UXmatters has published 25 editions of the column Finding Our Way.
The title of this column could have been “Getting Your Information Architecture Right.” But, to be honest, my guess is that the majority of people still don’t understand information architecture and the value that it brings to Web sites and other information-technology experiences. Uttering the term information architecture when speaking to a sophisticated business person or even an intelligent lay person typically leads to raised eyebrows and a tilted head—that is, an expression of perplexity—or perhaps curiosity.
While information architecture, as a term, sounds impressive, it consists of two concepts that can be difficult to grasp—even for IA practitioners and academics.
Even though the average person deals with many forms of information every day, people’s popular view of information is as an abstract idea that applies to just about anything. Anything can be information. As for the term architecture, it’s equally troublesome. Read More
“The practice of information architecture is the effort of organizing and relating information in a way that simplifies how people navigate and use information on the Web.”—DSIA Research Initiative
Over the past two decades, the volatile evolution of Web applications and services has resulted in organizational uncertainty that has kept our understanding and framing of the information architect in constant flux. In the meantime, the reality of getting things done has resulted in a professional environment where the information architect is less important than the practitioner of information architecture (IA). Read More
In a previous column, “Creating a Web-Site Information Architecture in Six Steps,” I reviewed several categories of assumptions and tactics for creating a Web site’s information architecture. While that column focused on practice, it would also be useful for you to know how IA theory informed that column. Having a little theory in your back pocket is always useful.
Many practitioners of information architecture have come to understand the fundamentals of creating an information architecture through direct training, text books about practical methods, or real-world experience. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find documentation on the formal theory of information architecture.
So, I’d like to share several theoretical concepts from my research that I used as the foundation for my column “Creating a Web-Site Information Architecture in Six Steps.” I’ll condense these concepts into a simple and, hopefully, memorable diagram. Read More