Designing Structure

Information Architecture

A SHORT HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

Cave

Hut

Stone Age City

VITRUVIUS

firmitas, utilitas, venustas : : durability, convenience, beauty 

Durability

“Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected” Vitruvius

The hotel had several design features that made up for its foundation:The reflecting pool (visible in the picture above) also provided a source of water for fire-fighting, saving the building from the post-earthquake firestorm;[1]

Cantilevered floors and balconies provided extra support for the floors;A copper roof, which cannot fall on people below the way a tile roof can;Seismic separation joints, located about every 20 m along the building;Tapered walls, thicker on lower floors, increasing their strength;Suspended piping and wiring, instead of being encased in concrete, as well as smooth curves, making them more resistant to fracture.[2]

Technical Earthquakes

I’m searching for “my architect, not

“movies, directors, actors”

Social Earthquakes

If people post jobs in discussion areas, any user can

move them to job board

If people use connection invites to spam/market, they

can be reported.

Convenience

“When the arrangement of the apartments is faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when each class of building is assigned to its suitable and appropriate exposure” Vitruvius

Sound familiar? We’re talking

usability!

Rackspace headquarters in in a former mall. The building is so usable for moving people around, it's easily repurposed. Robert Venturi calls this a “decorated shed”

Malls online epitomize convenience, and are typically extremely usable. Anthropologie is elegant and functional.This simple model could be repurposed for any side dealing with objects and metadata

Bilbao did not leak. I was so

proud.

The MIT project, they were interviewing me for MIT and they sent their facilities people to Bilbao. I met them in Bilbao. They came for three days.W: This is the computer building.G: They were there for three days and it rained every day. And they kept walking around. I noticed they were looking under things and looking for things, and they wanted to know where the buckets were hidden, people putting buckets out. I was clean. There wasn't a bloody leak in the place. It was just fantastic. But you've got to -- yeah, well, up until then, every building leaked.W: Frank had a sort of -- sort of had a fame -- his -- his fame was built on that in L.A. for a while. You know, Frank, you've all heard the Frank Lloyd Wright story when the guy -- the woman called and said, "Mr. Wright, my -- I'm sitting in the couch and the water's pouring in on my head," and he said, "Madame, move your chair."G: So, some years later I was doing a little house on the beach for Norton Simon, and his secretary was kind of a hell-on-wheels type lady -- called me and said, Mr. Simon's sitting at his desk, and the water's coming in on his head, and I told him the Frank Lloyd Wright story.W: Didn't get a laugh.G: No. Not now either. http://www.ted.com/talks/frank_gehry_asks_then_what.html

I call it the "Then What?" Okay, you solved all the problems, you did all the stuff, you made nice, you loved your clients, you loved the materials, you loved the city, you're a good guy, you're a good person... and then what? What do you bring to it?

See his great TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks/frank_gehry_asks_then_what.html

“Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change.” Frank Lloyd Wright

Beauty (delight)

“when the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good taste, and when its members are in due proportion according to correct principles of symmetry.” Vitrvius

“Less is more.” ~ Mies

SEAGRAM BUILDING (Philip Johnson did interiors, 1957)

This logical and elegant 38-story skyscraper (525' H) has alternating horizontal bands of bronze plating and bronze-tinted glass and decorative bronze I-beams which emphasize its verticality. Placed to the rear of its site and set back from Park Avenue, it incorporates a large plaza in the front as part of the design--thus avoiding the need for set-backs. It uses granite pillars at the base and has a two-story glass-enclosed lobby.

Seagram Building

New York City

1957

Is this Beautiful?

“Less is a bore.” ~ Venturi

Is this Beautiful?

Do we dictate what is beautiful by constraining

user choice?

Or support passionate use that may not meet our

aesthetic standards?

Beautiful

ConvenientDurable

29

Information Architecture

Architecture Retrieval

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>

PLAY WITH YOUR BALLSSort into groups. Name groups

MAKE A HOMEPAGE FOR YOUR BALL SITE

4 KINDS OF INFORMATION SEEKING

KNOWN ITEM

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

What works

• Search• A-Z index• Navigation

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

EXPLORATORY

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

What can help

• Navigation• Related Search• Search (with autocomplete, related terms)

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

What can help

• Related information• Recommendations• Push technologies

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

REFINDING

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

What can help

• Favorites• Personalization• Visited link color

http://boxesandarrows.com/four-modes-of-seeking-information-and-how-to-design-for-them/

Redesign

TASKS• Find a baseball • Find a gift for a upcoming party for a seven

year old• Make users aware some balls are on sale• Find again a good choice for that party

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 Solutions

– 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

Benabar n’est pas jazz?

57

What is this?

58

What is this?

59

What is this?

60

What is this?

61

What are these?

62

They are all birds(ornithologist)

63

The Cassowary is not a bird!

(the Karam)

64

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

65

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

66

Who Cares?

• Ornithologists• The Karam • Information Architects

67

Dewey Decimal System

• 200-299 – Religion Categories

• 40+ categories related to Christianity

• 1 for Judaism• 1 for Islam (&

related)

68

Who Cares?

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

69

• Classification reflects social and cultural organization

• Information Architect must understand this context

Context is King

70

Get to know your audience…

1. Who are they?

Football Fan

71

Get to know your audience…

1. Who are they?

Football Fan?

72

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?

73

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…

74

Get to know your audience…

1. Observe others

2. Study Competitors and similar sites

3. Review your search logs

4. Do a card sort

75

Now what?

• Organize your information so it makes sense to your audience

• Structure your information to help users find it

• …using metadata

METADATA

Pictures of you

81

Metadata: what is it?

“metadata is data about data"

82

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.

Descriptive

• Ham• Cheese• Honey• Olivia’s

Intrinsic

What does the camera know? What does the system know?

Administrative

86

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

87

Exercise

• BALL• Write as many descriptive words (or short

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

• Don’t share– yet! Hold on!

89

Next

Content Architecture Part II

91

Controlled vocabularies

Master of your domains

92

Cardinal Richelieu

Grandfather of controlled vocabularies

93

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)

94

The French Academy today

…but…

95

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?

96

I’ve got music

I want music.

When humans and computers interact

97

Hip HopRap.Rock.Dance.

Humans are good at figuring things out

98

Raggamuffin ?

Most of the time

99

Acidreggae

?

No matches found

But computers are literal

100

AcidReggae?

?

Let’s give them “Reggae” and “Trance”

IA

And need help

101

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…

102

I define them as

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

Same dif.

Controlled Vocabularies

103

• Levels of control

Simple Complex

SynonymRings

AuthorityFiles

ThesauriClassificationSchemes

Equivalence Hierarchical Associative

(Vocabularies)

(Relationships)

Controlled Vocabulary Types

104

• Relationships

A=B AB

A BEquivalenceChristmas=Xmas

HierarchalWinter Holidays > Christmas

Associative Christmas Tree | Santa Claus

Controlled vocabularies

105

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

Synonym rings

106

• 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

107

• 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?

108

• On the internet you want to be found

• Plus users use short queries– Average queries are 2.5

words– 30% of searches are one word queries

• On large scale sites, there is enough data to do this programmatically, but on small sites, not.

I want a cannon camera.

Why Bother?

109

It may be the Canon PowerShot S30

Bizrate built a business off mispellings

110

Cannon S30

Powershot S30

S30

Canon S30

But what do people call it?

111

A page for each synonym

112

And they can be number one

113

• Types of relationships• Sibling:

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

Classification schemes

114

Parent / Child

(amazon.com)

Classification schemes

LATCH

116

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….

117

• Cadillac of Controlled Vocabularies• Includes associative relationships

Preferred term

Variants Siblings Parent Associated

Christmas X-mas, Nöel

Hanukah, Kwanzaa

Winter holidays

Santa Claus

Thesauri

118

Associations

119

• Amazon uses buying patterns to determine associations

Associations

120

Associations

121

Content Inventory

• Link ID• ROT• Document type• Topics/

Keywords• Location

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

Identify all content and attributes

124

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

125

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

126

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

127

Sorting conflicts

• Cheese goes in dairy or in sandwich materials?

• A cheese basket?• String cheese?

Choices fit strategy

128

Associations

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

Relevancy is king

129

Possible Relationships

• Process/agent (camp fires/matches)

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

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

130

Implement

• Implementation dependant on situation and tools.

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

131

Test

• Test with users – did you get it right?

– Browse Testing– Search Testing– Monitor quantitative

– Refine, refine, refine

132

Maintain

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

133

Is that all?

NO!

Life beyond enumerative classification….

134

Faceted Classification

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

135

Ranganathan’s 5 Facets

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

136

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…)

138

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

139

Ordinary stuff?

Epicurious uses facets to help users find recipes

140

Yahoo! Personals

• Faceted classification by Yahoo! Personas

• Content by the users

141

What’s the difference?

Electronics

Camera

Digital

Film

PDAs

Televisions

Camera facets

Pixels

Zoom

Price

142

Music

Enumerative

• Modern– Rock

• Alternative– Seattle– Atlanta

Faceted

• Mood• Tempo• Artist• Use

143

FACETS, ANYONE?Create ball facets

144

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….)

Is this all there is?

Homework

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

– Hierarchal?– Faceted?– Combination?

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