information architecture and intranets march 3, 2008 colin furness

Information Architecture and Intranets

March 3, 2008Colin Furness

Outline

1. What is Information Architecture?

2. Principles and ConceptsI. Business NeedsII. User BehaviourIII. Information OrganizationIV. Information DesignV. Interaction DesignVI. Navigation RegimesVII. Searching and FindingVIII. Content Maintainability

3. IA and Intranet DevelopmentI. Web Sites vs IntranetsII. Intranet TaxonomiesIII. Intranet CharacteristicsIV. Getting StartedV. Dynamic and Static Intranets

4. References

1

Preface

•Information Architecture is new and interdisciplinary

•It can be approached from multiple theoretical and practical perspectives

•There is no generally accepted set of credentials for an Information Architect

•There is considerable disagreement about the boundaries betweenInformation Architecture and related disciplines such asuser interface design, graphic design, business analysis, project management, even programming

•Definitions and conceptualizations of Information Architecturevary considerably depending on the perspective adopted

The perspective presented here: •Rooted in psychology, human-computer interaction, information studies•Professional practice in New York and Toronto

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What is Information Architecture?

•Term coined by Architect and Designer Richard Saul Wurman in 1976•Referred to information design and graphical displays of information

on paper and in physical space•Term reappears in reference to the design of web sites in the mid-1990s

Definition

Rosenfeld & Morville (1998): five functions of the Information Architect

a. Clarifies mission and vision of the web siteb. Balances needs of the business and the audiencec. Determines what content and functionality the site will containd. Structures information for retrieval by organization, navigation,

labeling, and searchinge. Maps out how the site will handle change and growth over time

What’s wrong with this definition?

3


It takes a village to raise a child …

or

The village will raise your child whether you like it or not

The “information architect” is an artificial construct to recognize that problems of information organization, storage and retrieval will not solve themselves

So, it is better to avoid defining “information architect” beyond stating that it is a person most responsible for making a site effective (for its users and its owners) in its information structures, features and functionality

The colloquial definition: the person whose job it is to make sure that when you visit a web site, you don’t get lost, confused, frustrated and annoyed

It is easier to define “information architecture”, because it can be framed as a function that is intertwined with functions from other disciplines

4


IA

ProjectManagementEngineering

Graphicdesign

CorporateStrategy &

BrandTarget

Audience

The “village” of information architecture:

5


Rosenfeld & Morville’s (1998) conceptualization of information architecture:

6

IA

ProjectManagementEngineering

Graphicdesign

CorporateStrategy &

BrandTarget

Audience

IA

mission & vision

balancing

audience

needs

Str

uctu

ring

info

rmat

ion

functionality maintainability

What is Information Architecture? 7

•What is good information architecture?•What is good art?

Two similar questions:

Answer: “it depends”: it is in the eye (and context) of the beholder

But we can measure quality on five dimensions of usability:

• ease of learning• efficient/ergonomic use• minimal errors• retention over time• subjective satisfaction

Principles and Concepts 8

Business Needs

What does the business need to get done - what are its goals?

What are the benefits and limitations of the current approach?

What are the potential benefits and limitations of the proposed approach?

What resources are available for development? Should this be done internally or with outside help? How will decisions be made?

What will be the staffing and training requirements for the new system?


Audience Needs

• The Target User: a homogeneous group of users

• If the group is not homogeneous, then there are >1 distinct groups

• The more that is known about the target user, the more effective IA can be

• Information we would want to know about target users:

i. Who are they and where are they located?ii. What are their information needs? For what purpose(s)? Is the planned

implementation expected to change this?iii. Are they likely to be skimming (foraging) or reading (learning)?iv. Are there physical artifacts they use that need to be considered?v. What skills and expertise do they possess?vi. What limitations do they carry?vii. What cultural considerations are there?viii. What is their vocabulary?ix. What kind of equipment will they be using?


Audience Needs

Physiology and Psychology (Cognition) is important too:

Some examples:

Blue is the worst colour for rendering text

Colour blindness sufferers cannot distinguish red from green

Short term memory capacity: 7 +/-2 items

A unit item depends on the knowledge and experience of the user:

•All the days of the week = 1 item•Familiar telephone area codes = 1 item•A random list of names = 1 item for each name•A word written in an unfamiliar alphabet = 1 item for each letter/element


Information Organization

1. Information Shape:

2. Classification:

Two golden rules:

(a) Mutually exclusive categories(b) Collectively exhaustive categories


Information Design

1. Labels and Semantics

•Programs•Projects•Products/Initiatives•Strategy

•This is a cornerstone of information architecture

•Effective labeling leverages the audience’s knowledge

But this isn’t enough on its own – consider:

Labels are crucial: •they can support or undermine an information organization scheme•they can properly define a functional feature or can disguise it

Semantic Confusables:

Consider these elevator control buttons:

Things that are cognitively very similar require considerableadditional mental processing to discriminate

Example: Flooz (internet “currency”)

SEND FLOOZ SPEND FLOOZ

(use Flooz) (buy Flooz)


Information Design


Information Design

2. Representation (Baecker, 2002)

Metaphors can convey powerfully a mental model of how something worksEg the “deskttop” metaphor for Mac O/S and WindowsEg the “cassette player” metaphor for audio & video filesEg. the “radio button” metaphor for that selector interaction style

Metaphors can confuse and undermine clarityEg “global village” internet information service research

Icons can leverage visual cues for clarityEg file folder icons

Icons can often confuse the user instead Poor renderingCulturally rootedNeed to be learnedNote: research comparing icons, semantics, labeled icons found icons alone to be worst


Information Design

3. Communication (Baecker, 2002)

•Legibility text font size, type, spacing, contrast

•Readability text layout, density, scrolling

•Clarity non-textual elements as unambiguous

•Emphasis use of headings, lines, weight of elements on a page

•Simplicity including only what is important


Interaction Design

Norman (1988) on industrial design:

a. Affordances: The characteristics or properties of an object that provide clues as to how it is meant to be used

SomeExamples:

b. Constraints: Constraints are the opposite of affordances – characteristics or properties of an object

that discourage or prevent its incorrect use

SomeExamples: - text that is “greyed out” - radio buttons only allow for one option to be selected

- drop-down menus that prevent typing errors

Blue underlined hyperlinks check boxes

Target graphics that look ‘pressable’ standardbuttons


Navigation Regimes

Do you remember Gopher (the precursor to the Web)?•hierarchical, text-based lists•navigation is up and down only

But the Web is non-linear: the greatest curse in the history of humanity?

1. Global navigation:•Links that are persistent across every page in the site•Usually across the top and/or the left pane and/or across the bottom

2. Local navigation:•Links that appear “globally” within a section of a site•Local navigation can be secondary, tertiary, even quarternary

4. Navigation Sign-Posts

a. “Breadcrumbing”A linear representation of depth and place in a hierarchy

b. “On-state”The link representing the section currently viewed is displayed differently(e.g. no longer a link, or shown in a different colour)

c. “Footprints”A visited link permanently changes colour for the duration of site visit


Navigation Regimes

3. Opening windows & interleavable tasks a link can open a new window (e.g. a pop-up) can swap between multiple windows/tasks (or not)


Navigation Regimes

5. Sitemaps

•A sitemap is like a table of contents•A sitemap is like the index at the back of a book

•A sitemap is helpful for showing the ‘bird’s eye view’ of the site•A sitemap is a crutch to compensate for poor IA

Good examples of sitemaps are hard to find – why?

Sitemaps CAN•Provide filtering on many different attributes•Provide an alternate organization for information on the site•Be personalized•Act as a navigation learning tool•Be a useful shortcut to deeper areas of the site


Searching and Finding

Really Bad example: Harper’s Bazaar www.bazaar.comSomewhat Good example: Goodkind Labaton Law Firm www.glrs.com

Why does searching happen? How different is it than browsing?What are users doing when they search – what are they looking for?

What kinds of dimensions might be searched? How can this be supported in metadata?

What should be displayed in search results?

Authority files/thesaurus? Sometimes, a controlled vocabulary

WHY are search results often so bad?

http://www.bazaar.com/

http://www.glrs.com/

Principles and Concepts (20)


Content Maintainability

Remote publishing tools•Tools (ie. functional forms) can be built to assist with maintenance•Is content to be published centrally or in a distributed fashion?•What security is needed?

Scalability Rosenfeld & Morville (1998): The IA should anticipate how the site will grow over time. But how can this be done?

Up-to-Dateness•Records management policies •Manual or automated or a hybrid?•Accountability and staffing

Outline

1. What is Information Architecture?

2. Principles and ConceptsI. Business NeedsII. User BehaviourIII. Information OrganizationIV. Information DesignV. Interaction DesignVI. Navigation RegimesVII. Searching and FindingVIII. Content Maintainability

3. IA and Intranet DevelopmentI. Intranets vs Web SitesII. Intranet TaxonomiesIII. Intranet CharacteristicsIV. Getting StartedV. Dynamic and Static Intranets

4. References

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IA and Intranet Development 23

Intranets vs Web Sites

Web SitesUsually a broad, vaguely defined audienceInformation needs are diverseUsefulness of functionality is often guessworkDomain knowledge cannot be assumed or leveragedOften aim for the “lowest common denominator”Branding issues (‘public face’) can take precedence over effective useFuture growth can be difficult to predict

IntranetsAlways a finite, known and accessible audienceInformation needs can be mappedUseful functionality can usually be definedDomain knowledge can be leveragedEffective use is often a real primary goalFuture growth often predictable


Intranets vs Web Sites

Leveraging the Audience

The intranet audience is “expert”

Tradeoffs between designing for novices and experts:

•Easy to learn vs powerful functionality

•Constraining errors vs speed and efficiency

•Managing a diverse vocabulary vs a controlled vocabulary


Intranet Taxonomies

Firestone (1999): the lack of an accepted term and/or definition derives fromcompetition and differentiation between vendors.

Some synonyms:Intranet, Corporate Portal, Corporate Information Portal, Business Portal, Enterprise Information Portal

Murray (1999): a functional taxonomy:1. information portals which allow users to access information2. collaborative portals with features to foster collaborative work, 3. expertise portals to connect communities of practice4. knowledge portals which combine features of the other three

Dias (2001): an evolutionary taxonomy:1. search engine capabilities2. navigation (browsing) capability3. personalization (adaptive systems) & customization (adaptable systems) 4. integration of disparate systems5. decision support and collaborative processing.


Intranet Characteristics

Eckerson (1999): 15 “core features” of an intranet (industry trade perspective):

1. Easy to use2. Intuitive classification and searching3. Collaborative information sharing4. Universal connectivity to information resources5. Dynamic access to information resources6. Intelligent routing7. Integrated business intelligence tool8. Server-based architecture9. Distributed services10.Flexible permission granting11.External interfaces12.Programmatic interfaces (APIs)13.Security14.Easy deployment and maintenance15.Customization and personalization

Most, but not all, have implications for information architecture


Intranet Characteristics

Personalization Customizationvs.

a.k.a. “adaptive interface” a.k.a. “adaptable interface”

The information system automatically behaves differently for different individuals and/or different job roles

System adapts to user

The information system can be configured by the user according to his/herown preferences

User can adapt system

But is this a good idea?


Getting Started

Warning #1:

•analyzing business goals, users, structure, and information flows to design an intranet carries a key (and possibly fatal) assumption:

It is assumed that these are correct, but they often are not

Warning #2:

•the introduction of a new means of sharing and exchanging information will (should?) have an impact on how work gets done

Information flows are a moving target


1. Enumerating Content

2. Enumerating Functionality

Getting Started

a. Interviewing participants: e.g. who gives you information, and to whom do you give information?How do you get it, and what problems do you have?

b. Scouring shared/public drives

c. Brainstorming!

a. What electronic tools are in use?

b. What electronic tools may be developed in the future?

c. What are the technical limitations (e.g. security)


3. Sorting out Semantics

•In most organizations, there are “subcultures” (e.g. members of a particular trade, profession, or department)

•Subcultures may influence individuals to see, say, do things differently (e.g. X as a project, program, programme, strategy, initiative … )

•Some approach to validation is needed(e.g. card sorting exercises)

Getting Started

4. Mapping Information Flows

5. Designing Publishing Tools

a. Is content publishing to be centralized or distributed?b. What are the data elements for each different piece of content?c. What business rules (e.g. records policies) that need to be considered?


Getting Started

Can be done graphically:

accounting

sales

management

shipping


Dynamic and Static Intranets

Static: •Content is “hard wired”: 1-to-1 correspondence of information and pages•Updating is done manually•Everybody sees “the same thing”•Small, simple sites can be static

Dynamic: •content is database driven: there is no real “page count”•updating can be done automatically•different views can be shown to different users

•Customization (adaptable interface) Settings/preferences can be specified by the user

•Personalization (adaptive interface) The system responds differently depending on who the user is

(“The Bench”, Wm. Hogarth, 1758)

Questions?

33

References 34

Baecker, R.M. (2002). Lecture notes. CSC318H: the Design of Interactive Computational Media. University of Toronto. Available: http://www.kmdi.utoronto.ca/csc318F/lecture.htm

Dias, C. (2001). “Corporate portals: a literature review of a new concept in information management”. International Journal of Information Management, 21, 269-287.

Eckerson, W. (1999). “15 rules for enterprise portals”. Oracle Magazine, 13(4), 13-14. Available: http://www.oracle.com/oramag/oracle/99-Jul/49ind.html.

Firestone, J.M. (1993). White Paper #13: Defining the Enterprise Information Portal. Available: http://www.dkms.com/eipdef.html.

Murray, G. (1999). “The portal is the desktop”. Intraspect (May/June). Available: http://www.e-promag.com/eparchive/index.cfm?fuseaction =viewarticle&ContentID=166&websiteid=

Norman, D. (1988) The Psychology of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.

Rosenfeld, L., & Morville, P. (1998). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Associates.

Wurman, R.S. (1997). Information Architects. New York: Graphis Inc.

information architecture and intranets march 3, 2008 colin furness

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