Information Architecture, for the World Wide Web
Information Architecture, for the World Wide WebLouis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville
My notes and thoughts from the book and the discussion in class today…
Page 24 – Should Technology be a part of the ‘User – Content – Context’ Ven Diagram? They say it would look silly to add another circle…you can’t be serious! If the medium is the message, and one doesn’t consider the possibilities & realities of information delivery based on the technology used, then the presentation of the information is incomplete. To not add another circle because it might not look pretty is absurd…
Page 25 – “…Communication is built upon words and sentences trying to convey meaning.” I disagree - The written word does not have inherent meaning until we assign it, and is more complex for the brain to comprehend than images or symbols. I assert, as usual, that communication is always enhanced with the inclusion of visual elements. The partnership of words and symbols is appreciated, enhances clarity, and remains searchable.
Three common information needs:
-The right thing – known item seeking
-A few good things – exploratory seeking
-Everything – exhaustive research
Our understanding of the world is based on classification. We are all librarians of our own information, and are becoming increasingly so because of the amount of information we encounter in our technology-driven world. Therefore, we must education the populous about good information architecture techniques. With this in mind, maintaining a creative, visual perspective on the world in the face of the verbally-biased modern education systems becomes even more important as our children grow up.
Some other things I found interesting:
Page 52 - Words can be ambiguous, making classification challenging
Page 53 – Homogeneous systems are much simpler to classify; Heterogeneous system are difficult to place in a single organizational structure; there is no one-size-fits-all way to structure it.
Page 54 – “…labeling and organization systems are intensely affected by their creators’ perspectives.” The user is not like me; what I would logically label something may not be what others would logically do.
Organizational schemes – “…defines the shared characteristics of content items and influences the logical grouping of those items.”
Organizational structure – “…defines the types of relationships between content items and groups.”
2/14/2005
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