Principles of Information Architecture

1. INFM 700: Session 2Principles of Information Architecture Paul Jacobs The iSchool University of Maryland Tuesday, February 10, 2009 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United StatesSee http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ for details

2. Today’s Topics • Recap – Info. Architecture, Some Key Concepts • User information needs • What do users want? • How do users behave? • Role of users in information architecture • Information architecture components (“tools of the trade” • Organization systems (start) • Structuring the information space • Static and dynamic components • How to support different user needs Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

3. Review and Loose Ends • Some Key Concepts of Information Architecture • The Process • Explanation of Some Ideas from the Readings

4. The Process • Understand user and system requirements • Design (and build) organization, navigation, and metadata systems • Evaluate the user experience Figure out if it works Figure out what’s needed Build it Design it (compare with physical architects)

5. Explanation of Important Themes • Structured vs. Unstructured (Content) • Content vs. Metadata • Big IA vs. Little IA (Not “One Size Fits All”) • Top-down vs. Bottom-up (Analysis, Methods) • User-driven vs. System-driven (Approaches)

6. User Needs: Overview • Characterizing User Behavior • Responding to User Needs Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

7. The IA Circles (“Ecology”) Context Content Users Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems from M&R, p. 25

8. Another View Users Systems Content Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Context

9. The “Black Box” • User asks question • “Black magic” (search, navigate, browse) • User gets answer • Fin Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems from M&R, p. 31

10. Some Complications • User need not fully specified • User doesn’t know what he/she wants • Need is broadly defined (e.g., “surf”, “learn”) • Users express themselves badly (e.g. word choice, clicking in wrong place) • Interaction with organizational needs • System performance imperfect • Search engines fail • Problems with labels, navigation • Absence of information • Process inherently structured or iterative • Need or desire changes • Refinement (e.g. “drill down” in search, navigation) • Complex specification of need Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

11. Common Information Needs Everything A few good things  exploratory seeking The right thing  known-item seeking Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Need it again from M&R, p. 35

12. Precision vs. Recall Everything = Recall-oriented Searching Orthogonal concepts: A few good things Exploratory seeking Known-item seeking Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems The right thing = Precision-oriented Searching

13. Additional Dimensions • ( Not necessarily just computers! ) • Retrospective vs. prospective • Focused vs. unfocused vs. serendipitous • Finding information vs. finding [people, objects , … ] Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

14. User, Task, Context • Characteristics of the User • Expert vs. layman • Current state of knowledge • … • Characteristics of the Task • Duration and scope of need • Complexity of the task • … • Additional context • Requirement for specific sources • Reference to external events • … Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

15. “Relevance” • The property of how “good” the information is • Harder to pin down than you think! • Complex function of user, task, and context • Types of relevance: • Topical relevance: is it about the right thing? • Task-based relevance: does it help in what I’m doing? • Utility: is it actually useful? Can I act on it? Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

16. Picking Berries A sketch of a searcher… “moving through many actions towards a general goal of satisfactory completion of research related to an information need.” Q2 Q4 Q3 Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Q1 Q5 Q0 Marcia J. Bates. (1991) The Berry-Picking Search: User Interface Design. In M. Dillon, editor, Interfaces for Information Retrieval and Online Systems: The State of the Art. New Jersey: Greenwood Press.

17. Taylor’s Model • The visceral need (Q1)  the actual, but unexpressed, need for information • The conscious need (Q2)  the conscious within-brain description of the need • The formalized need (Q3)  the formal statement of the question • The compromised need (Q4)  the question as presented to the information system Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Robert S. Taylor. (1962) The Process of Asking Questions. American Documentation, 13(4), 391--396.

18. Question Negotiation naïve users Taylor’s Model and IR (Information Retrieval) Systems Visceral need (Q1) Conscious need (Q2) Formalized need (Q3) Compromised need (Q4) Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems IR System Results

19. The Growing Problem Computer performance transistors speed storage ... Human performance Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems 1950 1990 2050

20. Observations about Users • Users don’t read • Users don’t scroll • Users are easily lost • Users are easily frustrated • Users are strangely persistent • Users are different! Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

21. Timeout for Humor http://boagworld.com/design/10_things_a_web_designer_would/

22. Segue – Users to Methods • Users are tough, fickle, inarticulate, lying, complaining, ignorant, obtuse, inconsistent, … • …but user experience is still our main measure of success • So what do we do? • Use varying strategies/components • Apply “90-10” or “80-20” rules (you can’t please everyone) • Accommodate variability in our measurements/design Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

23. Information Architecture Components • Organization systems • “How we categorize information” • Labeling systems • “How we represent information” • Navigation systems • “How we browse or move through information” • Searching systems • “How we search information” Loosely, “structured” Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Loosely, “unstructured” from M&R, pp. 49-52

24. Architecture Components (“browsing aids”) • Major organization systems (e.g., by topic, task, community, chronology, …) • Major navigation systems (e.g., navigation bars, breadcrumbs, top-level links) • Local navigation systems • “Contextual” navigation systems • Indices and guides (e.g., sitemap, table of contents, site guide) Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems from M&R, pp. 49-52

25. Architecture Components (“content and tasks”) • Headings • Embedded links • Embedded metadata • “Chunks” (e.g. sections, chapters) • Other (e.g., sequential aids, special icons or graphics) Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems from M&R, pp. 49-52

26. Architecture Components (“content and tasks”) • Headings • Embedded links • Embedded metadata • “Chunks” (e.g. sections, chapters) • Other (e.g., sequential aids, special icons or graphics) Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems from M&R, pp. 49-52

27. Architecture Components (“invisible components”) • Controlled vocabulary • Retrieval (and other) algorithms • “Best bets” • . . . Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems from M&R, pp. 49-52

28. Organization • Site organization • Content organization • Different organization methods/tools • Expressing organization/blueprints Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

29. Organization of Information • Probably as old as writing itself • Many different approaches: • Library and Information Science: thesauri, indexing, etc. • Computer Science: knowledge representations • Cognitive Science: how do humans grasp concepts? • Philosophy: epistemology (“the nature of knowledge”) • … Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Hmmm… where did I put that tablet?

30. Analogy: Printed Book • Organization System: • Chapters • Sections • Paragraphs • Navigation System: • Table of contents • Index • Page numbers • Cross-references • … Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Established over 500 years… Not all present at the dawn of printing

31. Hierarchical Organization • Systems of organization are mostly hierarchical • Represents a specific mode of thinking: reductionistic, decompositional, general-to-specific • Why? • “Natural order” • Convention and familiarity • Physical limitations • Cognitive limitations • Hierarchies are everywhere: • Human organizations • Computer file systems • Physical file systems • Biological organisms Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

32. Depth vs. Breadth “shallow but wide” “narrow but deep” Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems What are the tradeoffs?

33. Non-Hierarchical Systems • Hypertext • Direct links between different information segments • Pre-dates the Web • Social tagging • “Wisdom of the mob” • Shows what everyone else likes • Web 2.0 (hype?) Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

34. “Exact” Systems • Alphabetical • Chronological • Geographical • Organizational (for Intranets) • Any inherent attribute of entities Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

35. “Inexact” Systems • Topic • Task • User • Metaphors • Hybrid • Organizational (in general) • Process Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

36. Hypertext Balmoral Charles Elizabeth Diana Elizabeth Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems Tony Philip

37. Social Tagging del.icio.us flickr Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems del.icio.us YouTube

38. Other Organizational Tools • Relational databases/tables • Wizards • Hybrids • . . . Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

39. Ideas in Tension • Does a hierarchical organization system defeat the entire point of hypertext? • Does a hierarchical organization system decrease emphasis on users? • Does social tagging eliminate the need for organization systems? Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

40. Organization and Behavior • Bookmarks • Arrangement of tabs and windows • Social tagging • Personal homepage • Blogs Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

41. So what do we do? Type of task/content Type of organization system User generated content (e.g. blogs) Structured database/form Overall site content/task Hierarchy (e.g. “buy a book”, “contact us”) Chapter/section Local site content/task User Tags (e.g. “cars for sale”, “product specs”) Local site content/task Hypertext (e.g., “today’s news”) Calendars/maps Frequently consulted content Task/User/Organization Related/required content Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

42. Blueprints • Blueprints are diagrams outlining the organization system of an information space • Can provide overview at different levels • Conceptual level • Physical level (i.e., how pages are actually linked) • Keep it simple and uncluttered! • Choose the appropriate level of detail Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems

43. Blueprint: Conceptual Main Homepage Teaching Research OtherActivities LBSC 690 Ph.D. Students IR Colloquium Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems INFM 718R Publications TREC INFM 700 Projects

44. Blueprint: Physical Index Page “teaching” “research” “other” Index Page Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems “teaching” “research” “other”

45. Recap • User needs and behavior • Information architecture components • Organization systems Users’ Needs Architecture Components OrganizationSystems