IBE312: Ch15 Building an IA Team & Ch16 Tools & Software 2013

2 Ch 15 - Building an IA Team  Destructive acts of creation The problem is when redesign ignores all that was done before; not basing new design on lessons learned.

Fast and Slow Layers 3

Project versus Program  Project versus program Project (6 weeks-18 months), “You need “big-picture” information architects who can design an overall strategic framework that integrates organization and navigation systems with the software, processes, and staffing responsibilities needed to bring it to life and keep it living.” Program – focuses on administration and continuous improvement, long term vision, and continuity. 4

Buy or rent?  Buy or rent? Hire professionals? (Consultants or in- house professionals) Projects – use consultants but not solely Politics – “high powered consultants” help to establish internal credibility Perspective – consultants can bring a fresh perspective, draw on best practices Programs – more cost effective to hire full-time Business context – in-house IA have richer understanding of the business Relationships – In-house IA can build long term relationships with other employees Ad-hoc projects – good to maintain a consultant budget to expose your staff to fresh perspectives. 5

The Dream Team  The dream team: Strategy architect, thesaurus designer, controlled vocabulary manager, indexing specialist, interaction designer, IA software analyst, IA usability engineer, cartographer, search analyst. (Could the list be any longer?) Enterprise Information Architect Social Navigation Architect Knowledge Management Architect Web Services Architect 6

7 Ch 16 - Tools and Software  Some has been very immature – improving.  Tools: Automated categorization – auto assign metadata to documents, automated taxonomy generation, Search engines – full-text indexing and searching Thesaurus management tools – development and management of controlled vocabularies Portal or Enterprise Knowledge platforms - collaborative filtering tools, portal solutions, Content management systems – manage workflow from content authoring to editing and publishing Analytics – usage and statistical performance of web sites, metrics on user behavior (click streams) Diagramming software – create visuals, wireframes and blueprints, Prototyping tools – interactive wireframes, clickable prototypes, User research – online card sorting, remote usability testing Ask an engineer – in vendor firm- will tell what their product does well, poorly, or could do

Helpful Resources  Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies (free online) “A controlled vocabulary is an organized arrangement of words and phrases used to index content and/or to retrieve content through browsing or searching. It typically includes preferred and variant terms and has a defined scope or describes a specific domain. The purpose of controlled vocabularies is to organize information and to provide terminology to catalog and retrieve information. While capturing the richness of variant terms, controlled vocabularies also promote consistency in preferred terms and the assignment of the same terms to similar content.”  Introduction to Metadata (free online) – It is “data about data” --- but much more. “The structured nature of metadata is important. By accurately modeling the most essential attributes of the class of information objects being described, metadata in aggregate can serve as a catalog—a distillation of the essential attributes of the collection of information objects—thereby becoming a useful tool for using and managing that collection. In the context of this chapter, then, metadata can be defined as a structured description of the essential attributes of an information object.” (Meatadata and the Web – Tony Gill) 8

Helpful Resources (continued)  Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines (2013) - presented as an online database -- gov/ gov/  And as pdf (2006) -- ites/default/files/documen ts/guidelines_book.pdf?p ost=yes 9