Context Menu Design
“A context menu is a menu that contains commands specific to the object that the cursor is currently pointing at – the ‘target object’.” (Hagan Rivers ~ two rivers consulting)
All posts about
Information architecture
Andreas Resmini on Pervasive IA
“(…) it’s not just the Web anymore. There’s bigger game out there for us to design, and I’m going to make a point that attendees walk out of the workshop with three basic fundamental take-aways: they understand why we talk of pervasive information architectures, they know what pervasive information architectures are, and they have the tools to hack them.” (IA Summit 2011)
How to Make a Faceted Classification and Put It On the Web
“This paper will attempt to bridge the gap by giving procedures and advice on all the steps involved in making a faceted classification and putting it on the web. Web people will benefit by having a rigorous seven-step process to follow for creating faceted classifications, and librarians will benefit by understanding how to store such a classification on a computer and make it available on the web. The paper is meant for both webmasters and information architects who do not know a lot about library and information science, and librarians who do not know a lot about building databases and web sites. The classifications are meant for small or medium-sized sets of things, meant to go on public or private web sites, when there is a need to organize items for which no existing classification will do. It is certainly not the intent of this paper to show how to build another universal classification, nor to describe how a library that uses a faceted classification scheme can put their catalogue online.” (William Denton ~ Miskatonic University Press 2009)
Prospecting in the 21st century
“Service design is the natural progression from UX – taking interactions across platforms and concentrating on the invisible and tangible connections around customer or user interactions. Information architects should be at the heart of this design work and don’t be surprised to start to see IAs appear in companies that you didn’t even think of as ‘digital’. (…) It is not just interface design. It is not just about making the world more usable and ethically correct. It’s all this and more. It is a force for changing business in its approach and to make it economically stable by providing for needs but also satisfying wants beyond the present day. This is the business value of UX. How you interpret the data you collect, and create something truly unique, relies on the teams skill set and experience.” (James Kelway ~ user pathways) | courtesy of petermorville
Guide to Website Navigation Design Patterns
“In web design, there are certain common design patterns that are used for interaction. Site navigation has a wide variety of common and familiar design patterns that can be used as a foundation for building effective information architecture for a website. This guide covers popular site navigation design patterns. For each site navigation design pattern, we will discuss its common characteristics, its drawbacks, and when best to use it.” (Cameron Chapman ~ Six Revisions)
to_be_classified
“This paper examines the use of the postulational approach to facet analysis to manually induce a faceted classification ontology from a folksonomy.” (Elise Conradi ~ Journal of Information Architecture Volume 2 Issue 3)
An Information Architect by any Other Name
“Is information architecture dead? No way! It ain’t even sick. Let me share some personal observations about our field.” (Eric Reiss ~ Journal of Information Architecture Volume 2 Issue 3)
Building an Information Architecture Checklist
“Government environments often have prescribed complex processes for obtaining and implementing technology solutions. In order to encourage and enable information architecture (IA) in government systems, it is essential to embed IA within the current processes and to view IA as part of the overall architectural framework. The definition of IA used here is broad and inclusive spanning applications, the Web and the enterprise. A common focus exists aimed at organizing information for findability, manageability and usefulness, but the definition also includes infrastructure to support organization of information. This case study describes the development of an IA checklist in a large United States government agency. The checklist is part of an architectural review process that is applied 1) during assessment of proposed information systems projects and 2) design of solution recommendations before system implementation.” (Laura Downey and Sumit Banerjee ~ Journal of Information Architecture Volume 2 Issue 3)
About Content Strategy
“One of the things that stands out for me in any consideration of ‘content strategy’ is that it is centered upon the business goals of the organization. It sounds almost painfully obvious but grim reality shows us that it is not as obvious as it sounds. A content strategy should bring to the fore the idea that the content must be expressly designed and developed so as to address specific business objectives. This content must also, it follows, be designed to work with and leverage the tools that are being used, such as the search technology that a customer or prospect is most likely to call upon when looking for an answer. (…) the content strategist must take on board a raft of considerations and then chart an efficient and effective path of content investment.” (Joe Gollner ~ The Fractal Enterprise)
The Metaphor of the System (Part 2)
“When considering the structure of a building, architects often define its central, organizing idea as part of their ideation and design process. This unifying idea is known as the parti. The overall expression and movement of people through the space, the actual flow that happens through daily use, emanates from and returns to this fundamental idea.” (David Sherwin ~ ChangeOrder) Also, part 1
Lisa Strausfield: The Infomaniac
“She’s a natural to work on transforming the infinite depths of data about our urban environment into patterns that reveal other patterns, says TED founder Richard Saul Wurman, who got to know Strausfeld during her days at the MIT Media Lab. She’d be on my chart of the top information architects. She’ll be a formidable figure.” (FastCompany)
UX, It’s Time to Grow Up
“(…) one of the main issues that we see, but at times ignore, in this field is that most of us try to be jacks of all trades within UX.” (Elisabeth Hubert)
Findability and The Information Paradox
“(…) a summary of why findability becomes an issue for technical writers, and what the information paradox is that we encounter. Then, in an usual ethical twist, I’ll explain why findability might not actually be an issue.” (Tom Johnson)
The nature of information science: Changing models
“This paper considers the nature of information science as a discipline and profession. It is based on conceptual analysis of the information science literature, and consideration of philosophical perspectives, particularly those of Kuhn and Peirce. It is argued that information science may be understood as a field of study, with human recorded information as its concern, focusing on the components of the information chain, studied through the perspective of domain analysis, in specific or general contexts. A particular aspect of interest is those aspects of information organization, and of human information-related behaviour, which are invariant to changes in technology. Information science can also be seen as a science of evaluation of information, understood as semantic content with respect to qualitative growth of knowledge and change in knowledge structures in domains. This study contributes to the understanding of the unique ‘academic territory’ of information science, a discipline with an identity distinct from adjoining subjects.” (Lyn Robinson and Murat Karamuftuoglu ~ Information Research 15.4)
Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing Cross-Channel User Experiences
“As physical and digital interactions intertwine, new challenges for digital product designers and developers, as well as, industrial designers and architects are materializing. While well versed in designing navigation, organization, and labelling of websites and software, professionals are faced the crucial challenge of how to apply these techniques to information systems that cross communication channels that link the digital world to the physical world.” (Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati ~ Pervasive IA)
Of Patterns and Structures
“(…) that’s what we do: we build structures and patterns, we imagine orders. These are not there, in the data, in re, but are a part of our individual or collective imaginary, of our professional expertise. As such they can be fantastically “wrong” but still produce meaning, and good design.” (Andrea Resmini)
IA Summit 2011, Denver CO
“The IA Summit is the premier destination for those who practice, research and are interested in the structural design of shared information environments. Some call themselves information architects (and many don’t) but all share a common desire to help people live better lives through meaningful experiences with information. (…) After 11 successful years bringing hundreds of practitioners together for five days of intense exchange of ideas and experiences, we pause to reflect on the state of information architecture and what is in store for this community of practice. As we continue to strive for more, we turn our focus to what can make us – as practitioners – and our practice, better.”
Let’s get something straight about IA
“Information architecture uses information as its raw material the same way building architecture uses physical materials.” (Andrew Hinton ~ inkblurt)
The Big Show #25 (Karen McGrane)
“Karen McGrane joins Jeffrey Zeldman and Dan Benjamin to discuss putting publications online, the state of content management, careers in web design, running a design business, teaching UX and design, and more.” (The Big Show)
UX Card Sort
“If you are an Information Architect, User Experience Designer, Interaction Designer or similar and your job is designing digital interactive (web)sites, services or products then join in with the UX Card Sort! This card sort is a way of creating insight into what UX professionals have in common and what the differentiators are, based on your daily professional activities instead of discussing what a label such as IA/UXD/ID etc. should contain. The Card Sort does start though with the request to enter your job title as that might already identify existing clusters with a common label.” (George Miles)