The FAQ of IA

In this presentation, Donna will talk about the questions that she's been asked over and over again in her 15 years of information architecture work. And she won’t only talk about the questions...she'll answer them too!

Information architecture work is full of counterintuitive ideas and outcomes that can't be predicted ahead of time.

Amongst other things, she'll introduce and answer these questions.

"Is it OK to put things in more than one place?"
"Why can't we just arrange it according to our audiences?"
"Can't we just put a map on the page and use that?"
"Why do we need to do this? Doesn't everyone just search?"
"Can't we design the site and then pour the IA in afterwards?"
"Why do you need to spend so much time looking at the content?"
"But in the card sort, users said they wanted 14 categories..."

And her personal favourite: "Can't we just write some FAQs?"

Transcript

1. The FAQ of IA
2. Who am I?
5. Today…
6. Roll, honour, award Reports of proceedings Collection search CONFLICT Equipment type War diary Collection search Collection search Collection search Collection search Collection search BATTLE HONOUR UNIT PERSON PLACE EVENT EQUIPMENT
7. Why can’t we just…
8. ..arrange it by audience
12. …arrange it by audience
13. …arrange it by format
18. …pour the IA in later
20. …pour the IA in later
21. … use search
22. … use search People search for known item tasks: People browse/navigate for unknown item tasks: they know what they are looking for they aren’t sure what they are looking for they have a word to describe it they don’t know what to call it they know when they’ve found it they aren’t sure when they are done
25. … the influence of Google, and on-site search
26. …order it by alphabet
27. …order it by alphabet
29. “I wish it was by alphabet”
30. Other illogical ‘best practices’
31. Everything in 3 clicks
33. 7+-2 links in navigation
39. abstract is harder than concrete
41. Content in one place only
44. Avoid jargon
46. Avoid jargon
47. Running a card sort
50. Why can’t we just…
51. …use a FAQ
56. it really does depend… Thanks :) you can find me @maadonna, or maadmob.com.au