Organization Systems What do we need it for

Organization Systems

What do we need it for? We need to organize information thus enabling people to find the right answers to their questions via supporting casual browsing and directed searching. The aim is to design organization and labeling systems that make sense to users and are ease-of-use. 09. 07. 2010 2

ORGANIZING CONTENT If you want your content to be useful, well-written, and in a format that is suitable for the Web, it is important to ensure that the information is clearly organized. In some cases, the content on a site can be organized in multiple ways to accommodate multiple audiences. • Organizing content includes putting critical information near the top of the site, grouping related elements, and ensuring that all necessary information is available without slowing the user with unneeded information. Content should be formatted to facilitate scanning, and to enable quick understanding. 09. 07. 2010 3

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ORGANIZION SYSTEMS? Increasingly companies are realising the importance of information architecture and are employing specialist ‘information architects’ to perform this role. But information architecture is also defined by: • intranet designers and managers • website designers and managers • visual designers • other people designing information systems • programmers • librarians • technical writers 09. 07. 2010 4

Challenges of Organizing Information üAmbiguity üHeterogeneity üDifferences in Perspectives üInternal Politics

Organizing Web Sites Organization systems are composed of organization schemes and organization structures. • An organization scheme defines the shared characteristics of content items and influences the logical grouping of those items. • An organization structure defines the types of relationships between content items and groups.

Organization Scheme When you design a new website, one of the most important decisions you'll make is choosing the organization scheme for your content. Sometimes it looks obvious - you have distinct audiences (an audience scheme), lots of location information (a geographical scheme), or people do a few straightforward things (a task-based scheme). But more often than not, the obvious answer is not as easy as it looks.

Types of Organization Schemes Exact Information Schemes (easy to design, use and maintain) ü Hybrid Information Schemes (task – oriented and ambiguous) ü

Types of Exact Organization Schemes ü Alphabetical In case of an alphabetical organization scheme we can see information organized alphabetically by name, by product or service, by department, and by forma. http: //www. parliament. am/legislation. php? sel=al pha&ltype=3&lang=eng

Types of Exact Organization Schemes ü Chronological Certain types of information lend themselves to chronological organization, but an additional combination of organization schemes is often needed. http: //www. ecolur. org/en/

Types of Exact Organization Schemes ü Geographical With the exception of border disputes, geographical organization schemes are fairly straightforward to design and use. http: //www. mango. com/paises. htm

Ambiguous Organization Schemes Ambiguous or "subjective" organization schemes divide information into categories that defy exact definition. However, they are often more important and useful than exact organization schemes. The reason why people find ambiguous organization schemes so useful is we don't always know what we're looking for. Ambiguous organization supports this serendipitous mode of information seeking by grouping items in intellectually meaningful ways.

Types of Ambiguous Organization Schemes ü Topic Organizing information by subject or topic is one of the most useful and challenging approaches. In designing a topical organization scheme, keep in mind that you are defining the universe of content (both present and future) that users will expect to find within that area of the web site. http: //www. ox. ac. uk/

Types of Ambiguous Organization Schemes ü Task-oriented schemes organize content and applications into a collection of processes, functions, or tasks, however You will rarely find a website organized solely by task. Instead, task-oriented schemes are usually embedded within specific subsites or integrated into hybrid task/topic navigation systems. http: //shopping. yahoo. com/

Types of Ambiguous Organization Schemes ü Audience-oriented schemes break a site into smaller, audience-specific mini-sites, thereby allowing for clutter-free pages that present only the options of interest to that particular audience. http: //groups. vueling. com/dev/clickair/res. Grupo. nsf/p agina? Open. Form&&lang=2

Types of Ambiguous Organization Schemes ü Metaphor It’s useful to explore various metaphors in trying to determine the site’s structure. A good metaphor can go a long way in helping users understand how to use and navigate the site. However, no metaphor is perfect, so don’t feel that you have to adhere rigidly to just one. You could take the best parts of several metaphors and roll them into one.

Types of Metaphors ü Organizational metaphors rely on the existing structure of a group, system, or organization. For example, if you are creating a site to sell groceries, your metaphor could be a supermarket, where products are grouped logically by type (canned vegetables, dairy products, cereal, snacks, household items, etc. ).

Types of Metaphors ü Functional metaphors relate tasks you can do on the site with tasks you can do in another environment. Photoshop, a graphics program, relies on a lot of functional metaphors: You can figuratively “cut, ” “copy, ” and “paste” graphics on a computer – as though you were using real-world scissors and glue.

Types of Metaphors ü Visual metaphors are based on common graphic elements familiar to most people in our culture. If you are designing a music site that allows users to play songs, you might want to use the traditional “start, ” “stop, ” and “pause” icons found on CD players everywhere. http: //www. grandcandy. am/

Types of Ambiguous Organization Schemes ü Hybrids The hybrid scheme includes elements of audiencespecific, topical, metaphor-based, task-oriented, and alphabetical organization schemes. As long as the schemes are presented separately on the page, they will retain the powerful ability to suggest a mental model for users. http: //www. spyur. am/en

Organization Structures The structure of information defines the primary ways in which users can navigate. Major organization structures that apply to web site and intranet architectures include the hierarchy, the databaseoriented model, and hypertext. Each organization structure possesses unique strengths and weaknesses.

Types of Organization Structures ü The Hierarchy: A Top-Down Approach The foundation of almost all good information architectures is a well-designed hierarchy or taxonomy. Because hierarchies provide a simple and familiar way to organize information, they are usually a good place to start the information architecture process. The topdown approach allows you to quickly get a handle on the scope of the web site without going through an extensive content-inventory process. http: //www. court. am/? l=en

Types of Organization Structures ü The Database Model: A Bottom-Up Approach Information architects need to understand how metadata, controlled vocabularies, and database structures can be used to enable: • Automatic generation of alphabetical indexes (e. g. , product index) • Dynamic presentation of associative "see also" links • Fielded searching • Advanced filtering and sorting of search results The database model is particularly useful when applied within relatively homogeneous subsites such as product catalogs and staff directories. http: //www. amazon. com/Information-Architecture-World-Wide. Web/dp/0596527349/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF 8&s=books&qid=1278759368&sr= 1 -1

Types of Organization Structures ü Hypertext A hypertext system involves two primary types of components: the items or chunks of information that will be linked, and the links between those chunks. These components can form hypermedia systems that connect text, data, image, video, and audio chunks. Hypertext chunks can be connected hierarchically, non -hierarchically, or both.

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