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Information architecture Donna Spencer - Maadmob (@maadonna)

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About me • User experience freelancer – information architecture, interaction design, content strategy • Far too long (10+ years) • Run UX Australia (Sydney, late August 2011) • @maadonna !"#$%&'#()*+ ,'-%.'%-#/.0%*#0".% 1'23%4'#%.50%-06+ 7%2#"1(1"8%*9/$0%.'% /)4'#:"(')%"#15/.01.9#0+

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Topics covered • Information-seeking behaviours • How people look for info & what they do with it • Classification schemes • Ways to organise information & when they work • Processes • How to determine the best IA • Labelling • Testing IA • I’ll answer questions at the end (ask them at any time in the ‘questions’ window)

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Information- seeking behaviours

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Browse or search • People say that an individual either browses or searches • Not true - depends on what they need to do

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Finding known items • Know what you want • Have words to describe it • Fairly good idea of where to start • Know there is an answer • Know when you see the answer

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imdb.com

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Exploring • Have some idea of what you want to know • May not know how to articulate it/ terminology • May not know where to start • May never end

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Refine and narrow • Large set of items • Some criteria that matters • Narrow down to those of interest

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topgear.co.uk

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Comparing • Often follows from narrowing/refining • See items side-by-side to compare them

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topgear.co.uk

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Getting a broad idea • Sometimes people just need to know the basics • Don’t need the detail

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pixies

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Discovering unknown • Things you didn’t know were there, but you find yourself interested in

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youtube.com

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Keeping up to date • Don’t need an answer, but need to keep an eye on things

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google.com/analytics

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Refinding • Finding something you’ve seen before • Don’t underestimate the importance of this

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yogajournal.com

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amazon.com

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Information behaviours • In your projects, think about what people need to do • Then figure out how to design for it

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Classification schemes

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Organisation schemes • For any set of content, there are many ways we could organise it – many different schemes • Some of the most common: • Subject/topic • Geography • Task • Audience • Mixed

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Subject/topic

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choice.com.au

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alistapart.com/topics/

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Geography

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No content

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lonelyplanet.com

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last.fm

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Task

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paypal.com

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Audience

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monash.edu.au

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dell.com

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chi2010.org

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Mixed

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ato.gov.au

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Designing and testing IA

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Designing IA • Process of synthesis - user research, business goals, content • Draft top level groupings/attributes • Just make something up! • Check it • See if it suits the content • See if it will suit the users • Revise it • Stop when it feels right • Start discussing it with people

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Tips • How many content groups? • Think about navigation, but put it aside • If stakeholders hate it... • Team or individual • Don’t do it in front of a computer • Make notes about rationale • Sequencing

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No content

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No content

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Great labels • Are dull! • Call things by their correct name • Are consistently used • Use terms the audience uses • Are as clear as possible

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yogajournal.com

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No content

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3am.co.uk

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Testing IA • Just tests concepts and labels • Still will need to test navigation/pages • Need • Draft IA • Scenarios • Participants

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No content

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optimalworkshop.com

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plainframe.com

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Questions (if there are more than I can answer, I’ll answer some at http://practical-ia.com/)

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And a plug... Find out more in my full day workshop. 31 March, IA Summit, Denver (Colorado) http://2011.iasummit.org/

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Thanks • http://maadmob.com.au/ • +61 409-778-693 • donna@maadmob.net • Twitter etc: maadonna