Information Architecture & Design • Week 5 Schedule - Planning IA Structures - Other Readings - Research Topic Presentations • Email Nadalia your Presentations - Class Work: User Analysis - Group Project Plan Review - Group Work: Planning the Project Site • Send email to the list from your project account - URL of your working designs - URL of your working specifications Thesauri, Vocabularies & Metadata • The Structure of Your Content (Part of the Plan) • Models the Information for the User (Content Modeling) • What Do You Do With Your Project Data (Content)? - Context • Descriptive • Prescriptive - Quality • Accuracy • Recency - Characteristics • Media / MIME • Uses • Represent the Relationships Between Systems Controlled Vocabularies • Establish Consistencies • For the Content • For the Developers • On the Site – Apparent to the Users • Just Synonyms? • Lists of Equivalents (Index) • Aliases (Authority File) • Also an Implied or Overt Hierarchy • “Synonym Ring” p 178 • Based on User’s Understanding • Improved Upon by IA • Iterative Process to Discover Alternate Words and Concepts • Not Just for Search Building Your “Authority File” • The list of preferred terms or acceptable values. P 180 • The Mission Statement for your Content - Acronyms, Abbreviations Multiple terms (“term rotation”?) Cases (Upper, Lower and Mixed) Button and Graphics too • Use a Central File to Keep Current • Responsible Role during the IA Method Classification Schemes • Taxonomy (more than one) - Front End • Users (Personalized) • Interface (Browse) - Back End • Information Architecture • Content Management • System (Search) - Technical Approaches • • • • LIS & CS Top-Down & Bottom-Up Content & Task ALL Semantic Relationships • Equivalence (Alternate Names) - Derived (Rules) - Vocabulary (Uses) • Hierarchical (Relationships) - Strong (Inherited) • City - Austin - Instance (Classes) • Texas - Austin • Associative (Checklist for Approval) - Based on Understanding of Content - Based on Understanding of Users Thesauri • Hierarchical Relationship • Equivalence Relationship • Associative Relationship - Preferred Term Varian Term (synonyms) Broader Term (preferred’s parent) Narrower Term (preferred’s child) Related (“see also”, synonyms) Use (rules for where and when) Scope (restricts meaning) Thesaurus Types • Classic - Links - Keywords • Subject Index • LoC • Index - Browsable • Appearance • Ordering (Multiple orders) - Relational • See also • Hierarchy • Document versus Site Faceted Classification • Multiple Dimensions • Now More Applicable to Digital Information - Personality, Matter, Energy, Space, Time - Topic, Product, Document Type, Audience, Geography, Price • Commerce Examples • What other kinds of views? Taxonomy of Decisions & Actions • Now – not just the taxonomies of content, but how people work • Purpose of the Search • Method to Find Information • Content of the Information Being Searched • GVU Survey Question - Recent instance of important information found • Critical Incident Technique - Complete Instances - Known Consequences (Results) • Morrison 2001 Taxonomy pt. 2 • Taxonomies of Web Activities - Why people searched the Web - How search the Web - What information searched • Analysis of Responses from Survey into Experiment • Purpose Taxonomy • Method Taxonomy • Content Taxonomy Human Information Behavior • Information Seeking (Strategies) • Information Searching (Strategies) • Information Use - Physical Actions - Mental Actions • Focus on the User • Wilson 2001 New Models of Info Behavior pt. 2 New Models of Info Behavior pt. 3 • Problem Solving • System Actions • Integration of Actions Rapid Ethnography • Like Rapid Prototyping & Usability Inspection • Field Work • Ethnography - People (Practice) - Environments (Native) - Activities (Context) • Cultural Observation and Analysis • Elicit User Requirements • More Focused (Decisions) • Millen 2000 Rapid Ethnography pt. 2 • • • • Short Studies Comparisons to Other Studies Zoom in On Key Activities Multiple Datasets (Critical Incidents) - Observations Recording Activity Walkthroughs Interviews (Structured) • Selection of Instances that Yield Incidents - Key Times - Key Users Rapid Ethnography pt. 3 • • • • • Automated Data Analysis Team Data Analysis Scenario Analysis (storyboards) Pictorial Storytelling (metaphors) Lightweight Deliverables - Drawings (Sketches) Notes (not Reports) Incomplete Prototypes • Cognitive Mapping (assumptive) • Substitute for Full or Complete Studies How Do We Really Use the Web? • Reading vs. Scanning - Quality of Elements - Quantity of Elements - Purpose of Pages • Satisficing - Guessing with Speed - Low Penalties (Back) - Testing Boundaries • Muddling and Forging Ahead - Stick with what works - Not concerned with understanding • Krug 2000 Semiotics of the Web • Site Structure and Cognitive Design - Typography • Medium use - Browsers • Message content - Paper - Web • Appeal - Attention (interest) - Relevance (needs and motives) - Confidence (expectation & achievement) • Accessibility - Culture - Physical • Smart, et al. 2000 Learning and Interests (Users) • Learning is Remembering What You’re Interested In • Cultivating Interest • Relevance • Interests vs. Obligations • Examples for Understanding - Metaphors - Content Presentation • “Architecture is Making Connections” Designing for Users • • • • Permutations Connections Facts vs. Ideas Discovery vs. JITI Class Work: User Analysis • Who are your target users? • All of the possible users? • Rapid Ethnography Group Project Plan Review • Comments on Your Plans - Current - Future Group Work: Planning the Project Site • Who are your target users? • All of the possible users? • Rapid Ethnography