INFM 700: Session 7 Grab Bag: Real World IA Software & Business, Review Paul Jacobs The iSchool University of Maryland Wednesday, March 7, 2012 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States See for detailshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

iSchool Todays Topics Wrap-up of Faceted Navigation Some Thoughts: Information Architecture in the Real World Software Tools Content management systems Portals Others (storefronts, personalization,...) Business Issues IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Faceted Hierarchies Alternative to single and poly-hierarchies Basic idea: Describe objects along multiple facets Each facet has its associated hierarchy Issues: Whats a facet? How do you navigate faceted hierarchies?

iSchool Faceted Browsing Example

iSchool Faceted Browsing Example Issues and Tricks Deploying Search

iSchool Faceted Browsing Example Demo: Issues and Tricks Deploying Search

iSchool Advantages of Facets Integrates searching and browsing Easy to build complex queries Easy to narrow, broaden, shift focus Helps users avoid getting lost Helps to prevent categorization wars

iSchool Relationship to IA? Database Web Server Application Server Network Ontologies are implicitly hidden here!!! Flight Trip From: Part-of Airplane Equipment To: Departure Time: Arrival Time: Origin: Destination: Type: Capacity: Rule: Arrival Time is always after Departure Time Rule: Distance from Origin to Destination typical > 100 miles

iSchool Popular Implementation Content Metadata Presentation SQL Database PHP/HTML

iSchool IA in the Real World What is the Real World? Anywhere where our work affects profits, social justice, public service, organizational efficiency, … Companies, universities, nonprofits, government services, … Almost anywhere but here! (Not class, not research) Whats the same (between the Real World and our in-class textbook experience) Fundamentals (concepts, web technology) Most of the methods (e.g. organization/navigation, card sort, blueprints, wireframes, …) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool IA in the Real World (contd) What is different? Organizational issues (esp., but not limited, to politics) Money (sometimes its there, sometimes not) Timelines and time pressures Diversity of backgrounds, views, ages, etc. (with respect to technology) Scale and stakes (e.g. billions of users, up to $1bs) More emphasis on getting it done, often less on novelty/leading edge IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool How Does This Affect IA? Organizations Remember information ecology – content, users, context Web sites reflect organizational strategy, culture, and values Stakeholders need to be identified, included Approval process (e.g. business case, ROI) Legacy systems, predetermined choices IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Refresher (from eBay Study) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Time & Money Most organizations are highly budget-driven Skilled labor is a precious commodity That said, people are sometimes easier to come by than capital (fixed cost vs. incremental) Usually projects involve a mix of vendors, consultants, staff, but mix can be skewed (by budget, politics) Twice as long and twice as much mantra – little reward for optimism in the real world IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Working with Different Groups Explaining technical concepts, benefits to non- technical people Embracing marketing Tolerating bean counting Managing the FUD factor (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Software Tools: Overview Maybe the most important decision you make Trends in the industry Increasing complexity Consolidation Interoperability (e.g., objects, XML, mashups) Key IA software tools Back-end databases Content management systems Portals Middleware Personalization, other utilities IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Software Tools (Survey) Note: Updated 2006 IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues Software products used to perform IA work: Automated Categorization (16.2 %) Search Engines (56.4%) Thesaurus Management (19.7%) Portal or Enterprise Knowledge Platform (37.6%) Content Management Systems (65.8%) Web Analytics/Tracking (62.4%) Diagramming Software (79.5%) Prototyping Tools (70.9%) User Research and Testing (not included in survey) M&R, p. 355, also on line:

iSchool Software Tools (Survey) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues Software products used most to perform IA work: 26.5%: Visio 11.0% Excel 10.1% Word 8.0% PowerPoint

iSchool Software Tools: Apples & Oranges Tools used behind the scenes in IA, site design Diagramming, prototyping, research, etc. Visio, OmniGraffe, Survey Monkey, Dreamweaver, Websort, … Platforms and key components of sites Search engines, thesaurus, categorization Content management, portals Databases (why arent they in search results?) Other site management tools Analytics (e.g. WebTrends), SEO IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Web Content Management Helps organize, maintain, deliver web pages Storage, tagging, version control and maintenance Dynamic page creation (usually from a database) Other features, such as advanced layout, personalization Products and vendors Interwoven (now part of Autonomy, owned by HP) – LiveSite, TeamSite, Metatagger EMC Documentum Vignette (now part of OpenText) Microsoft CMS Open Source (Drupal, Joomla, Plone) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Example: OpenText Teaser OpenText's Web content management (WCM) products enable you to deliver an engaging online experience for your customers, employees, constituents, and interested visitors. Whether youre looking for an easy-to-deploy, departmental intranet, a highly dynamic self-service Web site, or a media-rich global Web application, OpenText has the right Web content management product to meet your organizations unique needs, on premises or in the cloud. Example case study: DC Office of the CTO (octo.dc.gov)octo.dc.gov Managing content for 125 agency Web sites with over 200,000 pages of unstructured content Improved productivity and efficiency for content producers, site developers. With Portal, OCTO created a variety of homepage, landing page and listing templates as well as a variety of detailed pages that agencies could pick and choose from to meet their needs. This created a standard look and feel across the sites while allowing customizations to fit each agencys individual needs Better customer service and regulation compliance. Savings of time and development costs. Mobile site will allow users to access news and services via mobile devices IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

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Portals Like CMS, also integrates with other functionality Roles, locations, further customization Integration with legacy databases and systems Products and vendors Microsoft Sharepoint IBM Websphere Oracle Portal (formerly BEA, Plumtree, Weblogic, etc.) IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Example: IBM WebSphere Teaser: IBM® WebSphere® Portal Server is the foundation offering of the WebSphere Portal product family, with enterprise portal capabilities that enable you to quickly consolidate applications and content into role-based applications, complete with search, personalization, and security capabilities. Example case study (see also ) By adopting the SOA approach using WebSphere Business Modeler, IBM Process Server and IBM WebSphere Integration Developer, there is no application or information that we cannot reach." - Fred Nay, Director of Computing Services, Ball State University IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool M&R on Portals IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues The vision of seamless, intuitive access to all enterprise and third- party content independent of geography, ownership, and format is compelling and completely unrealized. These tools claim to do everything. Make sure you know what they do well. M&R, p. 358

iSchool Other Software Thesaurus management Help build custom lexicons, taxonomies, controlled vocabularies Examples: MultiTes, DataHarmony "I have been searching for a thesaurus management tool that would aid me in the development of multiple taxonomies within a single structure and export in XML. When I researched the market, I saw MultiTes recommended more than any other package. After reviewing its price structure and available tutorial, I was sold." Lydia Bauer Content Librarian H&R Block I've been using MultiTes 7.1 for several years to create thesauri for my journal indexes and have found it quite useful. I just started to use the new release, MultiTes 2005 Pro, and everything from data entry to reports, including output in HTML or XML, and importing of text files is much simpler and more intuitive. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in the market for thesaurus software. Carolyn Weaver Weaver Indexing Service Others IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Business Issues (Early On) Many mentioned already (e.g., politics, enlisting stakeholders, money, existing infrastructure. etc.) Making the business case: ROI vs. Columbus and the New World Budgets and total cost of ownership Buy in Defining the strategy Align actions with business goals Show examples Iterate, and involve users IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Business Issues (What Goes Wrong) Were late, and were over budget – why? Overly optimistic projections Done in by the vendor/consultant sales team Client doesnt supply needed input Cant find the right people (mythical person month) Nothing seems to work – why? Other vendor/people issues It looks great to me, but the client doesnt agree Requirements creep Management changes Business changes IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues

iSchool Recap IA in the real world is as we study it, but with strings attached (time, money, bureaucracy) Software tools are a necessary ingredient of any technical solution: Must be approached very carefully Often make things much easier Can make this much more complex, especially with large, disparate sites Point solutions are expeditious, Integrated solutions favored by IT can be big wins, or big losers Long-term business success depends on focus, buy-in, careful vendor selection, constant user & stakeholder involvement IA & The Real World Software Tools Business Issues