Info arch

Information Architecture

Wednesday, February 6, 13

Audience


Purpose


Different buildingsDifferent purposes


the same is true for web sites


logical structures


structural design of shared information

environments


Information architecture is...


• Information

• Structuring, organizing, labeling

• Finding and managing

• Art and science


“web sites... are not lifeless, static constructs.”


“Rather, there is a dynamic, organic nature to both the information systems and the broader environments in which they exist.”


Information ecology


OrganicWednesday, February 6, 13

Streaming informationWednesday, February 6, 13

Organization


“We’re talking messiness and mistakes, trial and error, survival of the fittest.”


What isn’t Info. Architecture?


Graphic designSoftware developmentUsability engineering


3Wednesday, February 6, 13

1. Context


Context

• business goals

• funding

• politics

• culture

• technology resources

• constraints


2. Content


(The Stuff)

• documents

• applications

• services

• schema

• metadata


Content

• document / data types

• content objects

• volume

• existing structure


3. Users


Users

• audience

• tasks

• needs

• information seeking behavior

• experience


User Needs User Behaviors


Avoid being too simple.


Specific info through targeted keyword search?


Multiple options?


Browsing?


Exhaustive research?


Finding it again?


Let’s apply this.


Visualizing Architecture


Content Mapping


Documents