Information design (also known as 'information architecture') is the study of the details of complex systems. Among these are websites, user interactions, databases, technical writing documentation, and human-computer interfaces.
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Increasing numbers of technical communicators and professionals in such diverse fields as software engineering, computer science, training, and human factors in the product development mix together. The process of developing information products has become cross-functional and interdisciplinary. Functional distinctions between those now at work in that process have blurred. Technical communicators have begun to define usability requirements up front and to participate in product design decisions; software engineers have begun to worry about the product's ability to communicate with users; and HCI (human-computer interaction) professionals work within the product development team on a variety of levels to address user concerns, from the user's work context to the product's dialogue and messaging strategies.
Skelton, T.M. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Management>Information Design
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XML is becoming the data format of choice for a wide variety of information systems solutions. Common applications using XML include document transmission in B2B systems, message format construction for integration of Internet applications with legacy systems, binding of XML data to visual and non-visual controls, data storage and retrieval, and various data manipulation activities within applications.
Emerick, Jerry. ACM Crossroads (2002). Articles>Information Design>XML
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Manipulate XML Service Definitions with Java Programming
A Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) typically exports a range of services. For XML service modelling and subsequent consumption of those services by users (people, machines, or other services), Java technology provides powerful mechanisms to handle XML data, which in turn provides a key foundation for using SOA concepts. Dive into the practical aspects of SOA using XML and Java technology, and discover clear examples of why this seemingly complex technology is so popular.
Morris, Stephen B. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>Java
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A Map-Based Approach to a Content Inventory
A map-based approach to building a content inventory allows it to be a tool from the concept stages and throughout the life of the website. Patrick Walsh tells us why to use them, shows us how to create the maps, and how to leverage them over the long haul.
Walsh, Patrick C. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Sitemaps
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Los mapas conceptuales son instrumentos de representación del conocimiento sencillos y prácticos, que permiten transmitir con claridad mensajes conceptuales complejos y facilitar tanto el aprendizaje como la enseñanza. Para mayor abundamiento, adoptan la forma de grafos.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2004). (Spanish) Design>Information Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs
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Mapping Between XML and Relational Data
This chapter explores the various methods for mapping between XML and relational data models. It focuses on the underlying fundamentals: goals and requirements for mapping between XML and relational data; issues that arise when mapping, such as handling of datatypes and order; and when a particular technique can or cannot support update operations.
Draper, Denise. InformIT (2004). Design>Information Design>XML
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Mapping the Information Environment: Legal Aspects of Modularization and Digitization 
The article highlights the language of the digital and the principle of modularization as the basic concepts which the further development of the information environment will have to pivot around, regardless of how conflicts between freedom and control are temporarily solved. Perceiving both the computer and the Internet as complex systems, the authors look at how modular design of these systems freed the functionality of applications from the physicality of infrastructures, describe the evolutionary gains adhering to modularity, and how to preserve them -- elaborating on the issues of access to the cable platform for broadband Internet and to virtual networks for computer technology. Their second focus shows how digitalization of information makes possible the merger of content and its protection. Especially through the use of DRM systems, private actors can create right enforcement mechanisms independent of the State. The legal system therefore faces new and more complex relations between private will and public sovereignty. In such a merged system it is harder to maintain freedom -- much like in the fusion of function and infrastructure.
Ottolia, Andrea and Dan Wielsch. YJoLT (2004). Articles>Information Design>Legal
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Review: Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design 
When we are trying to envision the structure of a Web site, we may sketch diagrams on white boards, create outlines, fill whole walls with yellow stickies. Kahn and Lenk offer many sophisticated ways of visualizing your site. If you are planning a new site or reorganizing an existing site, this book provides an historical context for your information architecture, in-depth studies of complex sites, and a wide range of inspiring diagrams and site maps.
Price, Jonathan R. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>Web Design
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Web site maps are created by webmasters and content providers to help users navigate and search complex web sites. A variety of styles of map are used, many based on organisational charts. Presented here are some of the best examples from around the Web.
Cybergeography (2004). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Sitemaps
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Mark it up with Groovy Builders
Groovy Builders let you mimic markup languages like XML, HTML, Ant tasks, and even GUIs with frameworks like Swing.They're especially useful for rapid prototyping and, as Practically Groovy columnist Andrew Glover shows you this month, they're a handy alternative to data binding frameworks when you need consumable markup in a snap!
Glover, Andrew. IBM (2005). Articles>Information Design>Standards
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Needing to cope with its enormous needs for document and data exchange, the United States is looking more and more to XML. Paul Ford explains what happens when Washington meets markup.
Ford, Paul. XML.com (2003). Articles>Information Design>Workflow>Government
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Tyson suggests how the principles and practices of structural markup language can make communication more effective.
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Marrying Digital and Paper Documents
The use of physical paper or digital files is not an either/or choice. The two are complementary. Currently, there are many examples of paper used as an interface to digital processes. The UPC found on items we buy and the barcoded labels on the packages we send are two prevalent examples. Many papers we use to reach our customers or to do our work within our organizations have at least one barcode.
Zukowski, Deborra J. e-Doc (2005). Articles>Document Design>Information Design
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La tragedia del 11 de Marzo en Madrid ha creado una catarata de informaciones (y de emociones) algunas de las cuales se han convertido en representaciones visuales que nos acercan al qué y al cómo de lo que ha pasado en estos días horribles.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2004). (Spanish) Design>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric
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MD:Notes: Designing an Information System for Public Hospitals
By its very nature, an EMR (electronic medical record) is not subject to the physical limitations of a paper chart. Many clinics can access a patient’s EMR at once. EMRs are never in transit or waiting to be filed. For these reasons, using all-electronic records would greatly alleviate the problem of missing charts, and result in more efficient patient care.
Ahern, Katherine, Zachary Gillen and Jill Blue Lin. University of California Berkeley (2008). Articles>Information Design>Biomedical
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The Meaning of Knowledge Management
We hear the term knowledge management bandied about. It sounds suspiciously like a trendy new phrase for what we used to call 'documentation.' In truth, knowledge management is more than documentation. It encompasses documentation, data management, library management, and information design. Knowledge management is increasingly important; as the amount of content has increased, the task of locating the information in the content has become more difficult. You see, information is different from content. And knowledge is something that derives from information.
HyperWrite (2004). Articles>Knowledge Management>Information Design>Content Management
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Measuring the Success Of a Classification System
When working with government and large private organizations on complex information systems, project managers and business representatives often demand early-stage validation that the proposed classification system provides the user-friendly solution they are charged with delivering. They also require this validation in a format that will be engaging for senior business stakeholders.
Barker, Iain. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Information Design>Taxonomy>User Centered Design
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Merging XML Files: A New Approach Providing Intelligent Merge of XML Data Sets
As XML becomes ubiquitous so the need for powerful tools to manipulate XML data becomes more pressing. Merging XML is particularly tricky, but often necessary to consolidate data feeds from heterogeneous systems, or to synchronize submissions of XML fragments which make up a larger document. An automated mechanism for defining and controlling such merges has been developed and is demonstrated to provide a consistent, adaptable and resilient solution to this problem. Integration into an information pipeline allows limitless customization.
La Fontaine, Robin. DeltaXML.com (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>Collaboration
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Many classification systems suffer from an inflexible top-down approach, forcing users to view the world in potentially unfamiliar ways.
Merholz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Information Design>Metadata
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This article provides an overview of work completed at Tsinghua University Library in which a metadata framework was developed to aid in the preservation of digital resources. The metadata framework is used for the creation of metadata to describe resources, and includes an encoding standard used to store metadata and resource structures in information systems. The author points out that the Tsinghua University Library metadata framework provides a successful digital preservation solution that may be an appropriate solution for other organizations as well.
Niu, Jinfang. D-Lib Magazine (2002). Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Metadata
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Metadata Generation: Processes, People and Tools
Metadata generation is the act of creating or producing metadata. Generating good quality metadata in an efficient manner is essential for organizing and making accessible the growing number of rich resources available on the Web. The success of digital libraries, the sustenance of interoperability – as promoted by the Open Archives Initiative – and the evolution of Semantic Web all rely on efficient metadata generation. This article sketches a metadata generation framework that involves processes, people and tools. It also presents selected research initiatives and highlights the goals of the Metadata Generation Research Project.
Greenberg, Jane. ASIST (2002). Articles>Information Design>Metadata
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Metadata from the world of librarians and database searching is moving to center stage in our everyday lives. And the metadata 'revolution' is coming to us through pictures--those cute, happy, funny shots of kids, parents, neighbors and workmates that we love to share and post on the internet.
Brown, Fred. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Information Design>Metadata
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Libraries must increasingly accommodate bibliographic records encoded with a variety of standards and emerging standards, including Dublin Core, MODS, and VRA Core. The problem is that many libraries still rely solely on MARC and AACR2. Meanwhile, the world of information is passing us by. How important is this problem? There are now literally millions of useful online items that lack MARC cataloging and will likely never be cataloged in MARC. We ignore these resources at our peril. Our users will justifiably seek assistance elsewhere, as many already have. Ignoring the problem will only make libraries increasingly marginalized. What are we to do?
Tennant, Roy. Library Journal (2004). Articles>Information Design>Metadata
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What began in 1998 as the Colorado Digitization Project is now known as the Collaborative Digitization Program (CDP). The CDP’s Heritage West database represents not only the primary product of the organization, but also one of the oldest continuously operating collaborative repositories of cultural heritage metadata in the country. As a basis for the author’s forthcoming quantitative and qualitative analysis of Dublin Core metadata in Heritage West, the following article offers a history of how the CDP has, over time, organized and managed the metadata provision for its digitization projects.
Cronin, Christopher. First Monday (2008). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>Case Studies
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Metaphorical Confusion and Spatial Mapping in an Age of Ubiquitous Computing 
When computing moves into the shifting, spatially defined information environments that surround us every day, technical communicators need to think about how users already understand and work with the world itself as a type of walk-through, live-in information device. We need to consider how embedding computers into the world will alter the information designs we have been building for two-dimensional on-screen spaces. We need to broaden online design aesthetics and construction techniques by applying not only standard design theory derived from print, film, and television, but also by incorporating theories from the domains of commercial design, cognitive psychology, and architectural and civil design. The first place we can put some of these ideas to use is in understanding how spatial mapping functions in the search for information.
Gillette, David. Technical Communication Online (2001). Design>Information Design>Embedded
