Part two on Designing Structure for my General Assembly class on User Experience is about Information Architecture. We cover why classification is important, types of classification and trends in IA.

1. Designing Structure
Information Architecture

3. Information Architecture
Find Me
3

4. We design for movement
Data, Information, Knowledge
From data
To information
To Knowledge

5. The Goal
• To go from fact
Estimated portion of all U.S. nuclear waste that Nevada's
Yucca Mountain dumpsite will hold when it is full in 2046 :
3/5

6. The Goal
• To meaning
Estimated portion of all U.S. nuclear waste that Nevada's
Yucca Mountain dumpsite will hold when it is full in 2046 :
3/5
Richter-scale magnitude of an earthquake last June twelve
miles from the Yucca site :
4.4

7. Classification and
Consequences
• A physician who doesn’t see a new cure
• A poor student who can’t find financial
aid
• A store where a product isn’t found

8. From fact to meaning
The right information at the right time in the
right way
– Find information
– Understand information
– Use information

9. Special skills
• Information Architecture for Findability
• Information Design for Understandability
• Interaction Design for Usability

10. Information Architects
specialize
• In Information Architecture– duh!

11. Unfortunate Seperation
Why the separation?
Little IA Big IA

12. Better model
Are they closer?
Big IA
Little IA

13. Best model??
A new shape
Big IA
Little IA

14. Information Architects
• What is IA?
• IAI definition
1. The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites,
intranets, online communities and software to support
usability and findability.
2. The structural design of shared information environments.
3. An emerging community of practice focused on bringing
principles of design and architecture to the digital
landscape.

15. Findability

16. In the physical world
• Things that have
fixed locations
– We find with
maps and signs-
- wayfinding
• Things that don’t
– We find with
organization
and wayfinding

17. In the digital world
• Nothing is fixed
• Wayfinding and organization is the two
keys to findability
• Role of IA is to shape the digital space to
enable findability.

18. Make things findable
• Organization
– Build on Metadata
– Browse systems
– Search systems
• Wayfinding
– Labels
– Visual cues

19. Make things appear
• Serendipity systems
– See also
– Related
– Popularity relationships
– Also built on metadata

20. Definition
The structural design of an information
space to facilitate task completion and
intuitive access to content.
Information Architecture for the World-Wide Web Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville

21. Who cares?
Once there were people with cows
And people without cows
The people with no cows were hungry

22. They took to the road
And met at the market
And the people with no cows
bought cows
The people with cows had
fewer cows, but money for
other things

23. Now there are people with information
And people with no information
The road is the computer
And the market is the web

24. But the market is really big
And the people can’t find each other
So we have ignorant people
And people with no money
The cows are okay with this
Business is not.

25. The Goal
The players
– Users, seeking information (cowless)
– Businesses with information (with cows)
– Intermediaries such as search engines and
directories, profiting on the exchange
(marketplaces)
The goal is to get the users seeking the data
to the businesses offering the data

26. Missing information
Lost sales -
Expensive support -
Duplicated effort -
Lost trust -
Lost lives?

27. Classification has Consequences
• A physician who doesn’t see a new cure
• A poor student who can’t find financial aid
• A store where a product isn’t found

28. IA has consequences
Information Architecture manages information
to make it findable
– Tagging with metadata
– Organizing with CV’s
– Creating navigation
systems
– Optimizing search

29. And IA can build brands.

30. Branding in 10 seconds
Brand
managers
create
brand
promises
fullfilled by
brand
experiences
Brian Collins’ Model of Brand

31. Brand and the User Experience
Creating a good customer
experience is the essence of
good branding
Hugh Dubberly’s Model of Brand

32. IA Realizes Brand

33. Product Quality = Brand Loyalty
why Apple's customers
I get asked a lot
are so loyal. It's not because they belong to the Church of
Mac! That's ridiculous.
It's because when you buy our products, and three months later you
get stuck on something, you quickly figure out [how to get past it].
"Wow, someone over there at
And you think,
Apple actually thought of this!" And then
three months later you try to do something you hadn't tried before,
and it works, and you think "Hey, they thought of that, too." And
There's almost
then six months later it happens again.
no product in the world that you have
that experience with, but you have it
with a Mac.
And you have it with an iPod.

35. Benabar n’est pas jazz?

36. What is this?
36

37. What is this?
37

38. What is this?
38

39. What is this?
39

40. What are these?
40

41. They are all birds
(ornithologist)
41

42. The Cassowary is not a bird!
(the Karam)
42

43. From “Why the Cassowary is not a bird”, R. Bulmer, Man, Vol. 2, Issue 1, (Mar. 1967)
43

44. From “Why the Cassowary is not a bird”, R. Bulmer, Man, Vol. 2, Issue 1, (Mar. 1967)
44

45. Who Cares?
• Ornithologists
• The Karam
• Information Architects
45

46. Dewey Decimal System
• 200-299 – Religion
Categories
• 40+ categories
related to
Christianity
• 1 for Judaism
• 1 for Islam (&
related)
46

47. Who Cares?
• Religious Scholars
• Librarians
• Information Architects
• Jews and Muslims
47

48. Context is King
• Classification reflects social and cultural
organization
• Information Architect must understand this
context
48

49. Get to know your audience…
1. Who are they?
Football Fan
49

50. Get to know your audience…
1. Who are they?
Football Fan?
50

51. Get to know your audience…
1. Who are they?
Show me
2. What do they care about? photos!
Are the Patriots
going to make the
playoffs?
What happened in
the last game?
51

52. Get to know your audience…
1. Who are they?
2. What do they care about?
3. How do they think of the information
and content?
Conference,
division…
Schedules,
standings…
52

53. Get to know your audience…
1. Observe others
2. Study Competitors and similar sites
3. Review your search logs
4. Do a card sort
53

54. Now what?
• Organize your information so it makes
sense to your audience
• Structure your information to help users
find it
• …using metadata
54

56. Metadata: what is it?
―metadata is data about data"
56

57. Metadata: what is it?
―Metadata tags are used to describe
documents, pages, images, software,
video and audio files, and other content
objects for the purposes of improved
navigation and retrieval‖
‘Information Architecture for the World Wide Web’, 2nd ed., (2002)
Rosenfeld, L. & Morville, P.
57

58. Types of Metadata
• Descriptive: the nature of the thing,
what is it related to?…
• Intrinsic: composition of the thing, size,
shape…
• Administrative: how can the thing be
handled? Workflow…
58

59. Types of Metadata
59

60. Types of Metadata
Web Page: New England Patriots
• Descriptive: Patriots, NFL, AFC
East…
• Intrinsic: HTML page, 40k…
• Administrative: update daily with
news feeds, update when new game…
60

61. Types of Metadata
61

62. Types of Metadata
Logo: New England Patriots
• Descriptive: Patriots, NFL, AFC
East…
• Intrinsic: jpg file, 4k…
• Administrative: rights owner-NFL,
replace when logo changes…
62

63. Yahoo Travel
<!-- Meta Data --> …
<META NAME="description"
CONTENT="Plan your vacation using
Yahoo! Travel's Paris Vacations and
tourism …”
<!-- /Meta Data -->
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-
travelguide-191501740-
paris_vacations-i
63

64. Yahoo! Travel: Homepage
<meta name='description' content="Yahoo! Travel is a comprehensive online travel destination,
where you can reserve flights, rental cars, hotel rooms, cruises and vacation packages, all in one
place. Research trips from a wealth of planning resources including destination and city guides, user
and expert reviews, local weather and currency information, and much more. Yahoo! Travel has
competitive prices on everything from airfare to lodging, it's easy to find great deals and special
offers">
<meta name='keywords' content='online airfare airfares hotel car reservations travelocity airlines
tickets airplane air line air fares arifares airline low fairs fares cheap tickets flights book information
flight itinerary itineraries online reservations online tickets online travel agents vacations cruise
cruises cruiselines business travel busines corporate hotels discounts car cars rental lasvegas tickets
travel reservations online travel travel bookings online bookings book airfare fare wars discount
fares sales lowest vacation planning information travel agencies travel sites disney world florida
orlando miami atlanta ATL Dallas DFW DCA LAS LAX NYC ORD SFO atl dfw dca las lax nyc ord sfo
Washington D.C. washington dc los angeles Los Angeles new york New York new york city New York
City San Francisco sanfrancisco family trips family vacation family vacations'>
64

65. Yahoo! Travel: Successful Meta
Data
• Added Meta Data to page (descriptive
meta tags, urls, titles in page)
• Was 2001: result # 300+ in
Google/Yahoo Search
• 2002: result # 2
• Users can find the content!
65

66. Not all Metadata is equal
• What are users interested in?
• What do you want users to be able to find?
• What metadata makes management
easy?
• Tag content for findability
• Tag content for management
66

67. Exercise
• Listen
• Write five descriptive words (or short
phrases) on your post-it
• One word (or phrase) per post-it
• Don’t share– yet! Hold on!
67

68. Next
Content Architecture Part II
68

70. Controlled vocabularies
Master of your domains
70

71. Cardinal Richelieu
Grandfather of controlled vocabularies
71

72. The French Academy
• Founded in 1635
• Multiple dialects
• Goal: purify the French language
• Goal: unify the nation (ensure that the
State and all citizens speak the same
language)
72

73. The French Academy today
…but…
73

74. So what?
• So what are your goals?
• How will you ensure that your users and
your system speak the same language?
• How will you ensure they continue to do
so?
74

75. When humans and computers
interact
I want
I’ve got music.
music
75

76. Humans are good at figuring
things out
Rap.
Hip Hop Rock.
Dance.
76

77. Most of the time
Jiggy ?
tunes
77

78. But computers are literal
Acid ?
reggae
No matches
found
78

79. And need help
Acid ?
Reggae?
IA
Let’s give them “Dance
and DJ”
79

80. Of course, the IA can’t always be
there…
Thus Controlled vocabularies (CV)
Amy Warner defines a controlled vocabulary (CV)
as “organized lists of words and phrases, or
notation systems, that are used to initially tag
content, and then to find it through navigation
or search.”
80

82. Controlled Vocabularies
I define them as
Documented relationships of words and
concepts to assist people finding stuff.
Same dif.
82

83. Controlled Vocabulary Types
• Levels of control
(Vocabularies)
Synonym Authority Classification
Thesauri
Rings Files Schemes
Simple Complex
Equivalence Hierarchical Associative
(Relationships)
83

84. Controlled vocabularies
• Relationships
B
A=B A A B
Equivalence
Hierarchal Associative
Christmas=
Winter Holidays > Christmas |
Xmas
Christmas Santa Claus
84

85. Synonym rings
• Simplest type
• Helps with search, indexing
• Simplifies maintenance
85

86. Synonym rings include
• Acronyms: BBC, British Broadcasting
Company; MPG, miles per gallon
• Variant spellings: cancelled, canceled;
honor, honour
• Scientific terms versus popular use
terms: acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin;
lilioceris, lily beetle
– From Synonym Rings and Authority Files
by Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel
86

87. Why Bother?
I’m tired of typing “Controlled
Vocabulary--- CV is shorter.
• Sometimes on
intranets, CV’s are
skipped
• You think you can
force people to use
proper terms
• But people are lazy
87

88. Why Bother?
I want a cannon camera.
• On the internet you want
to be found
• You’ve got cows
• But people can’t spell
“cows”
• Plus users use short
queries
– Average queries are 2.5
words– 30% of searches are
one word queries
88

89. Bizrate takes good advantage
It may be the Canon PowerShot S30
89

90. But what do people call it?
Canon
S30 Cannon
S30
S30
Powershot
S30
90

91. A page for each synonym
91

92. And they can be number one
92

93. Authority File
• Addition of preferred terms and variants
• Preferred terms
– Protects brand
– Sensitivities
– Educates
Christmas | Xmas, X-mas, Nöel,
93

94. There is a right spelling
94

95. Classification schemes
• Includes non-equivalent relationships
• Includes hierarchal informal
• Useful for navigation
• Useful for helping people broaden their
search
95

96. Classification schemes
• Types of relationships
• Sibling:
Gap.com directories
» Men
» Women
» Maternity
» Body
» Boys
» Girls
» Baby boy
» Baby girl
96

97. Classification schemes
Parent /
Child
(amazon.com)
97

98. Classification Schemes
Other Relationships
Alphabetical (administrative metadata)
Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Moore, Alan
Chronological (administrative
metadata)
New for You > New Releases > Books
Topic (descriptive metadata)
Comics > Graphic Novels > Horror
Amazon uses all of these, and more….
98

99. Thesauri
• Cadillac of Controlled Vocabularies
• Includes associative relationships
Preferred Variants Siblings Parent Associated
term
Christmas X-mas, Hanukah, Winter Santa Claus
Nöel Kwanzaa holidays
99

100. Associations
100

101. Associations
• Amazon uses buying patterns to determine
associations
101

102. Associations
102

103. Exercise
Card sort
Take your keywords
Open your packets
Sort the items into similar piles.
Label the piles with post-its
Discuss
103

104. Building your own
1. Understand requirements
2. Harvest terms
3. Create groupings
4. Implement
5. Test
6. Maintain
104

105. What kind of CV do you need?
• What do you want your CV to accomplish?
• To integrate with your navigation system?
• To improve searching? To improve browsing?
Both?
• How much vocabulary control do you want to
provide? Synonym ring? Facets? What level of
vocabulary control is appropriate?
• What can your technology support?
105

106. Getting answers
• Content - specificity and stability
• Technology - tools and integration.
• Users – who are they
• Maintenance- who will do it?
106

107. Content Inventory
Identify all content and attributes
• Link ID • Maintainer
• ROT • Expiration
• Document type • Access
• Topics/Keywords • Author
• Location • Existing/planned
107

108. Term harvesting
• Look Inward • Log harvesting
– Your site – Search engines
– Current keywords – Overture
• Look outward • Ask people
– Magazines – Interviews
– Competitors – Card sorts
– Discussion lists – Free Listing
108

109. Sorting Terms
A Card Sort for Architects
• Multiple Groupings
– Equivalent UF cheese=fromage
– Broader terms BT cheese | dairy
– Narrower terms NT cheese | cheddar
– Related term RT cheese | crackers
109

110. Sleeping Bags
BT Camping
NT Down Sleeping Bags
NT Synthetic Sleeping Bags
NT Family Sleeping Bags
NT Cold Weather Sleeping Bags
NT 2-Season Sleeping Bags
NT 3-Season Sleeping Bags
NT Back Packing Sleeping Bags
NT Expedition Class Sleeping Bags
NT Ultralight Sleeping Bags
RT Backpacks
RT Ultralight Backpacking
RT Sleeping Bag Liners
RT Sleeping Pads
RT Stuff Sacks
RT Pillows
From Creating a Controlled Vocabulary
by Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/creating_a_controlled_vocabulary.php
110

111. Sorting conflicts
• Cheese goes in dairy or in sandwich
materials?
• A cheese basket?
• String cheese?
Choices fit strategy
111

112. Associations
• What is related
• What is required?
• What else is interesting?
Relevancy is king
112

113. Possible Relationships
• Process/agent
(camp fires/matches)
• Action/product of action (baking/cakes)
• Agent/counteragent
(allergies/antihistamine)
• Raw material/product (wool/sweater).
113

114. Implement
• Implementation dependant on situation
and tools.
• May be slow painful data entry– know this
and prepare.
114

115. Test
• Test with users – did you get it right?
– Browse Testing
– Search Testing
– Monitor quantitative
– Refine, refine, refine
115

116. Maintain
• Who maintains it?
• What the rules for new terms?
• Document your decisions.
116

117. Is that all?
NO!
Life beyond enumerative
classification….
117

118. Faceted Classification
was developed, prior to the existence of
computers, by S. R. Ranganathan,
a Hindu mathematician
working as a librarian.
118

119. S. R. Ranganathan
1892-1972
My dream:
• to systematically describe, in detail, the
contents of complex documents
discussing compound subjects, and to
• codify those descriptions into a
sequenced numerical form that would
• make it possible to retrieve exactly
what was needed from wherever it was
located in the library
• in order to save the time of the reader.
119

120. And ... describe the entire universe of ideas
using classification and notation.
120

121. S. R. Ranganathan
1892-1972
The Five Laws of Library Science
1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his or her book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. The Library is a growing organism.
121

122. Colon Classification System
Describing life, the universe, &
everything, it used facets to classify.
It affected the world of
• classification,
• categorization,
• information retrieval &
• information architecture.
122

123. Ranganathan’s 5 Facets
• who: personality
• what: matter
• how: energy
• where: space
• when: time
Sound familiar?
123

124. Ranganathan’s 5 Facets
Imagine a book about
―the design of wooden
furniture in 18th century
America.‖
Personality—furniture
Matter—wood
Energy—design
Space—America
Time—18th century
124

125. Essential Qualities of a Facet
• Mutually exclusive; represents a characteristic
of division not found in any other facet
• Cannot be further sub-divided
• Relationships between facets are non-
hierarchical (though within facets…)
125

126. Facets
The broad categories into which the
subject area is divided. A facet consists “... of a
group of terms that represents one, and only one,
characteristic of division of a subject field....no
two facets may contain terms that could represent
the same concepts.” —Louise Spiteri
126

127. Heady stuff?
What does all this philosophical mumbo
jumbo mean?
127

128. Heady stuff?
Yahoo!
Shopping uses
facets to help
users select a
camera
128

129. Ordinary stuff?
Epicurious uses
facets to help
users find
recipes
129

130. Yahoo! Personals
• Faceted classification by Yahoo! Personas
• Content by the users
130

131. What’s the difference?
Electronics Camera facets
Camera Pixels
Digital Zoom
Film Price
PDAs
Televisions
131

132. Our Music example
Enumerative Faceted
• Modern • Mood
– Rock • Tempo
• Alternative
– Seattle
• Artist
– Atlanta • Use
132

133. Mix and match?
In Yahoo Shopping
• Electronics > Cameras > Digital
• Then choose by pixel, zoom and price
• Then offer camera bag, flash card, batteries?
133

134. Facets, anyone?
What facets would you use to
describe the qualities of a song?
134

135. Making Facets
1. Consider the universe of documents to be
indexed.
2. Consider user finding strategies.
3. Analyze each document to identify the facets.
4. Group isolates (simple-concept subjects) into
the facets.
5. Apply the notational system.
(I skipped some steps, to avoid wonking out….)
135

136. Are Facets Hard?
Consider:
– Facets for a knife store?
– Facets for a kitchen store?
– Facets for a book store?
136

137. Before jumping in…
Consider:
• How various is your content?
• How complex is your subject?
• How do people find your content?
• How much time do you have?
137

139. Is this all there is?

140. Information Architecture is:
Architecture in
Information Spaces.

141. Dan Klyn (and TUG) is bringing Richard
Saul Wurman’s and other architect’s
views back to make better digital
products
http://understandinggroup.com/

148. “Less is more.”
~ Mies

155. What does a digital product want?
• A librarian?
• An urban planner?
• An architect?

156. ―Modern Systems! Yes indeed! To approach
everything in a strictly methodical manner
and not to waver a hair’s breath from
preconceived patterns, until genius has
been strangled to death and joie de vivre
stifled by the system– that is the sign of
our time.‖ Camillo Sitte

157. Homework
• Content inventory: what’s in your site?
• Organizational Scheme
– Hierarchal?
– Faceted?
– Combination?
• Portfolio: Site map (a la Dan Brown’s
Communicating design Chapter 5)