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Information Architecture

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What is information architecture?

 

Organizing functionality and content into a structure that people are able to navigate intuitively doesn't happen by chance. Organizations must recognize the importance of information architecture or else they run the risk of creating great content and functionality that no one can ever find.  The problem: finding is the new doing Computer systems used to be frustrating because they did very little quite badly. People using systems became frustrated because they simply weren't capable of doing what they were required to do.
But technology has progressed and now technology can do practically whatever people want it to do. So why doesn't everyone using a computer have a large smile on their face?
The shear wealth of functionality and information has become the new problem. The challenge facing organizations is how to guide people through the vast amount of information on offer, so they can successfully find the information they want and thus find value in the system?
Intuitive navigation doesn't happen by chanceWhy  Information architecture is importantBad information architecture is not only extremely frustrating for users, but it has serious repercussions for organizations.

• For intranet's it means low adoption rates and staff reverting to unsupported off-line resources.
• For web sites with online shopping facilities it has a significant impact on revenue. Research suggests that a significant number of shopping attempts fail not because the user has evaluated the products on offer and decided against a purchase, but because the navigation system has failed and user can't find the product they are interested in.

Information architecture is the term used to describe the structure of a system, i.e. the way information is grouped, the navigation methods and terminology used within the system.
An effective information architecture enables people to step logically through a system confident they are getting closer to the information they require.
Most people only notice information architecture when it is poor and stops them from finding the information they require.
Information architecture is most commonly associated with web sites and intranet's, but it can be used in the context of any information structures or computer systems.
In Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites they define information architecture as:

• The combination of organization, labeling, and navigation schemes within an information system.
• The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content.
• The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranet's to help people find and manage information.
• An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Common problems The most common problem with information architectures is that they simply mimic a company's organizational structure.
Although this can often appear logical and an easy solution for those involved in defining the architecture, people using systems (even intranet's) often don't know or think in terms of organizational structure when trying to find information.
Effective IA must reflect the way people thinkStyles of information architecture There are two main approaches to defining an information architecture. These are:

• Top-down information architecture

This involves developing a broad understanding of the business strategies and user needs, before defining the high level structure of site, and finally the detailed relationships between content.

• Bottom-up information architecture

This involves understanding the detailed relationships between content, creating walkthroughs (or storyboards) to show how the system could support specific user requirements and then considering the higher level structure that will be required to support these requirements.
Both of these techniques are important in a project. A project that ignores top-down approaches may result in well-organised, findable content that does not meet the needs of users or the business. A project that ignores bottom-up approaches may result in a site that allows people to find information but does not allow them the opportunity to explore related content.
Take a structured approach to creating an effective IACreating an effective information architecture in 9 steps The following steps define a process for creating an effective information architectures.

• Understand the business/contextual requirements and the proposed content for the system. Read all existing documentation, interview stakeholders and conduct a content inventory.
• Conduct cards sorting exercises with a number of representative users.
• Evaluate the output of the card sorting exercises. Look for trends in grouping and labeling.
• Develop a draft information architecture (i.e. information groupings and hierarchy).
• Evaluate the draft information architecture using the card-based classification evaluation technique.
• Don't expect to get the information architecture right first time. Capturing the right terminology and hierarchy may take several iterations.
• Document the information architecture in a site map. This is not the final site map, the site map will only be finalised after page layouts have been defined.
• Define a number of common user tasks, such as finding out about how to request holiday leave. On paper sketch page layouts to define how the user will step through the site. This technique is known as storyboarding.
• Walk other members of the project team through the storyboards and leave them in shared workspaces for comments.
• If possible within the constraints of the project, it is good to conduct task-based usability tests on paper prototypes as it provides valuable feedback without going to the expense of creating higher quality designs.
• Create detailed page layouts to support key user tasks. Page layouts should be annotated with guidance for visual designers and developers.

Developing an information architecture in this way enables you to design and build a system confident that it will be successful. Information architecture and usability Some people find the relationship and distinction between information architecture and usability unclear.
Information architecture is not the same as usability, but the two are closely related., usability encompasses two related concepts:

• Usability is an attribute of the quality of a system:

"we need to create a usable intranet"

• Usability is a process or set of techniques used during a design and development project:

"we need to include usability activities in this project"
In both cases usability is a broader concept, whereas information architecture is far more specific.
Information architecture as an attribute of the quality of a system
An effective information architecture is one of a number of attributes of a usable system. Other factors involving the usability of a system include:

• visual design
• interaction design
• functionality
• content writing.

Information architecture as a process
The process for creating an effective information architecture is a sub-set of the usability activities involved in a project.
Although weighted to the beginning of the project, usability activities should continue throughout a project and evaluate issues beyond simply the information architecture.

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Content  Analysis

Module No	Module Name:	outcome		page	Notes
3756G	Apply principles of visual design & comm.	1.  Receive and interpret the brief.		Visualdesignbrief.htm	Content to be developed
	This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to incorporate the principles of visual design and communication into the development of multimedia products for use within the cultural industries.	2.  Generate and assess ideas.		Visualdesign.htm	Page too long
		3.  Conduct research.		Visualdesign.htm	Too long, needs reorganisation
		4.  Select Media/Materials for use in visual design and communication.		Composites.htm	Further content to be developed Rename to visualcomposites.htm
		5.  Apply visual design and communication techniques.		Composites.htm Strongvisualidentity.htm	Further content to be developed Rename to visualcomposites.htm
		6.  Evaluate visual and communication design techniques.		Strongvisualidentity.htm	Headings need to clearly identify content. Needs content development specifically in relation to evaluation
3756B	Develop web site information architecture	Intro		Info2.htm	Does not match outcome specifically but is necessary as an introduction (first half of Info2.htm)
		1.  Identify content needs.		Info2.htm	Second half
	This unit defines the competency required to develop an information architecture for a complex web site that meets current and future business requirements.	2.  Plan content structure.		Info3.htm
		3.  Develop navigation system.
		4.  Test and sign off.
3755R	Ensure site usability This unit defines the competency required to determine that clients can use sites once a connection has been established.		Intro	Usability.htm	Content for this section should be developed further and reorganised
			1.  Design a user test.	Usability.htm
			2.  Conduct user test.	Usabilitytask2.htm
			3.  Evaluate user test.	Usability.htm
			4.  Document results.	Usability.htm
3755M	Validate basic web site performance		Intro		Content to be developed
			1.  Define performance criteria.		Content to be developed
	This unit defines the competency required to design and implement procedures that measure the performance of the web site and compare them to the initial design specifications.		2.  Validate performance.		Content to be developed
			3.  Sign off performance.		Content to be developed
3755K	Prepare web site content		1.  Ensure content meets required standards.		Content to be developed
	This unit defines the competency required to prepare a mix of content for a web site.		2.  Ensure the technology supports content.		Content to be developed
			3.  Test content.		Content to be developed
3755D	Confirm accessibility of web site design		1. Identify accessibility standards.		Should be renamed to AccessabilityGuidelines.htm
			2. Test accessibility.	Accessability.htm
			3. Test pages.	Accessability.htm
3755B	Maintain web site performance		1.  Benchmark performance.
	Completion of this module should enable the learner to ensure that a web site performance remains effective.		2.  Track site performance.		Content to be developed
			3.  Tune performance.		Content to be developed
			4.  Initiate performance improvement.		Content to be developed
	Resources
			Provide links to resources on student sites		Page to be developed
			Student links	Links.htm
			E Commerce		Should be renamed as eCommerce
			Dreamweaver	Dreamweaver.htm
			Human computer interaction	Hci.htm	To be broken into several smaller pages
			Book review	Howweuseweb.htm	Renamed book review
			Writing for the web	Writingfortheweb.htm

Pages to be deleted: index.html and links.html

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Fundamental questions of Navigation

• Where am I?
• Where have I been?
• Where am I going?

The most important question is “Where am I?”
Because users will never stand a chance of understanding the site’s structure if they don’t know where they are.

The user’s current location needs to be shown at two different levels;

• Relative to the Web as a whole
• Relative to the site’s structure

 

Site structure:

No matter what navigation design is used there is one common theme to all navigation, all it does is visualise the user’s current location and alternative movements relative to the structure of the underlying information space. If the structure is a mess, then no navigation design can rescue it. Poor information architecture will always lead to poor usability

Below we will look at a structure which we believe has an effective design, and one which will address the fundamentals listed above.

Global Links: Site Wide Links:
 The following pages should be linked to each other;

Home
Accessibility
Usability
Visual Design
Information Architecture
Website Performance
Links
Resources

Each of these pages should be accessible from each individual page, these are Global Links.

Local Links:

Local links would be links to pages dealing with the same sections, ie:
Accessibility 1. htm.
Accessibility 2.htm
Accessibility 3.htm
These pages would link to each other but only the Introduction Page of the topic would have the Global, Site wide link, the sub pages of a topic should have ‘back to top’ links embedded throughout the page, especially on long pages.

Body Links:

Body links should be used so all relevant content can be cross-linked within a site.
Overall we feel that the above structure is hierarchical and would allow the user to intuitively navigate throughout the site with relative ease.

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