INFM 700

Course Review

Paul JacobsThe iSchoolUniversity of Maryland

May 2, 2012

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Today’s Topics Course outline

Review of highlights and tricky issues

Ground rules for exam

Q & A

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Course Outline Introduction

Principles, organization and navigation (M&R chs. 1-7) (2 sessions)

Techniques and technology (M&R chs. 10-12 plus case studies) (2 sessions)

Taxonomies and metadata (M&R ch. 9)

Search (M&R ch. 8, Manning chs.) (2 sessions)

Software and business issues (Lenoir talk, one other session, case studies & examples)

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Information Architecture What is it? (for starters)

Architecture – structural design [of web sites] to support function and form

Information – organized [electronic] content

So our goal is to master the design of web sites for organizations that effectively deliver information to their users

Consider: the information ecology (users, context, content) Goals; signs of good and bad architecture Basic skills and techniques for achieving goals

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The IA Circles (“Ecology”)

from M&R, p. 25

Context

Content Users

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The Process Understand user and system requirements

Design (and build) organization, navigation, and metadata systems

Evaluate the user experience

Figure out what’s needed

Design itBuild it

Figure out if it works

(compare with physical architects)

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Users and 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

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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”

from M&R, pp. 49-52

Loosely, “structured”

Loosely, “unstructured”

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Architecture Components (examples) 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)

Search

Invisible components

from M&R, pp. 49-52

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Organization Systems Hierarchical organization

What is a hierarchy? Why organize hierarchically Shallow and broad vs. deep and narrow (why the

tradeoff, where is the optimum)

Relation to navigation, layout, blueprints

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Navigation Systems Global

Shown everywhere Tells the user “what’s important”

Local Shown in specific parts of the site Tells the user “what’s nearby”

Contextual Shown only in specific situations Tells the user “what’s related”

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Research & Strategy Research: identify goals & issues

User needs Organizational/context Content and other issues

Strategy: build and sell the plan

Context

Content Users

Business goals, funding, politics, culture, technology, human resources

Data types, content objects, metadata, volume, existing structure

Audience, tasks, user behavior, experience, vocabulary

MR, p. 233

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Research and Strategy Methods User and requirements analysis (inc., e.g.,

interviews, competitive analysis)

Content analysis

Role of user studies (e.g., surveys, user testing, card sorting)

From research to strategy

Relationship to documentation

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Design and Documentation Deliverables

Conceptual Diagrams

Blueprints (structural)

Wireframes (physical)

Text (e.g., reports)

Presentations and meetings

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Metadata Literally “data about data”

“a set of data that describes and gives information about other data” ― Oxford English Dictionary

Why do we need this?

Types of metadata Descriptive/subjective/content (e.g. author, subject, keywords,

…) Administrative (e.g. owner, rights, cost, creation date, version, …) Technical (e.g. format, size, dependencies, programs) . . . .

In practical terms: Metadata helps users locate, navigate, interpret content Metadata helps organizations manage content Metadata helps systems manipulate content

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Related Concepts & Uses Taxonomies

Anything organized in some sort of hierarchical structure

Tagging Adding almost any kind of metadata to content, but now

often descriptive and user-provided

Thesauri Focus on relations between terms Focus on “concepts”

Ontologies Usually model a specific domain or part of the world Generally machine-readable

Increasing complexity and richness

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IA in the “Real World” What’s the same?

Mostly concepts and techniques

What is different? Organizational issues (esp., but not limited, to politics) Money (sometimes it’s there, sometimes not) Timelines and time pressures Diversity of backgrounds, views, ages, etc. (with

respect to technology) Scale and stakes (e.g. billions of users, up to $1bs) More emphasis on getting it done, often less on

novelty/leading edge

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Goals for Search Sessions Understand the basic issues in information

retrieval (searching primarily unstructured text)(e.g. words vs. concepts, word problems, recall and precision)

Know the techniques generally used by modern search engines (vector space model, term weighting)

Learn how search engines can be used most effectively in information architecture (e.g. configuring search, integrating search and browsing, tricks like “best bets”)

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What we control (the IA part)? Requirements and search engine selection

Developing search requirements Build vs. buy Vendor evaluation/selection Consultants?

Content selection What to search/zones/etc. Tags

Search engine configuration Zones, what gets indexed, sometimes how Number of results, sometimes recall vs. precision Others (very often interface-related)

Interfaces

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Ground rules for exam

What can be on it Anything that’s “really” covered, not passing mention Focus on concepts, but can include definitions,

examples

Style of exam As objective as possible Mostly multiple choice, some matches, short answers Designed to fit in < 1.5 hours

Degree of difficulty and grading

Prepare, but try to make the most of it and enjoy!

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Examples (from last years)

X. In general, well-designed navigation systemsa. do not use hypertext because users can get confused and “lost in hyperspace”b. give at least “7 plus or minus 2” choices at each levelc. include different navigational features depending on the type of page being viewedd. use labels that are different from page headers to “mix it up” and make a site more visually interesting

Y. When considering the depth and breadth of a hierarchy,a. the tradeoff depends on screen “real estate” as well as users’ ability to grasp informationb. it is important to have the same number of links on every page, within one or twoc. “shallow but wide” organization is usually more effective because it prevents users from getting lost in the depths of a sited. depth doesn’t really matter so long as you have a “back” button and a breadcrumb to help users find their way around

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Examples (from last years)

Z. An important role of content analysis in the research process isa. to apply a “Noah’s ark” approach to closed-end cart sortingb. to validate and extend a site’s top-down organizationc. to make sure all available content is included on the final web sited. to choose the right search engine

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For each of the following examples covered in class, give a word or phrase from the left column of the above table (or the number of the phrase) that best fits what was illustrated by the example (in some examples there may be more than one correct answer). Give a very short (one sentence or less) explanation. 36. HP’s web site uses “best bets” to direct searchers to certain pages, such as how to select a printer for purchase.  37. The National Library of Medicine’s Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) retrieves information about “neoplasms” in response to a search for “cancer”  38. The Best Buy site allows you to select a set of laptop computers by choosing links showing manufacturer or price range  39. In redesigning their web site, E-Bay identified five important task groups and then used a closed end card sort to validate their task groupings   40. The iSchool web site gives links to various student projects and publications under the “Research” tab

31. Taxonomy a. Organizing information according to concepts in a “tree” from the general to the specific

32. “Subjective”Organization

b. Organizing information by starting with an expectation of what’s important or needed

33. Polyhierarchy c. A network of terminology and/or concepts that captures associations and relationships among words, phrases, or ideas

34. Thesaurus d. An organizational scheme in which each concept can belong to multiple categories

35. Top-down analysis e. An “ambiguous” organization system in which concepts are categorized, for example, by task, topic, or metaphor