Louis Rosenfeld LLC Shaky Structures and Information Architecture

Louis Rosenfeld LLC Shaky Structures and Information Architecture Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire | October 30, 2002 Louis Rosenfeld www. louisrosenfeld. com © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 1

Who I Am Louis Rosenfeld LLC Independent information architecture consultant (recent clients: HP, Ford, CDC, SAP) Co-founder/president, Argus Associates Co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (O’Reilly, 1998; 2002) Past contributor to CIO, Internet World, and Web Review magazines Lecturer at University of Michigan, speaker on Nielsen/Norman Group UX tour Biases: Fortune 500 s, librarianship/info. science © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 2

What We’ll Cover Louis Rosenfeld LLC Make the case that information architecture (IA) is real Provide a nuts and bolts understanding of IA • • Definitions Examples Components Methodology Cover some practical IA advice and trends © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 3

The Information Architecture of Everyday Things 1/2 Louis Rosenfeld LLC How is this… …different from this? © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 4

The Information Architecture of Everyday Things 2/2 Louis Rosenfeld LLC What can we learn from a book (without reading it)? And what does a book have in common with a web site? © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 5

So What is IA? Definition and the thing Louis Rosenfeld LLC The definition: The art and science of structuring, organizing and labeling information to help people find and manage information The thing: The structure of information, and components for searching and browsing that information; matches users and content within a business context © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 6

So What is IA? Architectural components Louis Rosenfeld LLC Taxonomies/hierarchies… Labels, indexing, vocabularies, thesauri… Navigation schema, tables of contents, site indices… Document structures, metadata, contextual linking… Search systems, auto-classification software, other automated tools… © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 7

So What is IA? The product Louis Rosenfeld LLC Research artifacts: expert evaluations, strategy reports, competitive benchmarking, user research, content inventory & analyses… Design artifacts: wire frames, blueprints, navigation rules, metadata & search specs … What we implement: policies, procedures, processes, knowledge transfer & training… © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 8

So What is IA? Sample blueprint Louis Rosenfeld LLC Blueprint Example © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 9

So What is IA? Sample wire frame Louis Rosenfeld LLC Wire Frame Example © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 10

So What is IA? Examples Natural Definition or Sample metadata table. Language Controlled Attribute Name Auto or Manual Louis Rosenfeld LLC Vocabulary Brand Name Official name Camry, of vehicle Avalon, Celica Controlled vocabulary / hierarchy Possibly semiautomatic The format of Brochure, Controlled Manual Metadata Table Example the content Catalog vocabulary / Content Type Part Name Topic object entry, pick list Name of vehicle part Side mirror, Tires Controlled vocabulary / hierarchy Possibly semiautomatic Controlled Vocabulary / thesaurus Manual Other topics Collision of the content safety, object Mortality © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 11

So What is IA? Visualizing the damn thing Louis Rosenfeld LLC Enough talking about IA; can we see it? • Hard to see something not tangible • But easy to notice it when it’s not working © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 12

You’ll Notice IA When it’s Bad Louis Rosenfeld LLC © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 13

…Really Bad… Louis Rosenfeld LLC © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 14

…but You Might Notice when it’s Good Louis Rosenfeld LLC Main page of LL Bean for top-down © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 15

Good IA Happens Top and Bottom Louis Rosenfeld LLC © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 16

(Yet Another) Three Circle Diagram Louis Rosenfeld LLC © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 17

IA Research Questions 1/3 Louis Rosenfeld LLC What we’re trying to learn about users • What motivates users to come to this site? • What do users want from this site? And what do they need? • Who are they anyway? And which audiences are the most important? • How do they typically navigate? • What terms do they use to browse, search and classify information? • What are their most important information needs? © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 18

IA Research Questions 2/3 Louis Rosenfeld LLC What we’re trying to learn about content • • • How do I get my arms around the content we have? What content has value, and is worth being architected? What content can I get rid of? How do I make the answers emerge from content? How should the content be organized and labeled? Does it come “pre-architected”? © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 19

IA Research Questions 3/3 Louis Rosenfeld LLC What we’re trying to learn about context • Who inside the organization makes decisions? And what do they want from the site? • What political and cultural factors might impact the architecture? • Are things run centrally or autonomously? • What similar initiatives have worked in the past? Which haven’t? Why? • What resources (people, technology, time, $$$) are available? • How will the architecture be maintained and sustained? • Are they even ready for IA? © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 20

IA Methodology 1/2 Louis Rosenfeld LLC • Techniques and tools for learning about users • • • Personas, scenarios Card sorting Task analysis, information needs analysis Search log analysis Prototyping Techniques and tools for learning about content • Content inventories, architecture inventories • Content analysis • Content development policies © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. Allmodeling rights reserved. • Content 21

IA Methodology 2/2 Louis Rosenfeld LLC Techniques and tools for learning about business context • • Expert evaluation IA education Strategy session Strategy & recommendations plan Interviews Benchmarking Technology assessment “Future testing” © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 22

IA and Traditional Disciplines 1/2 Louis Rosenfeld LLC IA borrows and integrates techniques from several existing fields None of these fields can meet contemporary design challenges on its own Fields that educate us about users • • • Cognitive psychology Ethnography Marketing Merchandising More… © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 23

IA and Traditional Disciplines 2/2 Louis Rosenfeld LLC Fields that educate us about content • • • Journalism Database management Technical communication Communications Information retrieval More… Fields that educate us about context • • • Organizational psychology Operations engineering Business management Social network analysis More… © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 24

Three Circle Diagram (Once More) Louis Rosenfeld LLC IA education • “Major” in one of these areas • “Minor” in one or both of the other two areas IA hiring • Goal: seek balance in these areas among one or more IA staff © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 25

Some Practical Advice Louis Rosenfeld LLC Pareto’s Principle Five Critical IA Junctions Learning from Observing © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 26

Pareto’s Principle: The 80/20 rule--IA variants Louis Rosenfeld LLC 80% of your site's users belong to 20% of the site's audiences. 80% of users' information needs are served by 20% of the site's content. 80% of users' navigational needs are served by 20% of all possible architectural components. 80% of users' information needs are addressed by the top 20% of all searches. 80% of IA effort should be invested in 20% of total architecture. © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 27

Five critical IA junctures: Where users interact with the IA Louis Rosenfeld LLC • • Budget for IA is not unlimited Biggest bang for buck comes from focusing IA investment on 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Main page Search interface Search results Browse interface (e. g. , taxonomy) “Found” document © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 28

Learning by Observing: What does this cubicle teach us? Louis Rosenfeld LLC © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 29

Learning by Observing: Borrowing from ethnography Louis Rosenfeld LLC Sites don’t exist in a vacuum, but in a broader information ecology An information ecology is made up of: • • • Content Applications Actors Roles Resources • • • Information flows Interactions Processes and policies Incentives Barriers What role do each of these play in IA design? © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 30

Learning by Observing: Borrowing from social networks Louis Rosenfeld LLC Hierarchies aren’t the only way to envision relationships in an organization Understanding information flows can help us design better architectures and organizations © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 31

Information Architecture Trends Louis Rosenfeld LLC Enterprise information architecture Emergent information architecture © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 32

Trend Toward Enterprise IA: The most challenging context Louis Rosenfeld LLC How to implement an IA for Microsoft’s intranet, or Cisco’s e-commerce site? Issues • • • Expectations Culture and politics Centralization versus autonomy Resources, tools and expertise Time (launch, maintenance, organizational learning) • Business model © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 33

Trend Toward Enterprise IA: Scaling the walls Louis Rosenfeld LLC CURRENT: Organization. Centric “Silo” Access GOAL: User. Centric Access © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 34

Trend Toward Emergent IA: “Undesigned” IA Louis Rosenfeld LLC Turns “formal” IA on its head • Less emphasis on designing an architecture • More emphasis on designing conditions for information creation, use, and self-organization within an evolving architecture Useful in low-resource, highly distributed situations Examples: community sites (e. g. Slash. Dot and evolt. org), wikis © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 35

Trend Toward Emergent IA: iawiki. net, a sample Wiki Louis Rosenfeld LLC © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 36

What We Covered Louis Rosenfeld LLC Made the case that information architecture (IA) is real Provided a nuts and bolts understanding of IA • • Definitions Examples Components Methodology Covered some practical IA advice and trends © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 37

Wrap up Louis Rosenfeld LLC Questions & answers This presentation is available from: www. louisrosenfeld. com/presentations/0210 30 -structure. ppt © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 38

Contact information Louis Rosenfeld LLC 902 Miller Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103 USA lou@louisrosenfeld. com www. louisrosenfeld. com +1. 734. 663. 3323 voice +1. 734. 661. 1655 fax © 2002 Louis Rosenfeld LLC. All rights reserved. 39