as a new medium force us to
  reconsider organizations mission?
• what are the short- and long-term goals?
• how do we envision the website in two years from
  now?
• how will we measure the success of the site?

22
Evaluating Web Site Success
23
Developing IA Plans (continued)

• Learning about intended audience
• who are the most important audiences for the
  site?
• are there other audiences were not thinking
  about?
• are there differences between the most important
  audiences and most frequent users? Implications?
• how do these audiences currently interact with
  us?
• What is the value-added to the different
  audiences for the information or services
  provided by the web site?
• Identifying content functional requirements
• Grouping Content

24
Final Thoughts...

• (given in lecture)