Information architecture : the design and integration of information spaces

Review: "Information Architecture is about organizing and simplifying information, designing and integrating information spaces/systems, and creating ways for people to find and interact with information content. Its goal is to help people understand and manage information and make right decisions accordingly. In the ever-changing social, organizational and technological contexts, Information Architects not only design individual information spaces (e.g., individual websites, software applications, and mobile devices), but also tackle strategic aggregation and integration of multiple information spaces across websites, channels, modalities, and platforms. Not only they create predetermined navigation pathways, but also provide tools and rules for people to organize information on their own and get connected with others." "Information Architects work with multi-disciplinary teams to determine the user experience strategy based on user needs and business goals, and make sure the strategy gets carried out by following the user-centered design (UCD) process via close collaboration with others." "Drawing on the author(s) extensive experience as HCI researchers, User Experience Design practitioner, and Information Architecture instructors, this book provides a balanced view of the IA discipline by applying the IA theories, design principles and guidelines to the IA and UX practices. It also covers advanced topics such as Enterprise IA, Global IA, and Mobile IA." "In addition to new and experienced IA practitioners, this book is written for undergraduate and graduate level students in Information Architecture, Information Sciences, Human Computer Interaction, Information Systems and related disciplines."--Jacket.

1. Information architecture concepts -- The definition of information architecture -- Wurman's definition of information architect -- Rosenfield and Morville's definition -- The definition used in this book -- The evolution of the web and web design -- Information architecture and related disciplines -- 2. Information architecture and web 2.0 -- The changing world wide web -- The size and growth of the web -- The deep web -- The dynamics of the web -- Generations of the web -- Web 2.0 -- Web 2.0 applications and products -- Summary of web 2.0 -- Challenges and opportunities for the IA and design community -- Giving users control vs. giving up on design -- Leveraging content from others and expecting others to use your content -- Taxonomy vs. folksonomy -- Standing on the giant's shoulder and managing risks of dependency -- Using or not using web 2.0 -- Summary -- 3. IA research, design and evaluation -- Research -- The need for research -- Research methods -- User personas and personarios -- Design -- Design methodology -- Design process -- Design deliverables -- From design to implementation -- Evaluation -- Design walkthrough -- Heuristics evaluation -- Website logs and web usage mining -- 4. Organization and navigation systems -- Logical organization -- Semantic organization -- Metadata -- Controlled vocabularies -- Faceted classification -- Folksonomy -- Navigation systems -- Purpose of navigation -- Navigation types -- Global and sectional navigation -- Local navigation -- Supplemental navigation -- Process navigation -- Search systems.

5. User information behavior and design implications -- Understanding user needs and information behavior -- How people use websites -- Theories and principles about user information behavior -- The principle of least effort and user's information behavior -- Paradox of choice: more is less -- The berry-picking information behavior model -- The information scent theory -- Basic level categories -- Design implications -- Homepage vs. interior pages -- Short pages vs. long pages -- Design for search systems -- The 3-click rule revisit -- Conclusion -- 6. Interaction design -- Interaction design components -- Views, forms, and workflows -- Filters and controls -- Rich internet applications -- Interaction design principles -- Fitt's law: design for Fitts -- Design for color blindness -- Design for affordance -- Design for efficiency -- Design for forgiveness -- Design for user perceptions -- Design for help -- Personalization and customization -- 7. Enterprise IA and IA in practice -- Enterprise information architecture -- Intranet strategy and design -- Common intranet uses and features -- A case study: the enterprise intranet of the Vanguard Group -- Intranet models -- Online workspace aggregation (OWA) -- Problem definition -- Early solution and issues -- User research and data analysis -- New solution: an enterprise workspace framework -- Summary -- Practising information architecture -- Makeup of a user experience design team -- Specialists vs. generalists -- Centralized vs. distributed organizational models -- Maximizing the IA impact -- Desired competencies and skill set for IAs.

8. Global information architecture -- Makeup of the world's internet users -- The need for internationalization and localization -- Cross-culture theories and localization -- High context vs. low context culture types -- Hofstede's five cultural dimensions -- Cultural interpretations of usability -- Guidelines for global IA and user experience design -- Pay attention to language details -- Deal with the combination of languages and countries -- Be culturally sensitive -- Supporting global ecommerce -- Summary -- 9. Mobile information architecture -- Mobile trends and usage data -- What do users do with mobile devices -- Characteristics of mobile devices, access anywhere anytime -- Dimensions of the mobile user experience -- Designing for mobile devices -- Design challenges -- Guidelines and best practices for mobile experience design -- The continued evolution of mobile user experience -- 10. The future of information architecture -- The IA community -- Challenges for information architects -- Challenge of IA, findability and re-findability -- Challenge of IA, design patterns and theories -- Challenge of IA, content representation -- Challenge of IA, ubiquitous information access -- Challenge of IA, digital preservation -- IA and research -- IA and beyond -- Bibliography -- Authors' biographies.