#28660
Envisioning the Whole Digital Person
As a human society, we're quite possibly looking at the largest surge of recorded information that has ever taken place, and at this point, we have only the most rudimentary tools for managing all this information--in part because we cannot predict what standards will be in place in 10, 50, or 100 years.
Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>Information Design>Databases
#27286
The Essentials of a Database Quality Process 
Many steps are involved in the process of turning an initial concept for a database into a finished product that meets the needs of its user community. In this paper, we describe those steps in the context of a four-phase process with particular emphasis on the quality-related issues that need to be addressed in each phase to ensure that the final product is a high quality database. The basic requirements for a successful database quality process are presented with specific examples drawn from experience gained in the Standard Reference Data Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Blakeslee, Dorothy M. and John Rumble, Jr. Data Science Journal (2003). Articles>Information Design>Databases>Usability
#18434
The Ethics of Information Architecture
Are you aware that the practice of information architecture is riddled with powerful moral dilemmas? Do you realize that decisions about labeling and granularity can save or destroy lives? Have you been designing ethical information architectures?
Morville, Peter. Argus Center (2000). Articles>Information Design>Ethics
#26897
Ethics of Online Information Design
The beginning ethical issue of information design is access, which occurs in a unique context for each learner.
Smith, Sue. University of Arizona. Articles>Information Design>Ethics>Online
#23096
Evaluating Information Architecture
This white paper explores the why's, what's, and how's of evaluating a web site's information architecture. It aims to raise consciousness about the evaluation of IA and to provide: 1) Web site owners and other decision-makers with an understanding of evaluation issues; and 2) Information architects with a synthesis of evaluation techniques.
Toub, Steve. Argus Center (2000). Articles>Information Design>Assessment
#27912
In the city of Konstanz on the shores of Lake Constance, Siemens AG manufactures equipment for sorting post. Also at the same location, a team of 16 experts create the corresponding technical documentation. But their work is not restricted to handbooks and CDs. Since ten years, this department, called 'Technical Media', has also been taking care of multimedia and training.
Robers, Ralf. tekom (2006). Articles>Information Design
#25655
The Dublin Core is currently the best-developed candidate for a simple resource description model for electronic resources on the Web. It represents the results of a three year process of consensus-building through a series of focussed, invitational workshops involving librarians, digital library researchers, and various content specialists from many countries.
Weibel, Stuart. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Information Design>Metadata
#22589
Buzz about the value and implications of XML has reached an all-time high, with lofty claims of its potential to transform business and society, doing everything from simple document formatting to curing the common cold. I don't recommend you empty your medicine cabinet just yet. However, do take seriously the developments surrounding XML and its associated technologies. While XML might not merit all the hyperbole, it remains useful. Knowing how to apply this simple meta-language can help you create solutions that will give you a strong competitive advantage.
Trytten, Chris. FileMaker Advisor (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>XML
#21288
Expanding the Approaches to User Experience
Jesse James Garrett’s 'The Elements of User Experience' diagram has become rightly famous as a clear and simple model for the sorts of things that user experience professionals do. But as a model of user experience it presents an incomplete picture with some serious omissions—omissions I’ll try address with a more holistic model.
Olsen, George. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>User Experience>User Centered Design
#29236
Explicit Structure in Print and On-Screen Documents 
The structure of print and on-screen documents is made explicit through headings and links. Three important concepts for understanding explicit structure are (1) the display-unit properties of each document medium, (2) the flexible relationship between explicit and implicit structure, and (3) the distinction between populated and unpopulated locations in a hierarchy. These concepts help us better understand standard print documents, structured writing, websites, help systems, and PowerPoint, as well as the potential effects of content management systems on how documents are created.
Farkas, David K. Technical Communication Quarterly (2005). Articles>Document Design>Information Design>Typography
#23097
Extending the Warwick Framework
This paper presents 'Distributed Active Relationships' (an extension of the Warwick Framework), a general framework for dealing with meta data issues in digital libraries and other information systems. By treating meta data as data, rather than giving it a special distinguished role, arbitrary resources are allowed to be associated with arbitrary relationships.
Daniel, Ron, Jr. and Carl Lagoze. DLib Magazine (1997). Articles>Information Design>Metadata
#28691
Review: Faceted Metadata for Information Architecture and Search
Sometimes first impressions are a great way to gauge the likelihood of a successful experience. This wasn't one of those times. I was deeply concerned that I'd signed myself up for some esoteric discussion on the proper use of metadata, but pleasantly surprised to find a real-world interface solution for dealing with large information collections--exactly what the summary said this course would cover.
Frederick, Jessyca. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Reviews>Information Design
#28551
Facets Are Fundamental: Rethinking Information Architecture Frameworks
This article presents three problems with existing information architecture frameworks. First, they are too focused on organizing information based on topic. Second, they treat facets as a supplemental form of classification. Third, they conflate the organization and representation of information. Analysis of these three problems suggests that information architects should provide navigation systems and user interfaces'based on an underlying framework of faceted classification'that allow users to flexibly navigate through complex information spaces in the service of particular tasks and goals. To this end, this article introduces a faceted classification framework, and provides an example of a model framework, called 'Facets are Fundamental' (FaF). The purpose of the FaF framework is to explicitly designate faceted classification (rather than a hierarchical classification) as the starting point of the IA development process. Both of these approaches encourage information architects to employ non-topical methods for organizing and representing information.
Crystal, Abe. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Information Design>Project Management
#29962
Fast Incremental Updates of XML Records
XML is often used today as a data export and exchange format. In such cases, you might deal with a feed of XML records; sometimes, if this feed, is too long, there are performance problems importing it into another system. As such, you might want to produce only an incremental feed--that is, one that only includes items that have changed. This article presents a collection of simple techniques that you can combine into a system for more digestible feeds containing only updated records.
Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML
#23188
Faut-il Supprimer la Barre de Navigation?
Comment navigue un internaute? Qu'est ce qui le motive dans son parcours? Des études comportementales permettent de dégager des principes de base. Les façons d'agir ou de réagir des internautes sont désormais étudiées et testées. La navigation qui faisait la part belle à la structure technique du site se déplace vers une approche plus contextuelle. La barre de navigation va-t-elle donc disparaître?
Eminet, Bernard-Paul. Usabilis (2004). (French) Articles>Information Design>User Centered Design
#21342
Not so long ago, on my personal site I posted a little entry on design. And a comment was made: 'IA is not design.' This sentence has sat vibrating in my head for months. It speaks of bravado in the face of fear. But why should Information Architects fear design?
Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Information Design
#30649
An image, a caption and the image credit. That can't be hard to get the associations right, can it? Delve into the discussion about markup, semantics and microformats of a seemingly simple issue.
Willerich, Matthias. Content with Style (2007). Articles>Information Design>Standards>HTML
#20327
Schema theory says that humans acquire information by building and holding models of that information in their minds. To facilitate learning of new information, writers essentially define a schema for their audience and present new information within that schema. But how do they know that a given schema will work? Drawing on examples from the computer software field, this workshop shows that developing a schema to effectively deliver knowledge to an audience requires looking beyond the apparent organization of ideas.
Fothergill-Brown, Ann. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Information Design
#29953
Firefox 2.0 brought several important changes in its XML support. It's currently reaching its peak in user deployment. Learn about updated XML features in Firefox 2.0, including a controversial change to the handling of RSS Web feeds.
Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>Web Browsers
#25002
Five Lessons You Should Learn from Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming (XP) is yet another popular idea gaining press. It adapts the best ideas from the past decades of software development. Whether or not you adopt XP, it's worth considering what XP teaches.
O'Reilly and Associates (2004). Articles>Information Design>Programming
#23038
Focus on the Student: How to Use Learning Objectives to Improve Learning
As information architects we all know how important it is to keep the user in mind. The same is true in teaching IA: we must keep the learner in mind. Learning objectives are one tool to help keep your classes focused on the student. They will also help you develop the syllabus, lesson plans, and assessment methods.
Cown, Wendy. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>Information Design>Instructional Design>User Centered Design
#29575
Folksonomies - Cooperative Classification and Communication Through Shared Metadata
This paper examines user-generated metadata as implemented and applied in two web services designed to share and organize digital media to better understand grassroots classification.
Mathes, Adam. University of Illinois (2004). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>Wikis
#21347
Foreseeing the Future: The Legacy of Vannevar Bush
Fifty years before web, 30 years before the personal computer, Vannevar Bush envisioned a new machine to make sense of the growing mountains of information, creating the notions of 'hypertext' and the modern link.
Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Information Design>Hypertext
#27706
Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML
There has been a lot of attention to the legal encumbrances in Microsoft's new MS XML format. In this article we'll look at the technical side, and try to show you how the design of these formats affect interoperability. After all, that is the purpose of open standards.
Hudson, Alex, J. David Eisenberg, Bruce D'Arcus and Daniel Carrera. Groklaw (2005). Articles>Information Design>Standards>Microsoft Word
#25040
Real programmers love their applications' source code: the faster and more elegant it is, the better. Users are after very different things: they seem to want simplicity, flashy colors, nice icons and tons of options. In spite of these reasons, or perhaps because of them, programmers and users often forget what lies in the middle of it all: information.
Fioretti, Marco. Free Software Magazine (2005). Articles>Information Design
