Introduction to Information Architecture

Information Architect: 1) the individual who organizes the patterns inherent in data, making the complex clear; 2) a person who creates the structure or map of information which allows others to find their personal paths to knowledge; 3) the emerging 21st century professional occupation addressing the needs of the age focused upon clarity, human understanding and the science of the organization of information.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. O'Reilly and Associates (1998). Design>Information Design>Web Design

MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #1

We're pleased to bring you the first of two excerpts from upcoming second editon of 'Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.' The excerpts look at MSWeb, which the authors say provides a glimpse of what most intranets will be doing in three to five years.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Software

MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #2

In our second excerpt from the newly-released second editon of 'Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.' the authors look at how the MSWeb team succeeded at spreading its gospel through a huge organization like Microsoft when similar efforts at smaller companies often fail.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Intranets

(Not) Defining the Damn Thing

Discussions of how we should label ourselves and define our work are like flu epidemics. They break out from time to time, follow a fairly predictable course, and often make us want to barf.

Rosenfeld, Louis. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>Professionalism

Search Systems  

This chapter often uses examples of search systems from sites that allow you to search the entire Web, as well as site-specific search engines. Although these web-wide tools tend to index a very broad collection of content, it is extremely useful to study them. Of all search systems, none has undergone the testing, usage, and investment that web-wide search tools have, so why not benefit from their research? Many of these tools are available for use on local sites as well.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. O'Reilly and Associates (2003). Design>Web Design>Search

Seven Pitfalls to Avoid in Information Architecture

Until recently, few people had heard of information architecture, which I define as the process of structuring and organizing information so that it’s easier for users to find and for owners to maintain. But go to any major job site today, and you’ll see many job openings for information architects. It’s not surprising: After five years of authoring and coding, many of us are stuck with Web sites and intranets that are huge, messy, unusable and impossible to maintain. With such a great demand for help, there are many inexperienced information architects repeatedly making the same mistakes. In the hope of fast-forwarding global information architecture literacy, here are some of the most common and avoidable errors I have learned from.

Rosenfeld, Louis. Internet World (2000). Articles>Information Design

The Untimely Death of Yahoo, or, How the Double-Whammy of Web Architecture and Information Retrieval Will Do Yahoo In

Yahoo is truly one of the Best of the Net, as it has filled an enormous void in the areas of browsing and searching Internet-based information. So I hope you'll believe that I am truly sad as I predict the death of Yahoo. It seems inevitable, as Yahoo's organization, its information architecture, will collapse under the weight of the high volume of entries. And, unfortunately, searching won't solve the problem of volume.

Rosenfeld, Louis. CMC Magazine (1995). Articles>Information Design>Web Design