Informationsarchitektur 3.0 (D)

Hören Sie das Podcast Interview mit Peter Morville bei IA Voice

Als Visionär ist Peter Morville kürzlich vor einigen CIOs aufgetreten und berichtet darüber in seinem Artikel mit dem Titel "Information Architecture 3.0" bei Semantic Studios. Er fasst die überaus positiven Aussichten für Informationsarchitekten zusammen in einem kleinen Rückblick, einer Gegenwartsbetrachtung und einer hell scheinenden Zukunftsvision was die IA Community ihm in einigen Foren bereits mehrfach dankend und anerkennend quittierte.
Er erwähnt in seiner Zusammenfassung die IA-Definition, welche auch in der neuen Version des "Polarbär"-Buchs(Information Architecture for the World Wide Web) zu lesen ist und heutzutage bereits von anderen Disziplinen als Grundlage adaptiert wird:

• Das strukturierte Design von gemeinschaftlich genutzten Informationsumgebungen
• Die Kombination von Organisations-, Labeling-, Such- und Navigationssystemen in Websites und Intranets
• Die Kunst und Wissenschaft, Informationsprodukte und -Erfahrungen zu formen, um Usability und Findability zu unterstützen
• Eine neu entstehende Disziplin und Spezialistengemeinschaft, welche darauf fokussiert ist die Prinzipien des Designs und der Architektur in die digitale Landschaft zu tragen.

Der Artikel enthält folgende Schwerpunkte:
- Defining Information Architecture
- Information Architects under Attack
- The Roles: Strategies for Information Architects
- The Discipline: Information Architecture Strategy
- The Community: Building a Big Tent
- The End of the Beginning

Was denkt ihr über den Artikel?

Planning the IA for Sharepoint

IAs that are interested in how to develop the Information Architecture for Sharepoint Applications find an interesting recommendation for this topic directly on the Microsoft TechNet Platform.

After a brief description on "What information architecture is" the general planning recommendations are being explained in these main stages:

• Survey existing content and Web site structure
• Survey user requirements
• Survey business requirements

To me this looks as if Microsoft tends to go into a more user oriented direction. If you're even more interested in this subject, then check out the very interesting podcasts out there that explain the importance of user orientation in context of developing sharepoint applications. What do you think?

IA Summit - Key Session - Project Touchstones (E)

(image: sticky room, infinity diagrams, Jesss McMullin)
Jess McMullin was talking during his presentation "Project Touchstones" at the IA Summit about efficient methods that focus on the value for both Business(Return on Investment) and Users(Return on Experience). To me his methods sounded very usefull to synchronise the different views of stakeholders of a project(client side and agency side). This particular points, if not solved correctly, can easily eat up a tremendous part of the project budget.

He recommends the following approach:

• Get the right people in the room, work together to create artifacts and models that let them articulate business needs.
• Peel Back the layers
• Start Small: Partner, Pilot, Publicize

From my point of view (To several of the situations that Jess mentions in his talk I find parallels to my daily teamwork again) I would say the following are well worth to consider to optimise your work relationships with clients and your inhouse teams:

• The opportunity we have as user experience practitioners to become a Peer with Business
  
• User Centered Designers Understand, Solve, Evaluate and Refine Things to get the right solution(Through Iteration) - great but not very sufficient.
  
• We have to understand what creates the Value in our projects!
  
• Value Centered Design: Business Goals and Context and Human Goals and Context
• Business Centered Design: 1. Using design methods and tools to understand business needs 2. Beyond the run-of-the-mill business discovery 3. One half of value-centered design 4. Beginning of becoming a business peer.
  
• 2 Ways to think about Deliverables: a) Deliverables That Define Solutions(Review & Approve) - always Prower Imbalance, b) Deliverables That Define Problems (Read: Arias and Fischer 2000: "Fundamental challenges facing communities of interest are found in building a shared understanding of the task at hand")...
• Delivelables that define Problems Together help us to become a Peer in Practice
• Building a bridge to overcome different viewpoints
• Deliverables that define problems together
  
• Define Problems together(e.g. Infinity diagramms from interview transscripts): One of the keys to becoming the Peer with Business
• Principles: 1. Codesign 2. Simple 3. Concrete 4. Flexible 5. Evidence-Based 6. Surface Agendas
• ...
• The whole speach will soon be in the IA Voice Podcast...

View his presentation here: