Mobile Information Architecture

Mobile Differences Location? - Everywhere - Household - Automobile - Fieldwork - Officework Purpose? - Everything (Integrated Devices) - Single Task (Appliances) Interface? - Personalized - Simplified Audio In Audio Out - Modal - Contextual

Mobile & You Intimacy - Not just My Yahoo - My Device Faceplates Ringtones Button Overlays Ubiquity - Proximity - Interoperability - Connectivity (always on) Content - Dynamic Streaming Data - – Voic – Pic mail - Web Data - Synchronization New Designs and Functions

Mobile Functionality Bandwidth - Wireless Security - Financial Mgmt - Cryptography Ubiquitous Computing Privacy Cultural - Adoption - Revolution Locating and Relocating Information - Directions, Shopping Lists, Contacts

Mobile Tasks Task-specific use that is very modal How does this change design? Navigate – Locate – Recognize – Act - Human Short Term Memory 7+/-2 Unfamiliar Tasks & Cognitive Overload - Minimal Graphics (& Resolution) Affects Landmark Use - More Skimming, Information Lost - Task Focus Equalized Among Tasks - Leverage Existing Mental Models Hierarchical Models The Right Schema (Appearance)

Mobile Design vs IA Most Guidelines are for Interfaces, Not Information (Architecture) - Not Just Less Information - Not Only Lists, but Structures - IA May Help More Than UI Re-Think Web Design Ideas and Guidelines Web Browsing vs. Strategic Information Seeking Task-Specific - Look-Ups (Reminding and Refreshing) - Not Exhaustive Searches (Learning) - Answer Clearly Articulated Questions On-Line Comprehension - Even Less on Handhelds (Note Cards?) - Context & Concise Information Order of Problems & Tasks Relative Semantic Representations of Information

Mobile IA From Crumlish (Yahoo!) Mobile is coming of age & affordability - Should work with your existing IA - Not the desktop anymore The Mobile Web is Everywhere (Everyware?) Asking questions with concrete goals - Less browsing, more personal context Interface changes - Vertical lists (with # key equivalents) - Do we mean Web sites with mobile versions? -Or altogether new designs? New IA & Content Management challenges - Google Mobile Google Mobile - Amazon Mobile Amazon Mobile

Mobile IA Redesigns Smaller lists Limit categories to 5 - Number key access * - Make thinks links as often as possible Understand SmartPhone limits Use (w)CSS effectively Reduce content on each page No sidebars First try - a mobile sub-set site?

Mobile Web Strategies How do you add value to lives with mobile technology? Design for small PCs with functionality rather than phones Why should it be mobile? iSchool Google Maps Alamo Drafthouse Paper prototyping & user evaluations on the spot Usability testing for mobiles is still new Lab testing often difficult past initial designs IA Deliverables - Simple Site Maps - Heavy user scenarios - Icon & graphics design more important (if any)

Questions for Mobile IA work How do you navigate with much less space? Do all concepts/units of information have the same weight in all situations? What does Web standard markup mean for mobiles? Try it out: GOOG-411

IA Re-Design How would you re-design a site for Mobile? iSchool Web page Alamo Drafthouse Google Maps 1.Sketch a design on a full page 2.Iterate and sketch on an index card 1.Repeat 2.Have a user scenario in mind

IA & Mobile for the Future Smart Mobs – Howard RheingoldSmart Mobs Contextual Computing Invisible Computer – Don NormanInvisible Computer Good Old-Fashioned Future - Bruce SterlingGood Old-Fashioned Future Industrial Design DoCoMo Apple Knowledge Navigator HP CooltownCooltown IBM Pervasive Computing UbiComp IEEE Spectrum Japan