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The LIS Foundations of IA

The LIS Foundations of IA. A Presentation Made at the University of Arizona SIRLS Amy J. Warner, Ph.D. Who I Am. Amy J. Warner, Ph.D. (warneramyj@yahoo.com). Independent consultant in taxonomy & metadata design and information architecture

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The LIS Foundations of IA

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  1. The LIS Foundations of IA A Presentation Made at the University of Arizona SIRLS Amy J. Warner, Ph.D.

  2. Who I Am Amy J. Warner, Ph.D. (warneramyj@yahoo.com) • Independent consultant in taxonomy & metadata design and information architecture • Formerly Thesaurus Design Specialist with Argus Associates, Inc. • Faculty member in library and information science at University of Wisconsin-Madison (1985-1988) and University of Michigan (1989-2000) • Co-author of Information Retrieval Today • Fortune 500 consulting

  3. Outline • What is IA? • IA defined • Why IA is important • Basic concepts and building blocks of IA • IA in context • IA and users • IA and business context

  4. Definition of IA The art and science of structuring and organizing information systems to help people achieve their goals. The application of principles and methods of library and information science (LIS) to the design of corporate intranets and websites.

  5. Why Is IA Important • Costs • To the user • Finding information (time, # of clicks, frustration, precision) • Not finding information (recall, frustration) • To the organization (lost revenue, competition) • Value of learning (related products, services, projects, people)

  6. Why Is IA Important Web Site Statistics • Wasted expense: most sites will waste between $1.5M and $2.1M on redesign next year • Forfeited revenue: poorly architected retail sites are underselling by as much as 50% • Lost customers: the sites we tested are driving away up to 40% of repeat traffic • Eroded brand: people who have a bad experience typically tell 10 others Forrester Research Why Most Web Sites Fail (Sept. ‘96)

  7. Why Is IA Important Intranet Statistics • Employees spend 35% of productive time searching for information online (Working Council for Chief Information Officers) • Managers spend 17% of their time (6 weeks a year) searching for information (Information Ecology, Thomas Davenport & Lawrence Prusack) • Sun’s usability experts calculated that 21,000 employees were wasting an average of six minutes per day due to inconsistent intranet navigation structures. When lost time was multiplied by staff salaries, the estimated productivity loss exceeded $10M per year (Web Design and Development, Jakob Nielsen [Sept. 1997)

  8. Why IA Fails • ‘Internet time’ • Cultural issues--developers, librarians, managers • Project management • Underestimating the problem • Thinking it’s easy • Good IA is ‘invisible’

  9. Why IA Is Hard • Expectations • Underestimating time/cost • Underestimating difficulty of task • Diversity: goals, users, authors • Heterogeneous content / objects • Relevance is subjective and situational • Organization & language are ambiguous

  10. Making IA a Manageable Problem • Identify and address the major needs of major audiences • Remove old, outdated content (ROT) • Enable precision • Design for the 80/20 rule

  11. Basic Concepts/Components of IA • Organization systems • Navigation systems • Labeling systems • Searching systems

  12. Organization Systems • Organization scheme • defines the shared characteristics of content items and influences the logical grouping of those items • identify through content inventory • types • exact--divide information into well-defined and mutually exclusive groups (alphabetical, chronological, geographical) • ambiguous--divide information into categories that are not exactly defined or necessarily mutually exclusive (topical, task-oriented, audience specific, metaphor driven

  13. Organization Scheme, cont. • Organization structure • defines the principle ways in which users can navigate • often can be determined through user research • models • hierarchy--top down • polyhierarchies • depth vs. breadth • hypertext--nonlinear • chunking and linking • databases--relational

  14. Navigation Systems • Hierarchical navigation systems--the information hierarchy is the primary navigation system • Global navigation systems--often enables greater vertical and lateral navigation within a site • Local navigation systems--often used for sub-sites • Ad hoc navigation--relationships between individual content items or groups of content items; usually embedded within a page • Mechanisms for producing navigation systems • navigation bars • frames • pull-down menus • tables of content, indexes, site map, guide pages

  15. Vanguard.com Navigation

  16. Vanguard.com Navigation

  17. GlobalVolunteers.com Navigation

  18. Labeling Systems • Synonymy and ambiguity • Labels as links • Labels and index/search terms • Labels as headings on pages • Sources for labeling systems • other web sites • controlled vocabularies outside, inside the organization • content • users and experts

  19. Subject/Contextual Clarification of Labels

  20. Ambiguity of Index Terms

  21. Synonymy of Labels on Same Page

  22. Inconsistency of Labeling Across Pages

  23. Searching Systems • Support different types of search • comprehensiveness vs accuracy • exploration • existence • Support different search mechanisms • Natural language vs. controlled vocabulary • Searching fields • Retrieval models (boolean, statistical, etc.) • Integrate search and browse

  24. Integration of Search and Browse

  25. Amazon.com Advanced Search

  26. IA ‘Generations’ • ‘Brochureware’ • Pages served from database • Metadata-driven website CMS

  27. An Ecological Approach

  28. portal local subsites (HR, Engineering, R&D…) IA From Top to Bottom • Top-Down Bottom-Up • portal sub-site • strategy objects • hierarchy metadata • primary path multiple paths Object X Name: Product Category: Topic: Stale Date: Author: Security:

  29. Where Does IA Fit? The Elements of User Experience Jesse James Garrett

  30. Why Metadata-Driven Web Sites • So Your Users Don’t Have To!

  31. Epicurious.com

  32. Epicurious.com Facets Main Ingredients Season/Occasion Beans, Beef, Berries, Cheese, Chocolate, Citrus, Dairy, Eggs, Fish, Fruits, Garlic, Ginger, Grains, Greens, Herbs,Lamb,Mushrooms,Mustard, Nuts, Olives,Onions,Pasta,Peppers,Pork,Potatoes, Poultry, Rice, Shellfish,Tomatoes, Vegetables Christmas,Easter,Fall,Fourth of July, Hanukkah,New Years,Picnics,Spring, Summer,Superbowl,Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day,Winter Cuisine Course/Dish African,American,Asian,Caribbean,Eastern European,French,Greek,Indian,Italian,Jewish, Mediterranean,Mexican,Middle Eastern, Scandinavian,Spanish Appetizers,Bread,Breakfast,Brunch, Condiments,Cookies,Desserts,Hors D'oeuvres,Main Dish,Salads,Sandwiches, Sauces,Side Dish,Snacks,Soup,Vegetables Preparation Method Advance,Bake,Broil,Fry,Grill,Marinade, Microwave,No Cook,Poach,Quick,Roast, Sauté,Slow Cook,Steam,Stir Fry

  33. Epicurious, First Facet Browse > Picnics

  34. Epicurious, Second Facet Browse > Picnics > Poultry

  35. Search Term Broader Term Bitpipe.com Narrower Terms Related Terms

  36. Bitpipe’s CV Web Application Software BT Internet Application Software NT eBusiness Software eCommerce Software Portal Applications Software RT Internet Web Applications Architectures Web Development Tools Webmaster

  37. Contact: Amy J. Warner warneramyj@yahoo.com Questions??

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