Information Architecture Donna Maurer Usability Specialist

About me Consultant for Step Two Designs Previously government departments Designing intranets & websites, business applications Usability testing, user research, information architecture Studying Master of Human Factors (UQ)

Lecture overview What is information architecture Information can be arranged and accessed in many ways Design process for information architectures Information architecture for interactive systems Information architecture for ubiquitous systems

What information architecture is about AIfIA definition 1. The structural design of shared information environments. 2. The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability. 3. An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Information is arranged in many ways Date Alphabetical Geography Topic Hierarchy Faceted Organic Combination Good IA allows access to information in many ways

By date

Alphabetical

By geography

By audience

By task

By topic

By category

Organic organisation system

About hierarchies UC Home Future students Entry into UC About UC courses UC College Campus life Current students Announcements OSIS Academic dvisions & schhols Studying at UC Staff Announcements OPUS Directories & maps Academic dvisions & schhols

Getting around - navigation

Navigation Every page of a site should let you know: – Where am I – What’s here – Where can I go now – Where have I been People don’t always work from the home page – they get to a page from a link or from a search

Types of navigation Global navigation – Persistent across a site – Allows access to major parts of the site Local navigation – Lets you move around the current ‘section’ Contextual navigation – Inline links, to anywhere Supplemental navigation – Helpers – site map, A-Z index See also – Related links

Navigation

Social navigation

Labeling Good labels – Are understandable by the reader – Are consistent within the site – Clearly describe where you are going next Labeling is not easy – it is as complex as structure and navigation Where to get labeling ideas: – User research – Search terms – Referrer terms – Call centre/people in contact with users

Search What to search Query structure - how to search it Relevance - which results are the most important How to display the results

Metadata ‘Data about data’ – Title – Description – Authored date – Keywords Historically used to improve searching – search can use the metadata fields Also can be used to relate information together

In an IA project Research – Business needs – User requirements – Content – Gives me an understanding of the domain Understand technical opportunities or limitations Design site structure (site map) Design navigation and page layouts (wireframes) Design metadata, search and relationships Usability test throughout the process Creates a blueprint for the site – technical work after blueprint created and tested

IA for interactive sites Sites that are primarily about ‘doing things’ use IA differently – Fewer pages than a large informational site, so site map may show workflow not structure – Navigation and labeling still important More emphasis on scenarios Wireframes show a lot more detail and show all screens Design process is very similar

The elements of user experience

IA for ubiquitous computing Depends on the ubicomp device – For this assignment, interaction is more important – Navigation – getting around the interface – Labeling always important Design process is similar As information becomes embedded into our environment, accessing that information will become important…

IA Resources Books – Information Architecture for the World Wide Web – Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville – Elements of user experience – Jesse James Garrett – Information Architecture – Blueprints for the Web – Christina Wodtke – Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug Online – Boxes and Arrows – – IAslash - – IAwiki – Some blatant self-promotion – My weblog – – My organisation –