Structured   Content   Scaling  your  ideas  to  create  better  experiences   •••   Bonny  Colville-­‐Hyde  &  Martina  Welander   @almostexact                        @mhwelander   Please ask questions! 

Greetings!   User  Experience  Architect   at  Immediate  Media   Developer   at  Sitecore   Bonny     Colville-­‐Hyde   Martina   Welander   

Our  Aim:   Give  you  a  basic  understanding  of  how  structured  data   can  scale  to  support  product  development     -­‐  and  -­‐     Understand  the  role  you  can  play  as  a  UX  to  ensure  the   information  stored  in  your  product  databases  meet  user   needs   

Overview   1.  Scaling  over  time:  Products  always  change     2.  Intro  to  Service  Oriented  Architecture     3.  Understanding  domains  and  content     4.  Problems  with  structuring  content     5.  Communicating  data  requirements   

Business,  Technology  &  User  Requirements   are  Guaranteed  to  Change   

Service  Oriented   Architecture   

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Information   

Data!   

The  strength  of  a  database   lies  in  it’s  data  model     

The  data  model  must  map  to  the   way  we  understand  relationships   between  pieces  of  information   

Exercise  1:   Become  a     Service  Oriented  Architecture!   

Become  a  Service     Oriented  Architecture   Each  team  will  become  its  own  Service  Oriented   Architecture     Within  each  team,  you  will  split  into  roles  following   the  instructions  in  your  team  pack     You’ll  either  play  the  part  of  a  user,  an  interface,  a   service  or  a  database   

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What  are  the  key  UX     points  to  consider  about     Service  Oriented   Architecture?   

The  interface  controls  what   queries  the  user  can  request   

The  service(s)  can  only  retrieve   information  from  the  database  if   it  exists  and  is  Aindable   

A  service  cannot  access  information   meaningfully  if  the  database  is  not   content  modeled  with     users  in  mind   EfAicient   Effective   Satisfying   USER   EXPERIENCE   

The  database(s)  need  to  be   planned  and  structured  to   ensure  all  the  data  needed  for   the  interface  &  user  is  present   Artist Group ALBUM SINGLE Chart position Country of release dates sales 

If  we  want  to  create  brilliant  user   experiences,  we  have  to  understand  and   communicate  our  audience’s  data   requirements  so  they  can  be  built   

There  is  no  magic  to  a   database:  it’s  just  hard  work   

Why  don’t  we  just  use     free  text  search?   

Free  text  search  isn’t     a  silver  bullet   u   Natural  language  is  very  dif`icult  to  build  for,  and  is   probably  beyond  the  scope  of  our  teams  (unless  you   work  for  a  super  power  like  Google)     u   The  computing  power  required  to  do  this  well  is  also   beyond  the  scope  of  your  server  budgets  due  to  the   expense  involved     u   If  its  done  poorly  it’s  a  dreadful  user  experience   

Exercise  2:   Understanding  Content  &     Data  Relationships   

The  Scenario:     “Our  CMS  comes  with  built  in   tags  and  categories:     we’ll  use  those”   

An  author  at  MusicReviews.com  has  written   a  review  of  Madonna’s  1985  single     ‘Into  The  Groove’   In  your  teams  write  out  how  you  could  tag   and  categorise  this  review.   

Madonna Sire records 1985 7” Record Desperately seeking Susan Number 1 UK Billboard Dance single of the decade Drum machine Sonic Youth Steve Bray 

Madonna 

Question  your   choices!   

When  to  use  Tags   YES:   u Small  sites  (under  2000   pages)   u One  language   u One  /  very  few  editors   u Static  content  that   doesn’t  need  to  be  used   beyond  the  page  its  on   NO  /  BEWARE!:   u Medium  sites  and  larger   (or  those  likely  to  grow)   u More  than  one  language   u Multiple  editors     u Need  to  extend  or   syndicate  content  into   multiple  places   

In  just  14  Posts  I  managed  to  confuse  myself…   

Domain  and  Content   Modeling:  First  Steps   u   What  are  the  users  doing?   u   What  information  do  they  need  to  access?   u   What  information  do  they  need  to  store?   u   What  information  do  they  need  to  cross  reference?   u   What  are  the  constituent  parts  of  that  information?   u   What  relationships  do  different  types  of  information  have   with  each  other?   u   How  is  information  linked  together?   u   Where  does  the  information  come  from?   u   What  limitations  does  the  information  have?   

Exercise  3:   Mapping  and  Communicating   Relationships  between  Data   

Domain  Modeling  In  Practice   In  your  groups,  work  together  to  map  the  content  and   information  associated  with  music  albums       Use  a  post  it  note  to  deAine  each  of  the  constituent   pieces  of  information  (data)     Draw  lines  to  link  together  the  data  relationships  e.g:   singles  belong  to  an  album  (e.g:  ‘Artist’  <-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐>  ‘Album’)   

Modeling  Information     in  the  Real  World   You  need  a  domain  expert  and  a  database  expert  –   this  is  not  something  to  do  on  your  own  –  it’s  a  team   sport   The   Domain   Model   The   Content   Model   The   Data   Model   

Information   is  messy!   

(Work  in  progress!)   

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Communication  Challenges!   u   Work  with  your  domain  expert  and  content  creators  to   understand  the  domain   u   Talk  through  what  you  learn  with  your  developers:  don’t   chuck  documentation  at  them     u   Be  patient:  this  is  a  collaborative  process   u   Expect  to  be  confused   u   Work  on  paper  and  whiteboards   u   Don’t  try  to  design  the  database!   

QUESTION!   What  happens  if  you  produce  wireframes  or  prototypes   for  your  developers  and  you’ve  not  modeled  the   domain,  the  content  or  data?   

ANOTHER  QUESTION!   How  can  a  developer  understand  the  relationships   between  information  in  a  domain  on  a  wireframe  if  you   have  not  explained  them?     And  how  can  a  developer  plan  and  structure  a  data   model  to  support  future  growth  if  you’ve  not   considered  it?   

Things  Change…   

Questions?   

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