information wayfinding — ebi interfaces edition
DESCRIPTION
Presented at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge, UK on February 26. Thanks to @francisrowland for inviting me, and for the excellent blog coverage: http://ebiinterfaces.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/information-wayfinding-tyler-tate/TRANSCRIPT
Tyler Tate
Information Wayfinding
Part 1
1. The role of metaphor
2. What is wayfinding?
3. Information seeking as wayfinding
Part 2
1. Elements of the information environment
2. Information wayfinding strategies
3. Heuristics for effective wayfinding design
The role of metaphor
“Mankind evolved in a world of space and time. Our memories evolved to record events that transpire in space and time. Modern attempts to externalise and enlarge that memory should not, and probably need not, neglect its spatiotemporal dimensions.”
— George A. Miller
“Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor.”
— George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
What is wayfinding?
The wayfinding process
The wayfinding process
1. Developing a decision plan
2. Executing a decision from the plan
3. Processing environmental information
Information seeking as wayfinding
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5 Q6
Q7
The dynamic, or “berrypicking” model.
The information journey model.
RecognizeNeed
Validate andInterpretInformation
FindInformation
UseInterpretation
Elements of the environment
1. Districts
2. Layers
3. Nodes
4. Bits of information
Wayfinding strategies
1. Aerial descent
2. Teleport
3. Bottom-up
4. Conversational
Heuristics
Fluid survey views
Fluid survey views
1. Controls for both districts and layers
Fluid survey views
1. Controls for both districts and layers
2. Data visualization to enhance orientation
Unified interaction
Unified interaction
1. Search in context
Positional cues
Positional cues
1. Human-readable URLs
Positional cues
1. Human-readable URLs
2. Integrated breadcrumbs
Clear paths
Clear paths
1. Links between nodes
Clear paths
1. Links between nodes
2. Topic views
Tyler Tate
Information Wayfinding