Information Architecture Why IA Information Overload What is

Information Architecture

Why IA? Information Overload

What is IA? Ø Process of organizing & presenting information in an intuitive & clear manner. →Building of information structures that facilitate discovery, understanding & use of information üEase of Use ü Ease of Learning ü Ease of Information Discovery

Ease of Use

Ease of Learning

Ease of Information Discovery

IA How? Ø Understand the Users ü Goals: • What are users trying to accomplish with the info? • What problems are users trying to solve? • What do the users need from the website? ü Tasks • What will users do to accomplish their goals? ü Characterisitcs: • What are users familiar and comfortable with (textual & visual)? • What do users know about the subjects in the website?

User Characteristics Study: Bilal, 2002 Ø Children Users ü Do not search efficiently or effectively ü Have difficulty forming queries/judging info quality → Prefer browsing ü Engage in frequent looping and backtracking with poor navigation behaviors Ø Adult Users ü Relies heavily on hyperlinks ü Relies on color, font, etc. to distinguish link types ü Preferred fewer links per display ü Used different strategies for different searching tasks

IA Components Ø Information Organization ü Arrange and structure information Ø Navigation ü Information traversal path Ø Labeling ü Destination names & road signs Ø Information Discovery ü Fulfillment of information needs ü Accommodation of information seeking behavior

IA: Information Organization 1. Divide the content into logical units. § e. g. , time, location, topic, task, audience, etc. 2. Group information into sections and subsections. 3. Identify relationships among sections & build links. “The world can be seen as only connections, nothing else… a piece of information is really only defined by what it’s related to, and how it’s related. There really is little else to meaning. The structure is everything. ” - Tim Berners-Lee, Weaving the Web (1999)

IA: IO Examples

IA: IO Examples

IA: Navigation Ø Navigation § A page must indicate its location within the site. § Lead users to what they seek § Inform the users about what is available. Where am I? What’s here? Where can I go from here? Where have I been?

IA: Navigation Ø Types of Navigation ü Global Navigation § Persistent across a site § Access to major parts of the site ü Local Navigation § Move around the current section: e. g. , in-page navigation ü Contextual Navigation § In-line links (to anywhere) ü Supplemental Navigation § Helpers: e. g. , Sitemap, A-Z index ü Related Navigation § Related links: e. g. , See also

IA: Labeling Ø Labels should be clear and intuitive. ü Easily understood by users ü Consistent within a site ü Clearly describe what it points to → e. g. , “About Us”: background & contact info Ø Metaphors ü Shortcut to concepts ü Make users comfortable with unfamiliar ü Explain, Excite, Persuade

IA: Information Discovery Ø Do the site support different types of ID? ü Known-item, exploratory, exhaustive search ü Berry-picking model of information seeking Ø Search ü What to search ü Query structure – how to search it ü Relevance – which are important for info need? ü How to display results