Designing Structure

Information Architecture

3

Information Architecture

Find Me

Data, Information, KnowledgeWe design for movement

From data

To information

To Knowledge

The Goal

• To go from fact

Estimated portion of all U.S. nuclear waste that Nevada's Yucca Mountain dumpsite will hold when it is full in 2046 :

3/5

The Goal

• To meaning

Estimated portion of all U.S. nuclear waste that Nevada's Yucca Mountain dumpsite will hold when it is full in 2046 :

3/5

Richter-scale magnitude of an earthquake last June twelve miles from the Yucca site :

4.4

Classification and Consequences

• A physician who doesn’t see a new cure• A poor student who can’t find financial

aid• A store where a product isn’t found

From fact to meaning

The right information at the right time in the right way

– Find information– Understand information– Use information

Special skills

• Information Architecture for Findability• Information Design for Understandability• Interaction Design for Usability

Information Architects specialize

• In Information Architecture– duh!

Unfortunate Seperation

Why the separation?

Little IA Big IA

Better model

Are they closer?

Little IA

Big IA

Best model??

A new shape

Little IA

Big IA

Information Architects

• What is IA?• IAI definition

1. The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability.

2. The structural design of shared information environments.

3. An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Findability

In the physical world

• Things that have fixed locations– We find with

maps and signs-- wayfinding

• Things that don’t– We find with

organization and wayfinding

In the digital world

• Nothing is fixed• Wayfinding and organization is the two

keys to findability• Role of IA is to shape the digital space to

enable findability.

Make things findable

• Organization– Build on Metadata– Browse systems– Search systems

• Wayfinding– Labels– Visual cues

Make things appear

• Serendipity systems– See also– Related– Popularity relationships– Also built on metadata

The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content.

Definition

Information Architecture for the World-Wide Web Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville

Organizing info so

people can find stuff>

Who cares?

Once there were people with cowsAnd people without cowsThe people with no cows were hungry

They took to the roadAnd met at the marketAnd the people with no cows bought cowsThe people with cows had fewer cows, but money for other things

Now there are people with informationAnd people with no informationThe road is the computerAnd the market is the web

But the market is really bigAnd the people can’t find each otherSo we have ignorant peopleAnd people with no money

The cows are okay with this

Business is not.

The Goal

The players– Users, seeking information (cowless)– Businesses with information (with cows)– Intermediaries such as search engines and

directories, profiting on the exchange (marketplaces)

The goal is to get the users seeking the data to the businesses offering the data

Missing information

Lost sales -

Expensive support -

Duplicated effort -

Lost trust -

Lost lives?

Classification has Consequences

• A physician who doesn’t see a new cure• A poor student who can’t find financial aid• A store where a product isn’t found

IA has consequences

– Tagging with metadata– Organizing with CV’s– Creating navigation

systems – Optimizing search

Information Architecture manages information to make it findable

And IA can build brands.

Branding in 10 seconds

brand promises

brand experiences

create

fullfilled by

Brand managers

Brian Collins’ Model of Brand

Brand and the User Experience

Hugh Dubberly’s Model of Brand

Creating a good customer experience is the essence of good branding

IA Realizes Brand

Product Quality = Brand LoyaltyI get asked a lot why Apple's customers are so loyal. It's not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That's ridiculous.It's because when you buy our products, and three months later you get stuck on something, you quickly figure out [how to get past it].

And you think, "Wow, someone over there at Apple actually thought of this!" And then three months later you try to do something you hadn't tried before, and it works, and you think "Hey, they thought of that, too." And

then six months later it happens again. There's almost no product in the world that you have that experience with, but you have it with a Mac.

And you have it with an iPod.

Benabar n’est pas jazz?

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What is this?

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What is this?

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What is this?

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What is this?

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What are these?

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They are all birds(ornithologist)

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The Cassowary is not a bird!

(the Karam)

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From “Why the Cassowary is not a bird”, R. Bulmer, Man, Vol. 2, Issue 1, (Mar. 1967)

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From “Why the Cassowary is not a bird”, R. Bulmer, Man, Vol. 2, Issue 1, (Mar. 1967)

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Who Cares?

• Ornithologists• The Karam • Information Architects

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Dewey Decimal System

• 200-299 – Religion Categories

• 40+ categories related to Christianity

• 1 for Judaism• 1 for Islam (&

related)

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Who Cares?

• Religious Scholars• Librarians• Information Architects• Jews and Muslims

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• Classification reflects social and cultural organization

• Information Architect must understand this context

Context is King

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Get to know your audience…

1. Who are they?

Football Fan

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Get to know your audience…

1. Who are they?

Football Fan?

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Get to know your audience…

1. Who are they?

2. What do they care about?

Are the Patriots going to make the playoffs?

Show me photos!

What happened in the last game?

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Get to know your audience…

1. Who are they?

2. What do they care about?

3. How do they think of the information and content?

Conference, division…

Schedules, standings…

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Get to know your audience…

1. Observe others

2. Study Competitors and similar sites

3. Review your search logs

4. Do a card sort

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Now what?

• Organize your information so it makes sense to your audience

• Structure your information to help users find it

• …using metadata

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Metadata: what is it?

“metadata is data about data"

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Metadata: what is it?

“Metadata tags are used to describe documents, pages, images, software, video and audio files, and other content objects for the purposes of improved navigation and retrieval”

‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’, 2nd ed., (2002) Rosenfeld, L. & Morville, P.

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Types of Metadata

• Descriptive: the nature of the thing, what is it related to?…

• Intrinsic: composition of the thing, size, shape…

• Administrative: how can the thing be handled? Workflow…

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Types of Metadata

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Types of Metadata

• Descriptive: Patriots, NFL, AFC East…

• Intrinsic: HTML page, 40k…• Administrative: update daily with

news feeds, update when new game…

Web Page: New England Patriots

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Types of Metadata

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Types of Metadata

• Descriptive: Patriots, NFL, AFC East…

• Intrinsic: jpg file, 4k…• Administrative: rights owner-NFL,

replace when logo changes…

Logo: New England Patriots

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Yahoo Travel

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-191501740-paris_vacations-i

<!-- Meta Data --> …

<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Plan your vacation using Yahoo! Travel's Paris Vacations and tourism …”

<!-- /Meta Data -->

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Yahoo! Travel: Homepage

<meta name='description' content="Yahoo! Travel is a comprehensive online travel destination, where you can reserve flights, rental cars, hotel rooms, cruises and vacation packages, all in one place. Research trips from a wealth of planning resources including destination and city guides, user and expert reviews, local weather and currency information, and much more. Yahoo! Travel has competitive prices on everything from airfare to lodging, it's easy to find great deals and special offers">

<meta name='keywords' content='online airfare airfares hotel car reservations travelocity airlines tickets airplane air line air fares arifares airline low fairs fares cheap tickets flights book information flight itinerary itineraries online reservations online tickets online travel agents vacations cruise cruises cruiselines business travel busines corporate hotels discounts car cars rental lasvegas tickets travel reservations online travel travel bookings online bookings book airfare fare wars discount fares sales lowest vacation planning information travel agencies travel sites disney world florida orlando miami atlanta ATL Dallas DFW DCA LAS LAX NYC ORD SFO atl dfw dca las lax nyc ord sfo Washington D.C. washington dc los angeles Los Angeles new york New York new york city New York City San Francisco sanfrancisco family trips family vacation family vacations'>

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Yahoo! Travel: Successful Meta Data

• Added Meta Data to page (descriptive meta tags, urls, titles in page)

• Was 2001: result # 300+ in Google/Yahoo Search

• 2002: result # 2• Users can find the content!

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Not all Metadata is equal

• What are users interested in?• What do you want users to be able to find?• What metadata makes management

easy?

• Tag content for findability• Tag content for management

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Exercise

• Listen• Write five descriptive words (or short

phrases) on your post-it• One word (or phrase) per post-it

• Don’t share– yet! Hold on!

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Next

Content Architecture Part II

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Controlled vocabularies

Master of your domains

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Cardinal Richelieu

Grandfather of controlled vocabularies

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The French Academy

• Founded in 1635• Multiple dialects• Goal: purify the French language• Goal: unify the nation (ensure that the

State and all citizens speak the same language)

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The French Academy today

…but…

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So what?

• How will you ensure they continue to do so?

• So what are your goals?

• How will you ensure that your users and your system speak the same language?

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I’ve got music

I want music.

When humans and computers interact

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Hip HopRap.Rock.Dance.

Humans are good at figuring things out

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Jiggy tunes

?

Most of the time

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Acidreggae

?

No matches found

But computers are literal

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AcidReggae?

?

Let’s give them “Dance and DJ”

IA

And need help

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Thus Controlled vocabularies (CV)Amy Warner defines a controlled vocabulary (CV)

as “organized lists of words and phrases, or notation systems, that are used to initially tag content, and then to find it through navigation or search.”

Of course, the IA can’t always be there…

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I define them as

Documented relationships of words and concepts to assist people finding stuff.

Same dif.

Controlled Vocabularies

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• Levels of control

Simple Complex

SynonymRings

AuthorityFiles

ThesauriClassificationSchemes

Equivalence Hierarchical Associative

(Vocabularies)

(Relationships)

Controlled Vocabulary Types

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• Relationships

A=B AB

A BEquivalenceChristmas=Xmas

HierarchalWinter Holidays > Christmas

Associative Christmas | Santa Claus

Controlled vocabularies

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• Simplest type• Helps with search, indexing• Simplifies maintenance

Synonym rings

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• Acronyms: BBC, British Broadcasting Company; MPG, miles per gallon

• Variant spellings: cancelled, canceled; honor, honour

• Scientific terms versus popular use terms: acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin; lilioceris, lily beetle– From Synonym Rings and Authority Files

by Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel

Synonym rings include

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• Sometimes on intranets, CV’s are skipped

• You think you can force people to use proper terms

• But people are lazy

I’m tired of typing “Controlled Vocabulary--- CV is shorter.

Why Bother?

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• On the internet you want to be found

• You’ve got cows• But people can’t spell

“cows”• Plus users use short

queries– Average queries are 2.5

words– 30% of searches are one word queries

I want a cannon camera.

Why Bother?

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It may be the Canon PowerShot S30

Bizrate takes good advantage

90

Cannon S30

Powershot S30

S30

Canon S30

But what do people call it?

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A page for each synonym

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And they can be number one

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• Addition of preferred terms and variants• Preferred terms

– Protects brand– Sensitivities– Educates

Christmas | Xmas, X-mas, Nöel,

Authority File

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There is a right spelling

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• Includes non-equivalent relationships• Includes hierarchal informal• Useful for navigation• Useful for helping people broaden their

search

Classification schemes

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• Types of relationships• Sibling:

Gap.com directories» Men» Women» Maternity» Body» Boys» Girls» Baby boy» Baby girl

Classification schemes

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Parent / Child

(amazon.com)

Classification schemes

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Classification Schemes

Other RelationshipsAlphabetical (administrative metadata)

Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Moore, Alan

Chronological (administrative metadata)

New for You > New Releases > Books

Topic (descriptive metadata)

Comics > Graphic Novels > Horror

Amazon uses all of these, and more….

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• Cadillac of Controlled Vocabularies• Includes associative relationships

Preferred term

Variants Siblings Parent Associated

Christmas X-mas, Nöel

Hanukah, Kwanzaa

Winter holidays

Santa Claus

Thesauri

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Associations

101

• Amazon uses buying patterns to determine associations

Associations

102

Associations

103

Exercise

Card sort

Take your keywords

Open your packets

Sort the items into similar piles.

Label the piles with post-its

Discuss

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Building your own

1. Understand requirements

2. Harvest terms

3. Create groupings

4. Implement

5. Test

6. Maintain

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What kind of CV do you need?

• What do you want your CV to accomplish? • To integrate with your navigation system? • To improve searching? To improve browsing?

Both? • How much vocabulary control do you want to

provide? Synonym ring? Facets? What level of vocabulary control is appropriate?

• What can your technology support?

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Getting answers

• Content - specificity and stability• Technology - tools and integration. • Users – who are they• Maintenance- who will do it?

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Content Inventory

• Link ID• ROT• Document type• Topics/

Keywords• Location

• Maintainer• Expiration• Access• Author• Existing/planned

Identify all content and attributes

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Term harvesting

• Look Inward– Your site– Current keywords

• Look outward– Magazines– Competitors– Discussion lists

• Log harvesting– Search engines– Overture

• Ask people– Interviews– Card sorts– Free Listing

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Sorting Terms

A Card Sort for Architects

• Multiple Groupings– Equivalent UF cheese=fromage– Broader terms BT cheese | dairy– Narrower terms NT cheese | cheddar– Related term RT cheese | crackers

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Sleeping Bags       BT Camping        NT Down Sleeping Bags       NT Synthetic Sleeping Bags       NT Family Sleeping Bags       NT Cold Weather Sleeping Bags               NT 2-Season Sleeping Bags              NT 3-Season Sleeping Bags       NT Back Packing Sleeping Bags               NT Expedition Class Sleeping Bags              NT Ultralight Sleeping Bags              RT Backpacks               RT Ultralight Backpacking       RT Sleeping Bag Liners       RT Sleeping Pads       RT Stuff Sacks       RT Pillows

From Creating a Controlled Vocabularyby Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckelhttp://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/creating_a_controlled_vocabulary.php

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Sorting conflicts

• Cheese goes in dairy or in sandwich materials?

• A cheese basket?• String cheese?

Choices fit strategy

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Associations

• What is related• What is required?• What else is interesting?

Relevancy is king

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Possible Relationships

• Process/agent (camp fires/matches)

• Action/product of action (baking/cakes) • Agent/counteragent

(allergies/antihistamine) • Raw material/product (wool/sweater).

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Implement

• Implementation dependant on situation and tools.

• May be slow painful data entry– know this and prepare.

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Test

• Test with users – did you get it right?

– Browse Testing– Search Testing– Monitor quantitative

– Refine, refine, refine

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Maintain

• Who maintains it?• What the rules for new terms?• Document your decisions.

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Is that all?

NO!

Life beyond enumerative classification….

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Faceted Classification

was developed, prior to the existence of computers, by S. R. Ranganathan, a Hindu mathematician working as a librarian.

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S. R. Ranganathan1892-1972

My dream:•to systematically describe, in detail,

the contents of complex documents discussing compound subjects, and to

• codify those descriptions into a sequenced numerical form that would

• make it possible to retrieve exactly what was needed from wherever it was located in the library

• in order to save the time of the reader.

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And ... describe the entire universe of ideas using classification and notation.

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S. R. Ranganathan1892-1972

The Five Laws of Library Science

1. Books are for use. 2. Every reader his or her book. 3. Every book its reader. 4. Save the time of the reader. 5. The Library is a growing organism.

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Colon Classification System

Describing life, the universe, & everything, it used facets to classify. It affected the world of

• classification,• categorization, • information retrieval &• information architecture.

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Ranganathan’s 5 Facets

• who: personality• what: matter• how: energy• where: space• when: time

Sound familiar?

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Ranganathan’s 5 FacetsImagine a book about “the design of wooden furniture in 18th century America.”

Personality—furniture Matter—wood Energy—design Space—America Time—18th century

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Essential Qualities of a Facet

• Mutually exclusive; represents a characteristic of division not found in any other facet

• Cannot be further sub-divided• Relationships between facets are non-

hierarchical (though within facets…)

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The broad categories into which the subject area is divided. A facet consists “... of a group of terms that represents one, and only one, characteristic of division of a subject field....no two facets may contain terms that could represent the same concepts.” —Louise Spiteri

Facets

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Heady stuff?

What does all this philosophical mumbo jumbo mean?

128

Heady stuff?

Yahoo! Shopping uses facets to help users select a camera

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Ordinary stuff?

Epicurious uses facets to help users find recipes

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Yahoo! Personals

• Faceted classification by Yahoo! Personas

• Content by the users

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What’s the difference?

Electronics

Camera

Digital

Film

PDAs

Televisions

Camera facets

Pixels

Zoom

Price

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Our Music example

Enumerative

• Modern– Rock

• Alternative– Seattle– Atlanta

Faceted

• Mood• Tempo• Artist• Use

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Mix and match?

In Yahoo Shopping

• Electronics > Cameras > Digital

• Then choose by pixel, zoom and price

• Then offer camera bag, flash card, batteries?

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Facets, anyone?

What facets would you use to describe the qualities of a song?

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Making Facets

1. Consider the universe of documents to be indexed.

2. Consider user finding strategies.

3. Analyze each document to identify the facets.

4. Group isolates (simple-concept subjects) into the facets.

5. Apply the notational system.

(I skipped some steps, to avoid wonking out….)

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Are Facets Hard?

Consider:– Facets for a knife store?– Facets for a kitchen store?– Facets for a book store?

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Before jumping in…

Consider:• How various is your content?• How complex is your subject?• How do people find your content?• How much time do you have?

Is this all there is?

Information Architecture is:

Architecture in Information Spaces.

Dan Klyn (and TUG) is bringing Richard Saul Wurman’s and other architect’s views back to make better digital products

http://understandinggroup.com/

“Less is more.” ~ Mies

What does a digital product want?

• A librarian?• An urban planner?• An architect?

“Modern Systems! Yes indeed! To approach everything in a strictly methodical manner and not to waver a hair’s breath from preconceived patterns, until genius has been strangled to death and joie de vivre stifled by the system– that is the sign of our time.” Camillo Sitte

Homework

• Content inventory: what’s in your site?• Organizational Scheme

– Hierarchal?– Faceted?– Combination?

• Portfolio: Site map (a la Dan Brown’s Communicating design Chapter 5)