Column Two

Lou Rosenfeld has published the results of IA surveys conducted over the last few months. To quote: For the new edition of the polar bear book (almost done!), Peter Morville and I conducted five surveys of the information architecture community. All of the results are now available via the IA ...

Maish Nichani has written an article on writing guides, to help users familiarise themselves with a site. To quote: Supplemental navigation techniques provide an alternative, complementary or adjunct view to seeking out information on large websites and intranets. This article describes when and how to use one such technique -- ...

Patrick Lambe has written an entry exploring taxonomies vs tagging, taking a different approach from other debates on this topic. To quote: We have to keep reminding ourselves, in taxonomy work, (a) how idiosyncratic and innovative human beings are in the way we structure our worlds; and (b) the difference ...

Lou Rosenfeld has written an entry discussing the concept of a rolling content inventory, instead of a once-off inventory. To quote: When you've got hundreds or thousands of distributed subsites and other pockets of content, you simply won't not know what's out there. If you send a spider on a ...

Leisa Reichelt has written an interesting blog entry that argues that we shouldn't start with a content inventory when redesigning a site. To quote: Personally, I am of the opinion that starting your project with an inventory of this kind is probably one of the *worst* ways to go about ...

Michael Andrews has written a blog entry on task oriented information architecture. To quote: Most discussion of information architecture relates to finding information. There are articles people want to read, or catalog items people want to browse. What receives less attention in information architecture is how to organize user interfaces ...

Jason Withrow has written an article on using competitive analysis when designing sites. To quote: Effective web design, from the simplest brochure website to the most complex web application, needs to involve an understanding of context. While user-centered design focuses on user needs/tasks, and information architecture focuses on content, these ...

Joe Lamantia has written another article, exploring the future for tag clouds. To quote: Lets build on the analysis of tag clouds from Tag Clouds Evolve: Understanding Tag Clouds, and look ahead at what the near future may hold for second generation tag clouds (perhaps over the next 12 to ...

Jared Spool has written about the issues with alphabetic lists of links. To quote: The moral of the story: Unless you can be absolutely sure that users will know the exact terms in your list, alphabetical order is just random order. This is particularly relevant for intranets, that can have a ...

Stephen Turbek has written an article on creating site maps, for use during information architecture activities. To quote: Sitemaps are common deliverables, desired by clients who want a visual representation of a site. Since they are rarely used to make decisions, information architects may not consider them the valuable tools ...

Marieke Guy and Emma Tonkin have written an article that looks at what makes folksonomies work. To quote: In this article we look at what makes folksonomies work. We agree with the premise that tags are no replacement for formal systems, but we see this as being the core quality ...

Jared Spool has posted another article on the value of site maps. To quote: Before the holidays, I generated blogosphere fervor when I mentioned I think it's a potential waste of valuable development resources to construct and maintain site maps and site indexes. Several people left excellent comments which I ...

Helen Lippell has written an article on the creation of the A-Z index at the BBC. To quote: The project to overhaul the bbc.co.uk index began in late 2004. There was a push to change the visual design to make the user experience more aesthetically pleasing, and a need to ...

Jared Spool has written a short article on the value of site maps. To quote: Our research shows that users will rarely turn to these things if the scent on the page is good. Investing resources in building an effective site map or site index is taking resources away from ...

Jared Spool has posted a short article outlining 8 types of navigation pages, as identified during their work over the years. To quote: As we've watched users search for their desired content, we've realized there are patterns to the pages we see. We've started to catalogue these patterns and have ...

Jared Spool has written a post discussing the value (or lack of) global site navigation. To quote: Global navigation (versus local navigation) is often static on the site (meaning that it doesn't change from one page to the next). We know that most of the time, users come to the ...

Silverio Petruzzellis has written an article on collaborative tagging. To quote: The organic growth of the web is bringing the issue of information categorization and retrieval upfront as never before. Publishing information is not an expensive activity anymore, both from a technical and a financial point of view, and loads ...

Jared Spool has written a blog entry exploring the value of breadcrumbs. To quote: In our analysis, breadcrumbs are mostly used when users lose the scent of the information they are seeking. They work their way through the navigation, choosing the links that have the best scent. At some point, ...

There is a worrying trend emerging in the field of information architecture: organisations are attempting to finalise site structures without evaluating their effectiveness in the context of a web page. Card sorting and card-based classification provide excellent insights into the inherent structure behind content. Both are excellent tools for defining strict ...

Joshua Kaufman has written another article on tips and tricks for getting IA done. To quote: Back in June, I presented my best advice in Getting IA Done, Part I. At the end of the article, I asked Digital Web Magazine readers to send me their favorite tips to publish ...

Robert Krull and Angela Eaton have written an article on navigating online help, exploring the various issues and suggesting potential solutions. To quote: Overall, the largest problem our participants had in using the help system wasn't in processing the procedural information in the help, but rather finding the correct help ...

Peter Van Dijck has written a blog entry that lists a lot of good global IA questions. To quote: In the spirit of "look for the right question, not the right answer", what are the big questions around global IA? Here are a few to get started.

David Weinberger has written an article about taxonomies and tags, using metaphors derived from the natural world. To quote: The narrative that tells of the first man and woman encountering the tree of knowledge focuses on its tempting fruit. But after we took the bite, we apparently looked up and ...

Clay Shirky has written an article challenging the importance of ontologies. To quote: Today I want to talk about categorization, and I want to convince you that a lot of what we think we know about categorization is wrong. In particular, I want to convince you that many of the ...

Maewyn Cumming has written an article that provides definitions for controlled vocabularies. To quote: This is a brief introduction to the relationships between taxonomies, thesauri and ontologies, and similar 'things'. It doesn't contain definitive, scientific definitions, it is a personal interpretation of some fairly complex structures. It aims to give ...

Iain Barker has written our KM Column article for this month, answering the question: what is information architecture? To quote: Organising functionality and content into a structure that people are able to navigate intuitively doesn't happen by chance. Organisations must recognise the importance of information architecture or else they run ...

Dave Rogers has written a blog entry on the problem with wireframes. To quote: The very characteristic that makes wireframes so helpful---that they integrate content, engineering, visual design, information structure, interaction design and UX in a single document---is also their biggest liability. Expecting a single individual to possess all of ...

Joshua Porter has written a blog entry that asks the question: do you believe in mental models? To quote: For me, my mental activity is usually concerned with the task at hand: "what does this document do for me?" or "why do I need this document?" or "does this ...

Matt Leacock, Erin Malone and Chanel Wheeler have presented an interesting paper on the use of pattern libraries at Yahoo!. To quote: A case study of the definition, design, and roll-out of an interaction design pattern library at Yahoo! Inc. The process for defining the requirements, design of the application, ...

Matt Hicks reports on the growing use of folksonomies, highlighting some of the early leaders and adopters. To quote: In the halls and session rooms at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference here, a series of talks this week explored the growing use of tags to let users associate keyword metadata ...

Peter Van Dijck has written a blog entry looking at underused IA tools. To quote: Us IA's have a lot of tools at our disposal (personas, sitemaps, task analysis,

William Hudson (and his company Syntagm) have released a new approach to card sorting: Computer-aided paper sorting. To quote: Appropriate allocation of tasks to users and computers has always been an important part of successful interaction design. In the case of card sorting, we would like users to work with ...

O'Rielly has generously published the full text of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. (Note that this is the 1st edition of the book, and the 2nd edition has been substantially enhanced, expanded and improved.) [Thanks to Digital Web Magazine.]