Information Architecture and Internet Lecture 12

Summary of Previous Lecture The Internet  History  Resource that can be shared  Applications of Internet  Client/Server Architecture  Internet Service Providers  HTML  Web Browsers

Summary of Previous Lecture Searching the Web  Tips and Techniques  Search Process  Different Web search tools  Outlook Express

Today’s Lecture Intranet Webpage and Website Web servers Static Website and Dynamic Websites Purpose of Information Architecture and basic problem.  Common Mistakes Information Architecture Defined  Information Architect

Today's Lecture Main Concepts of Information Architecture  Structuring, organizing and Labeling  Finding and Managing  Art and science Library and WWW  Difference between books and websites  Difference between libraries and websites Different roles of Information Architect  IA Job and Role

Today’s Lecture Why IA matters? Example design structure of a University website. Structural schemes for website design. Navigation system in a website

Intranet A private network of any company. Resources are shared within the organization. Allows small group of people to access specific information.  E.g. Journals and Articles Access on COMSATS Intranet, Not permitted outside.

COMSATS LAB Intranet – Students are using network Resources

Webpage and Website A web page is one single page of information, while a website is made up of a number of different web pages connected by links. Website is a set of related web pages containing content (media) such as text, images, video, audio, etc.

Web servers A web server is a computer which host websites. Hosted website can be accessible via network such as the Internet or Intranet through an Internet address known as a Uniform Resource Locator.

How Does the Web Work? Your computer Folder that your site is saved in Server Computers around the world

Static Website Visitors are not able to control information they receive using static web site. Simple Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) based website is a static website. Contents of the website do not change by itself.

Dynamic Websites A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically, based on certain criteria. A backend database is mostly associated with dynamic websites. Contents of the website are changed on the change in database. Users are able to customize their search preferences.

Static Vs Dynamic Websites

Defining the purpose If a website is difficult to use; most people leave it If an Intranet site is difficult to use; most companies will suffer productivity issues Low intranet usability costs the world economy up to or more than $100 billion/year in lost employee productivity. Jakob Nielsen,

Example of Poorly Designed Website Example of Worst Web Page With Bundle of Information INFORMATION EXPLOSION

The Problem Organizations carry huge volume of day to day business data.  Mostly stored in Database Systems. Questions arises how to put data on organization web.  Web Design  Information Presentation  Ease of use

Common Mistakes Lot of time spent on efficient information storage and retrieval, small time to present it. Not using Graphical User Interfacing (GUI) properly. Unknown concepts related Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Technical people considered as Business Development Managers.  Let them present information whatever they want.

Result Information search becomes cumbersome. Solution: understand Information Architecture for WWW.

A big Chaos Imagine a book store with organization scheme.  Thousands of books are simply tossed into huge pile. Gould's Book Arcade, Australia. Nearly Impossible to find a book by Topic

What is Information Architecture? The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranets to help people find and manage information. When users look for answers (on your website) and find them in the right place you have better…  Sales (e-commerce)  service (marketing)  and productivity (good Intranet usage).

Information Architect (IA) The individual who organizes the patterns inherent in data, making the complex clear. A person who creates the structure or map of information which allows others to find their personal paths to knowledge. Woman, R.S. and Bradford, P. (eds). (1996). Information Architects. Zurich, Switzerland: Graphis Press.

Information architecture is not new Managing and presenting data remained a KEY issue in history. For example consider the case of Library.  The Library of Alexandria, in Egypt, was the largest and most significant great library of the ancient world (330 B.C.).  It housed 120 scroll bibliography.

Main concepts of IA Structuring, organizing and Labeling Finding and Managing Art and Science

Structuring, Organizing and Labeling SOL = It’s what IA is Defining granularity* and deciding how to relate them to one another Grouping into meaningful categories Labeling means what to call those categories How then to decide on the navigation from those choices Granularity refers to relative size or chunks of information; varying levels could be journal issue, article, paragraph or sentence

Finding and Managing “Findability is a critical success factor for overall usability.” Users have the option of: …Searching …Browsing …Asking …and if they can’t find “it” then the site fails.

Finding and Managing While designing a website, Information Architect must balance the needs of the user and the goals of the business (Return on Investment). But this is hard to do

Finding and Managing Dewey Decimal System  A proprietary system of library classification developed by Melvil Dewey in  Greatly modified and expanded in the course of the twenty-two major revisions, the most recent in  Attempts to divide knowledge in classes and sub-classes.  Books are placed on shelf in numerical order.

Art and Science IA must rely on experience, intuition and creativity.  You must be willing to take risks and trust your imagination. It is often difficult to understand.

Library and World Wide Web In the similar fashion, we organize library books, information in web sites can also be organized. Information Architecture of a Library is essential to study information architecture of web sites.

Library, Books and WWW

Difference between books and websites.

Difference between libraries and Websites

Browsing in a Library and Internet for a Book Both provides ordered book browsing faciltiy

Different Roles of Information Architect Explaining different jobs of IA in his/her own wordings, IA as Internet Librarian  “I'm an information architect. I organize huge amounts of information on big web sites and intranets so that people can actually find what they're looking for. Think of me as an Internet librarian."

IA as online merchandiser  "I am an information architect. I help my company by making it easy for customers to find our products on our web site. I'm a kind of online merchandiser. I apply one-to-one marketing concepts on the Internet." Different Roles of Information Architect

IA as Information load organizer.  "I am an information architect. I'm the one who takes on that information overload problem that everyone's been complaining about lately." Different Roles of Information Architect

Information Architect Job IA focuses on the structure or organization of a web site.  How the different pages of the site relate to one another. It involves such activities as  Content analysis and planning  Organization of the pages  Providing cues to help users orient themselves  Labeling, search techniques, and navigation design

Information Architect Job IA Jobs is not related to  Graphic Designer  Scientist  Software Developers

In typical web design project, the IA is found between the administrative team and the development team An important role for the IA is as boundary spanner between these groups Producers, project managers, editorial staff Graphic designers, programmers, database designers IA Information Architect Role

Why Information Architecture Matters? Several reasons exists, including  Return on Investment  Cost of finding information  Value of education  Cost of construction  Cost of maintenance  Cost of training  The value of the brand

Return on Investment How much an organization invested on developing the web site and what is the possible benefit out of it. Consider a case in which an organization spent a lot of money on developing, hosting and maintaining a web site and user feels not comfortable with it.

Cost of Finding Information What does it cost if every employee in any company spends an extra five minutes per day struggling to find answers on the intranet? What will be the cost of frustrating the customers with a poorly organized web site? How many bad decisions are made every day in your organization because employees didn't find the information they needed? How many customers do you lose because they couldn't find the product they want on your web site?

Value of Education Value of educating the users about new products and services on your website is really beneficial. This is only possible through interactive web design.

Cost of construction Cost of designing and building a website.  How much it will cost when after few months later, you decide to change the website because it does not support search and does not scale.

Cost of maintenance People who update and manage website must know where to put new content and when to remove outdated contents on the company’s website.

Cost of training How much it cost to train the employees to use the website.  For example a call center website. How much a company can save if it is not complicated to use.

The value of the brand No matter how beautiful your web site, if customers can't find what they need, your brand loses value in their eyes.

Home A1 A2 A3A4 A5 A6 A7A8A9A10A11 A3.1 A3.2 A3.3A3.4A3.5 A3.1.1 A3.1.2 A3.1.3A3.1.4A3.1.5 A Key: Home A3: Programs A3.1: MIS A3.1.3: Current curriculum A : New curriculum Example design of a university website

Structural schemes for design Many types of structure scheme to design a website can be used, this includes  Hierarchical (flat and broad)  Hierarchical (narrow and deep)  A wheel  Sequential (an entry way into and an exit from a core)  An organic hypertext structure  Frames  Sub-sites  Database model

Hierarchical (flat and broad)

Hierarchical (narrow and deep)

The Wheel

Sequential

Hyperlinked structure

Frames

Home Sub site Sub sites

Database Model Home DB

Types of Navigation system in a Website Hierarchical  The navigation follows the tree structure  This is a rigid system without linking across branches  Contextual Navigation Global navigation  Can reach any page from any other page  This has limits depending on the size of the site Local navigation  Can reach any page from any other page in the sub site  Site map

Contextual Navigation Page Title Page content. Page content. Page content. Local Navigation Global Navigation Learn About Our Organization Announcements and Initiatives Events and Conferences Publications and Lists About [name] Organization and Governance Policies Contact Us FAQs About the [name] Web Site See Also Summer Program ABC Initiative [name]: or comments? [sponsor credits and logos]Pleasecontact us name[graphic logo] blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb Home | Site Map |Search Full Holdings |Topical Archives |Membership |Help

Site design and basic questions Where am I? What can I do here? Where can I go?

Summary In today’s lecture  We overviewed the essential concepts related the information architecture. We defined  Intranet  Web page and web site We understood how to structure the web site and how to organize the contents of a web site. This is a growing and increasingly important subject today.