3

Our world is a mess...

4

...and getting more messy everyday.

Many people get overwhelmed when they encounter a mess.

They think of ways to hide the mess...

Or they think of ways to pretty up the mess...

New User tutorial to explain the

mess

Incentive structure for dealing with the mess

Fancy Front end fluffing

...but the mess is still a mess.

...all they have bought is time.

Until the mess grows(as all messes do when given time)

I LOVE MAKING SENSE OF MESSES.

The majority of messes we face are made of information (and people)

Thinking about INFORMATIONas material is hard

Information can be made from the lack of physical material

$3.99 $7.99 $5.75

What you know changes the information you are left with.

• Data is facts, observations, and questions about something.

• Content is whatever a user is interacting with, or as a maker, whatever you’re arranging or sequencing.

• Information is is whatever a user interprets from the arrangement or sequence of things they encounter.

Information ≠ Content or Data

ContextConte

nt

Information architecture is how we arrange the parts to be

understandable as a whole.

3 LESSONSTO MAKE SENSE OF ANYTHING

#1 LANGUAGE MATTERS

Apple

Dumptruck

Jargon

Banana

??!?!

Word

How manyduplicative nounsdoes your team deal with?

How manyduplicative verbsare related to those nouns?

Model Change vs. Label Change

Thing A

Thing B

Thing

OBJECTObject

One label per noun or verbis not always the best way to go

The goal is not simplifyingThe goal is to know what you mean

when you say what you say.

Controlled vocabulariesare the greatest thing since sliced bread or pockets.

@jcolman’s thumb showing off my book’s controlled vocabulary

https://pages.18f.gov/content-guide/plain-language/

• Identify & Define Nouns First

• Identify Nested Nouns

• Eliminate Duplicative Nouns

• Attach Verbs to Nouns

• Beware of Adjectives

How to Get Started with a Controlled Vocabulary

Be the one to slay the semantic dragons in your

organization.

#2 THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY

There are only 5 ways to organize anything1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy2. Alphabetical: Rome starts with “R”3. Time: Rome started in 753 BC4. Category: Rome is a Romantic city5. Hierarchy: Rome is within Italy, which is within Europe,

which is within the Eastern and Northern Hemisphere

*HTRichardSaulWurman-Informa6onAnxiety2

Organizing things isn't the hard part

Agreeing is the hard part

In most contexts, taxonomy is a tool of rhetoric not an exact science.

(Sorry Linnaeus)

If Fresh Direct classified produce scientifically, no one would be able to find anything.

In the 19th century, the US Supreme Court decided that for the purpose of tariffs, tomatoes are a vegetable.

Taxonomy is RhetoricThe way you choose to organize your produce says something about you.

There is no one right way to organize something.

The only thing that matters is reaching your goals.

Beware of corporate underpants.

Home

About Recipes Festivals IYS Book Distribution Downloads Donate Press Room Contact Us

Founder Acharya of ISKCON

Yatra

Kartik Yatra 2010

Kartik Yatra 2011

Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari

Suchindram

Thirukkurungudi

Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum)

Thiruvattar-Adikeshav Temple

Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram

Tirupallani Temple

Sri Rangam

Anbil Kovil

Appakudatthan

Thiruvellarai

Sri Rangam

Chandan Yatra

Pushya Abhishek

Govardhan Puja

Drama Festival

Nauka Vhar

Jal Krida

Jhulan Yatra

Holi

Radhagopinath Brahmotsavam

Janmashtami Donation Form

Newsletters

Back to Godhead

How to Donate Annamrita

Artha Conclave

Bhaktivedanta Hospital

Ghatkopar Rath Yatra

Gita Championship League

Govardhan Eco Village

Janmashtami

Misc Coverages

Radhanath Swami

Shivaji Park Rath Yatra

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2015 - Artha

2013

2015 - Ghatkopar Rath Yatra

2015-Gita Champions League

2012

2015

2014 - Janmashtami

Nepal Earth Quake Relief by ISKCON - 2015

2015 - RNS

2013 - Shivaji Park Rath Yatra

Srila Prabhupada Radhanath Swami Downloads Community

Damodar Ashtakam

Forms

Newsletters

StoriesChandan YatraChandan Yatra< Recipe Name > (36)

Daily Darshan Calendar

Chandan YatraChandan Yatra<Date> (365)

Chandan YatraChandan YatraPhoto

RSS Twitter Facebook Google + Radhanath Swami

Inspires

Media

Photos

Subscribe Back to Godhead Daily Audio Lectures

<Lecture Name><Lecture Name><Lecture Name>

Temple Live

http://www.radhanathswami.us/http://www.radhagopinathmedia.com

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

https://prabhupadavani.org/

Download PDF

http://radhanathswamiinspires.com/ http://store.krishna.com/Page.bok?template=Subscriptions_Splash

Chandan YatraChandan Yatra< Post Name >

< Form Name >< Form Name >< Form Name > (4)

< Form Name >< Form Name >< Newsletter Date > (2)

http://food.radhagopinath.com/

Email Alerts

http://donations.radhagopinath.com/http://iysmumbai.com/

Chandan YatraChandan Yatra<Post> (< 444)

Users are often confused when our internal categories end up in our

navigation taxonomies.

Card Sorting FTW

Be the one to show an alternative way of

organizing something.

#3 WE NEED PICTURES

Pictures give us something in common to point to.

Take the time and space needed to collect and iterate.

Visualize something hard to explain

Inspire Realistic, Not Simplistic Thinking

Pie

Crust

TomatoSauce & cheese

Toppings

Slice

Be Careful of Reductionism

Show the process, not just results

Pizza

Crust

cheese

Toppings

TomatoSauce

FamiliarWords

With agreement comes momentum.

Be the one to make a picture of the monster in

everyone’s head.

• Slay the semantic dragons in your organization

• Show an alternative way of organizing something

• Make a picture of the monster in everyone’s head

To start making sense of your mess:

IA is not just for information architects.IA is practiced by everybody.

ps. I wrote a book about information architecture for everybody!http://abbytheia.com/makesense/