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Presentation by Lou Rosenfeld that introduces information architecture to senior IT managers. Covers perceived problems faced by IT managers, strategic value of information, IA basics, tangible IA benefits, and how IT and IA are natural allies in making information truly strategic to enterprises.
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Information Architecture:Putting the I back in IT
April 26, 2007
Louis Rosenfeldwww.louisrosenfeld.com
My perspective
Independent information architecture consultant
Work with Fortune 500s and government agencies
Background in library and information science
Co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (O’Reilly & Associates; 3rd edition, 2006)
What I’m going to cover
1.IT managers are excluded from corporate strategy
2.Information architects can help get IT managers a seat at the table (and how)
3.Information architecture briefly introduced
4.Examples of concrete benefits from information architecture
5.Can we be friends?
Everyone wants a seat at the strategy table
http://www.tsawwasseninn.com/images/boardroom%201_640.jpg
Why there’s no seat for IT managers
“Keep those lights on!” Growing pressures to commoditize IT
services Difficult to break out of reaction mode
Getting beyond commodities Business side doesn't understand
technology and its possibilities Lack of common language quashes
dialogue
Result: IT cut out of strategic decision-making
IT organizations out of balance
http://www.magnumad.com/adm/photo/425_web-ERE-seesaw-PAR116898.jpg
What’s out of whack?
Structured data versus semi-structured content
Centralization versus autonomy Traditional, formal approaches
versus emergent, informal approaches
Build it versus buy itCustomers versus business
How exactly does one commoditize IT when facing these issues?Imbalances (as previously noted)Tidal wave of unstructured
informationDeriving actual value from enterprise
applicationsGlobalization, localization, and
internationalization Content resident in user-hostile
enterprise silos
So we’re all drowning. As usual.
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/images/drowning.jpg
Do you agree?
“If you understand how the web site should be organized to serve your customers, then you know how the company should be organized.”--Anonymous information architect, IBM
Key phrases: serve customers, company organized
Should IT managers be involved in organizing the company?If “information is strategic,” then of
course! Information should be organized around
needs of customers/users IT provides the infrastructure for creating
and managing information Business side not always able to understand
implications of information systems
How can IT not be involved?How is this not strategic work?
“Information people” are the
tail that wags the dog
Not just IT managers, but……Information
architects…Knowledge
managers…Content specialists…User experience
designers…Marketers…Product managers…Etc…
http://whatisee.org/mt/archives/images/dogtail.jpg
Why IT managers need information architects
Information architects are the people who organize, structure, and label information
Our goal: help users find what they want
We worry a lot about these things Taxonomies, metadata, labeling Search systems performance Navigation and orientation Content lifecycle Users, users, users
Other flavors of IA: John Zachman
Zachman Framework• Enterprise architecture• Broader take on IA• “Polar bear IA” fortifies “human interface architecture” and “presentation architecture” cells
Other flavors of IA: Richard Saul Wurman
Wurman (Information Anxiety)
• Physical architecture background• Make information understandable• Pre-web context, but principles are extended to multi-dimensional information systems
Information architects help by rebalancing information systemsStructured versus semi-structured: IAs are
strong in the latter (where IT is often weak)Centralization versus autonomy: IAs develop
balanced workflows and processesTraditional, formal versus emergent,
informal: IAs integrate these as part of broader ecology
Build it versus buy it: IAs are technology agnostics who help develop functional specs that go beyond technical requirements
Customers versus business: IAs shore up knowledge of the former, and are neutral balancers between competing needs
Why are information architects good balancers?We see the world through three
perspectives
Information architects aren’t just high-paid librariansUser-oriented source disciplines
Human Computer Interaction Anthropology Marketing Sociology
Content-oriented source disciplines Librarianship Technical communication Graphic design Journalism Computer science
Context-oriented source disciplines Management Systems engineering Organizational psychology
Information architects are serious about methodologyUser-oriented research methods
Usability testing Contextual inquiry Card sorting Persona and scenario development
Content-oriented research methods Content inventory and analysis Content modeling Metadata development Server and search analytics
Context-oriented research methods Stakeholder interviews Project planning Specifications development
How do we use our methods? To prioritizeCan you confidently answer
these two questions?1. What are your site’s major
audiences?2. What are each audience’s Big
Questions (and how well are you addressing them)?
Major audiences:Who are they?
Secondary goal? (You may already know who they are)
Political challenges of audience definition Problem: defining audience by silo leads
to stakeholder infighting Goal: err toward apolitical segmenting
that cuts across silos; examples: Job functions (admin, clerical, research, mgmt) Demographics
Big questions:What are they?
Major tasks users want to accomplish or topics they want to know about
Examples: “Where do I reconfigure my health
benefits?” “Where can I find our past sales
proposals?” “How do I file an expense report?”
Big questions:How do you determine them? 1/2Active methods: ask people who
would know Webmasters and the hate mail they
get Switchboard operators and their FAQs SMEs and the people who bother
them Who else?
Avoid: focus groups
Big questions:How do you determine them? 2/2Passive methods: look at data
derived from users’ behavior (you already have it!)
Switchboard logs Server logs (Web Analytics) Search logs (Search Analytics) Information center logs Where else?
Grouping log data can help you (re)define audience segments
A closer look at methods:Search analytics
Sorting queries by frequency results in a Zipf Distribution
Can we improve performance for the most popular queries?
Anatomy of a search log(from Google Search Appliance)Critical elements in bold: IP address, time/date stamp,
query, and # of results:
XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:46 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8&client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&q=lincense+plate&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 971 0 0.02
XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:48 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=www&q=license+plate&ud=1&site=AllSites&spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 8283 146 0.16
XXX.XXX.XX.130 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:24:38 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8&client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&q=regional+transportation+governance+commission&ip=XXX.XXX.X.130 HTTP/1.1" 200 9718 62 0.17
Full legend and more examples here:http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/blog/log_sample_google_appliance/
What users want and when:Sort and cluster those queries
Diagnostics from search analytics: What can you fix or improve?User researchInterface design: search entry
interface, search resultsRetrieval algorithm modificationNavigation designMetadata developmentContent development
Best bet search results: Big answers for big questionsManually-assigned recommended
links Ensure useful results for top search
queries Useful resources for each popular
query are manually determined (guided by documented logic)
Useful resources manually linked to popular queries; automatically displayed in result page
Best bets example: BBC’s “best links”
BBC’s logic• IF query is a country name • THEN is there a country profile?• THEN is there a language service?
Best bets also improve navigation
Michigan State University automatically generates a comprehensive A-Z site index from best bet keywords
Guides:Even bigger answers to big questions Guides are single pages that contain
A selective set (5-10) of important links related to a Big Question
Narrative text that explains the topic and what’s available to help with that topic
Generally linked from the main page, but also used in more specific contexts Subsite main pages Search results
Guides:Vanguard example 1/2
Guides:Vanguard example 2/2
Guides:IBM example
Guides:Painless and efficientLow impact on IT (single HTML page)Cut across departmental silosGap fillers; complement
comprehensive methods of navigation and search
Can be timely (e.g., news-oriented guides, seasonal guides)
Minimize political headaches by creating new real estate
Can grow into fuller subsites
Contextual navigation:Focusing on where users are
Contextual navigation supports users deep in site Where am I? Where can I go from here?
Mandated by Web 2.0 worldTop layers of information systems are
increasingly bypassed Search engines Syndication (RSS, Atom) Banner advertising
Deep content becomes starting point
Contextual navigation is powered by content models
“Data modeling for semi-structured content”
Content modeling process helps narrow down both content and metadata choices
Content models consist of1. Content objects2. Links between objects 3. Metadata
Use sparingly to support high-value contextual navigation
Content models:Hewlett-Packard example
HP’s content model for products includes overview, supplies, support, drivers…
Content model is exposed as part of search results to enhance navigation
Content models: BBC example
artist descriptions
album reviews
album pages
artist biosdiscography
concert calendar
TV listings
Content modeling use metadata to connect content objects
Content Objects…
…link to other Content Objects…
…by leveraging common Metadata Attributes
album page album review, discography, artist
Album Name, Artist Name, Label, Release Date…
album review
album page Album Name, Artist Name, Review Author, Source, Pub Date…
discography album review, artist description Artist Name, Album Name, Release Date…
artist description
artist bio, discography, concert calendar, TV listing
Artist Name, Desc Author, Desc Date…
artist bio artist description Artist Name, Individual Artist Name…
concert calendar
artist description Artist Name, Tour, Venue, Date, Time…
TV listing artist description Artist Name, Channel, Date, Time…
Small steps start to add up
Make that search engine earn its keep• Institute best bets, spell checking,
guides, etc.• Can improve user experience
performance by 20%-30% (make up your own numbers)
Make that CMS earn its keep• Manage content objects and metadata
to support contextual navigation• Touch a small portion of your content to
improve experience for many users
Information architects can help IT managers avoid boiling the oceanBan the word redesign from your
vocabulary• Replace it with continual improvement• And pause before replacing enterprise
apps
Take small, concrete steps that have large impacts (guides, best bets, spell checking, limited content modeling)
Focus on what you can reasonably accomplish, and when you can do it
The farmer and the cowman can be friends (with apologies to Oklahoma)We ought to be natural allies
The "new IT manager" is 50/50 technology and business
Information architects offer a different perspective that’s similarly balanced
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/8720/transtrio.gif
Putting the I back in IT
For IT to be truly strategic, emphasis has to move away from technology, toward information Information architects can help IT managers
move away from providing commodity services Information architects and IT managers can
work together to help organizations Truly understand information’s strategic value Make technology really perform
Hopefully, a seat at the strategy table will be that much closer
What I’ve covered
1. IT managers are excluded from corporate strategy
2. Information architects can help get IT managers a seat at the table (and how)
3. Information architecture briefly introduced
4. Examples of concrete benefits from information architecture
5. Can we be friends?
How to reach me
Louis Rosenfeld, LLC705 Carroll Street, #2LBrooklyn, NY 11215 USA
+1.718.306.9396 voice+1.734.661.1655 fax
lou@louisrosenfeld.comwww.louisrosenfeld.com
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