Let's Define Information Architecture

The term info. Arch. I believe comes with a lot of ambiguity in the sense that 2 people talking about practicing IA might not be talking about the same thing. Mostly we use fragments of it.

Do we know what all it encompasses? And why should we even care? I believe if we know at least how broad or narrow the term is then we as designers can share this information and present a better case for ourselves to product owners/ other stakeholders.

Transcript

1. नमस्ते Slide / 24 1
2. Slide / 24 2 Thank You ! For spending your Saturday with me. UX Designer at Cvent Currently Information Design (M.Des) National Institute of Design Education I am Manish Saini Information Experience Designer Introducing adobe's first global class of standout students & emerging creators Discovered and selected through the 2019 adobe design achievement awards • 10,300+ projects submitted • 102 countries represented • 1,000 young creators awarded top talent status – explore just a few inside! See all the top talent at adobeawards.com/showcase issue 01 meet the top talent Image Source: Adobe Zine 2019
3. Slide / 24 3 Let’s Define IA Manish Saini @sainisays
4. Slide / 24 4 What do you relate to Information Architecture?
5. Slide / 24 5 I used to relate Artefact Site Map Wireframes Artefact Tool Mind Map
6. Slide / 24 6 But Why Define IA ?
7. Slide / 24 7 Let’s Do This… But How?
8. Slide / 24 8 Understanding Architecture of Information • High Level Understanding of IA • Your Understanding of IA Origin of IA • Timeline • Artefacts • Classifying IA Definitions of IA • Different Definitions of IA • Discuss couple of them in detail IA by mnemonics
9. Slide / 24 9 Understanding IA Physical Spaces Digital Spaces Buildings Study Living Bedroom Users Users Information Systems / Websites Data ℹ Information Content
10. Consumers of Information became Producers “PROSUMERS" Research paper - Architecture of the IBM System/ 360” (Amdahl et al 1964), Slide / 24 10 1960 1980 1990 2000 2010 1964 1970 TIMELINE WHO 1974-75 WHAT 1998 INFORMATION DESIGN ERA Focuses on physical layouts, arrangement of hardware FOCUS Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC), Information specialists were gathered to develop technology which could support the “architecture of information” Information Architecture termed coined INFORMATION SYSTEM On HCI guidelines & Information Structure Explosion of data and need of systems to manage info. Ronda Leon’s Hypothesis 3 broad, different and partially overlapping approaches of IA. Differentiating factor being the way they work with information: statically, dynamically, and as a resource. SYNTHESIS OF THE TWO Design deliverables blueprints, requirements, information categories, guidelines on the underlying business processes, IA went mainstream CLASSIC IA Library information Science: Labelling, Navigation, searching systems, etc PERVASIVE IA IA as a process: To find needs & present info. as tasks As curated by Resimi and Rosati - A Brief History of Information Architecture
11. Slide / 24 11 Defining Information Architecture
12. Slide / 24 12 Most Definitions Focus around Rosenfeld’s Visualisation of IA Context Business models, goals, politics, culture, resources Content Document types, meta info., attributes Users Info. Needs, Audience, Types, Expertise, Tasks, Ecology
13. Slide / 24 13 One definition that stands out Dan Klyn, The Understanding Group
14. Slide / 24 14 Defining Information Architecture What does it mean? In which context it is arranged? How to access it? Dan Klyn, The Understanding Group
15. Slide / 24 15 Ontology Taxonomy Choreography IA what we mean when we say what we say Organising meaning in a context How meaning and structure fit together
16. Slide / 24 16 IA as Ontology, Taxonomy & Choreography
17. Slide / 24 17 Ontology Taxonomy Choreography What? Dan Klyn explains, ontology is “what we mean when we say what we say”. ‘study of being’ in IA context, ontology refers to the meaning behind our labels, terms, language and content categories Context? a poorly designed ontology can lead to findability issues, retention problems, user error and much more. ontology is driven by the needs, expectations and goals of your users Why we need it?
18. Slide / 24 18 Ontology Taxonomy Choreography
19. Slide / 24 19 Ontology Taxonomy Choreography What? how information is grouped, classified and labeled within a shared information environment Think of an online shoe store. The shoes might be organized and labelled by color, size, style, season or collection Context? Once the information is identified Taxonomy provides enough context to navigate around Why we need it?
20. Slide / 24 20 Ontology Taxonomy Choreography What? The rules for interaction among the parts in IA context, scheme of navigation through the interface Context? flow of an experience delights the user and doesn’t distract from what the user is trying to do Why we need it?
21. Slide / 24 21 But… What was the need of this presentation?
22. Slide / 24 22 By understanding analogies We can relate to concepts like IA more naturally than mechanically So that, We can arrange visual mnemonics as cues of information.
23. Slide / 24 23 @sainisays धन्यवाद!