Process and Methodology:ResearchInformation Architecture

Methodology Overview

• Designing a web site is similar to designing any software or information system. It is hard work and requires a phased approach.

Process of Information Architecture Development

Project

Research Strategy Design Implementation

Administration

Program

Simplified view of the development process

Research Framework

Context

Content Users

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

Audiences, tasks, needs, information seeking behavior, experience, vocabularies

Document/data types, content objects,

metadata, volume, existing structure

Information Ecologies

Tools and methods for Research

BackgroundResearch

Presentations and

meetings

StakeholderInterviews

TechnologyAssessment

Context

HeuristicEvaluation

MetadataAnd content

analysis

Contentmapping

BenchmarkingContent

Search logand

Clickstreamanalysis

Use cases and

personas

ContextualInquiry

User interviewsand usertesting

Users

Tools and methods for Research: Context• Background Research

– It is a good idea to begin by reviewing background materials.

– For example gather documents related to the site’s mission, goals, intended audiences, and content.

– Organization Charts capture components of the user’s mental model of the organization.

Tools and methods for Research: Context• Introductory presentation

– Be sure that authors, software developers, graphic designers, marketing folks, and managers understand:

• What is IA and why is it important?• How will the IA relate the the other components of

the site and organization• What are the major milestones and deliverables?

Tools and methods for Research: Context• Research meetings

– Strategy team meeting • Working group in charge of the management of the

web site effort

– Content management meetings• Content Owners and managers• Detailed discussions about content management

– Information technology meeting• System administrators and software developers

Tools and methods for Research: Context• Stakeholder Interviews

– Interviews with senior executives and managers

• Open ended questions about the current information environment and their vision for the organization web site.

Tools and methods for Research: Context• Technology Assessment

– Evaluation of IT resources available for the project.

– This should be done early in the project

Tools and methods for Research: Content• Content includes:

– Documents– Data– Applications– E-services– Images– Audio and video files

Tools and methods for Research: Content• Heuristic Evaluation

– If you have an existing web site, do an analysis to see what is worth keeping.

– Some guidelines for heuristic evaluation:• Multiple ways to access information• Indexes and sitemap• The navigation should provide users with sense of

context• Use language consistently and appropriate for

audience• Integration of searching and browsing

Tools and methods for Research: Content• Content Analysis

– It is a bottom-up approach to IA– It involves careful review of documents and

object that actually exists– It can be:

• High level content survey at the beginning of the project

• Page by page content audit latter in the project

Tools and methods for Research: Content• Content Analysis:

– Gathering content: Use intuition and judgment, balancing the size of your sample against the time constrains of the project.

– Use the “Noah’s approach” (two samples of each kind)

Tools and methods for Research: Content

– Dimension to use for sampling:• Format (text, software, audio and video files,

archived mail• Document Type: capture diverse set of

documents. (catalogs, annual reports, technical reports, marketing, etc)

• Source (engineering, marketing, customer support, finance, human resources, etc)

• Subject (use a broad range of subjects)• Existing architecture (but don’t get overly

influenced)

Tools and methods for Research: Content• Analyzing content

• Goals:– Get familiar with the subject matter– Provide data that is critical for the

development of a solid IA.

Tools and methods for Research: Content• Analyzing content:

• For each object note:– Structural metadata(Information hierarchy)– Descriptive metadata (topic audience format)– Administrative metadata (how the object

relates to the business context.)

Research

• Content Mapping– Visual representation of the existing

information.– High-level and conceptual– Tool for understanding rather than a

deliverable

Content Mapping

Content sources

Content model

Content types

Content templates

MarketingCustomer Support

Legal

Product Process Reference

ContactHandling

SystemHow to

Steps Table

Benchmarking

• Systematic identification, evaluation, and comparison of IA features of web sites and intranets.

• Competitive Benchmarking

• Before-and-after benchmarking

Users

• If you have an existing web site:

– Usage statistics

– Search log analysis

– Customer support data

Users

• Other techniques involve selecting users to conduct qualitative analysis.– Define the intended audiences of your site– Select one or more methods for gathering

information– Develop instruments and participants profiles– Recruit participants– Hard work of gathering the data– Data analysis and conclusion

Users

• Techniques for performing user studies:– Surveys– Contextual Inquiries– Focus Groups– User research sessions– Interviews– Card sorting– User testing

Users

• Surveys– Allows to gather information from a large

number of people– Quick and inexpensive.– Results allows quantitative analysis

Users

• Contextual Inquiry– Technique used in ethnographic research

– Observation of users in their own environment

Users

• Focus Groups– Gather groups of users (or potential users)– Ask scripted questions– Demonstrate prototype– Ask questions about user’s perception– Get recommendations for improvement

Users

• User Research sessions– Face-to-face sessions involving one user at a

time– Expensive and time consuming.– Must be combined with other methods such

as user testing or card sorting.

Users

• Interviews– Types of questions:

• Background• Information use• Intranet use• Document publishing• Suggestions

Users

• Card Sorting– Label cards with headings from categories,

sub-categories and content.– Ask the user to sort them into piles that make

sense to them and label these piles.– Ask them to talk out aloud while they work– Take good notes and record labels and

contents of their piles.

User Testing

• Have the user sit in front of the computer to use your site for:– Finding information or– Completing a task

• Take good notes

• Capture what he says and where he goes

• count clicks and measure his time.

User Testing

• Include a range of audience types• Have experts and novices • Choose the right tasks. For example

– Easy to impossible– Known-item to exhaustive– Topic to task– Artificial to real

• Spread tasks across multiple areas of your site

Strategy

Strategy

• Strategy is the bridge between research and design.

• It is a high level conceptual framework for structuring and organizing your web site or intranet.

• You can consider strategies for structuring and organizing information before you start your research

Strategy

• IA strategy provides high-level recommendations for– Information Architecture Administration– Technology Integration– Top-down or Bottom-up emphasis– Organization and labeling systems– Document type identification– Metadata field definition– Navigation system design

Strategy

• You move from Research to strategy when you start to reach the “saturation point” in Research.

• In strategy the emphasis changes from open-ended learning to design and testing.

• You should use visuals to articulate your ideas.

Strategy Development Process

Think(Convert research

data into creative ideas)

Architecture(Diagrams, metaphors

stories, scenarios,blueprints, wireframes)

Communicate(present, react,

brainstorm)

Test(closed card sorts,

prototypes)

IA StrategyReport

(detailed strategy,direction,scope)

IA StrategyPresentation

(high level strategy,direction, scope)

Project Planfor Design

(teams, deliverables,schedule, budget)

Strategy phase deliverables

Strategy work products and deliverables

• Scenarios– Narrative pieces that show how people with

different needs and behaviors will navigate your site.

– Usually are easy and fun to write.

• Case studies and stories

Strategy work products and deliverables

• Conceptual Diagrams– Pictorial representation of the concepts in your

Information Architecture.

• Blueprints – Show relations between your pages and other content

components

• Wireframes– Quick and dirty visuals that show the content and

major links of major pages on the web site.

Strategy Report

• Executive summary

• Audiences, mission and vision:

• Lessons learned

• Architectural strategies

• Content management

Project Plan

• The project plan for the Information Architecture design is the last part of the Information strategy.– Objectives:

• To ensure that information architecture is grounded in reality.

• Is a bridge between strategy and design.

Presentations

• It is a good idea to make one or more presentations to the people who needs to understand your recommendations.

• Select highlights of your recommendations and organize your presentation around them.

• Metaphor can be a good way to convey your ideas to the audience.