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.
#28012
Dogmas Are Meant to be Broken: An Interview with Eric Reiss
With training in everything from stage design to Egyptology to hypertext games to web projects, Reiss has had extensive practice in finding out what makes an experience work. Could these be the principles I've been waiting for? I tracked down Reiss in Vancouver to find out.
Danzico, Liz. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Information Design>Theory>Minimalism
#18944
Doing a Content Inventory (Or, A Mind-Numbingly Detailed Odyssey Through Your Web Site)
I've spent the last year working with clients on a variety of information architecture and design problems. One of the most strikingly consistent issues, however, has been how many of these companies still haven't developed content management systems. I've spoken with enterprises in the Fortune 100 who find themselves sitting on top of 6 years' worth of Web content trapped in static HTML files. They know they need to get this stuff into database and redesign their site into a template-driven system. But their first question is inevitably, 'So, uh, where do we start?' If you're in a similar situation, your first step is to take stock of what you've got. This process, known as a content inventory, is a relatively straightforward process of clicking through your Web site and recording what you find. We've developed a simple Excel spreadsheet to help you structure your findings, and some tips on how to get through it. Start at your home page. Identify the major sections of your site. For example, at adaptivepath.com, we've divided our site into these sections: team, services, workshops, publications, and contact. If I were doing an inventory of this site, I'd start with one of those sections, click in, and see what's linked from it. For each page that I visit, I'd record the information specified in the columns of the spreadsheet. I'd follow every link and navigate as far as I could through the site, making sure to gather data about every possible page on the site.
Veen, Jeffrey. Adaptive Path (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design
#28934
Doing Today's Job with Yesterday's Tools
Where is the software that can help us cope with the massive amounts of information that we deal with on a daily basis? Patrick Dubroy points out the problems with current personal information management, and makes suggestions about how to improve the situation.
Dubroy, Patrick. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Information Design
#23985
Don't Get Burned by Bad Mapping
The term mapping describes the relationship between a control, the thing it affects, and the intended result. Poor mapping is evident when a control does not relate visually or symbolically with the object it affects, requiring the user to stop and think, 'what's going to happen when I turn this knob?'
Greenwood, Wayne. Cooper Interaction Design (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Usability
#22495
Dr. Jones: A Software Design Explorer's Crystal Ball 
Most of software design is redesign. Redesign in the normal course of design happens when the software becomes difficult to maintain and the problem it is intended to solve has changed. Although software redesign is necessary, frequent, and pervasive, there is a dearth of tools that help programmers do it. Instead, programmers primarily use pen and paper, away from the computer where tools could help the most. To address this shortcoming, I have developed Dr. Jones, a redesign assistant for Java programs.
Foltz, Mark. MIT (2003). Books>Information Design>Redesign
#21249
Dublin Core Conference Summary 2003
What is Dublin Core? And why would you need a whole conference about it? The end of September and beginning of October brought representatives from various countries around the world to a sunny and warm Seattle, Washington, host of the 2003 Dublin Core Conference.
Gonzales-Chan, Madonnalisa and Sarah Rice. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata
#20736
Dublin Core Corporate Circles of Interest
The 2002 Dublin Core annual conference and workshop marked the beginning of a new effort by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) to involve members of the corporate world in the evolution and application of the Dublin Core standard. The first meetings of two DCMI Circles of Interest were held on Monday, October 14, 2002, followed the next day by a panel session with several members of the Circles presenting their initial observations and conclusions to the wider conference.
Crandall, Mike. Montague Institute Review (2002). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata
#20812
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open forum engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models. DCMI's activities include consensus-driven working groups, global workshops, conferences, standards liaison, and educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of metadata standards and practices.
Dublin Core. Organizations>Information Design>Standards>Metadata
#10335
The DuPont Experience: Strategic Planning for Information Design and Development Organizations 
In this discussion, I examine the strategic planning experience of the Information Design and Development organization in DuPont External Affairs. It describes why we undertook our strategic planning initiative, the process we used, the logistics involved in preparing for and carrying out the process, and the results of our work.
Breuninger, Charles L. Technical Communication Online (1997). Design>Information Design
#21460
Normally I would write a traditional conference overview to inform people about the recent Designing for User Experiences conference (DUX) held in San Francisco, June 6-8. Instead, I would like to impart a few of the impressions I came away with and recommend that everyone go to the AIGA Case Study Archive to read the papers that were accepted.
Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>User Interface
#23057
Dynamic Dueling: Grappling with Java-Based Site Maps
When I compare the usability of the highly graphical MAPA dynamic site map with that of a more traditional text-based table of contents, the traditional approach wins hands-down. You can scan the contents much faster and you don't need a fast connection or a Java-enabled browser.
Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (1997). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Sitemaps
#29250
Dynamic Hypertext: Querying and Linking
There are many models of hypertext, distinguished by a number of factors such as the underlying semantic data model (link typing and node typing), the degree of dynamic linking in the hypertext, and how dynamism and other behaviours are implemented. This essay examines a particular approach to dynamism in hypertext, based on the degree of similarity between a text passage in a source node and the text of a target node. It reviews work carried out over the past decade in creating systems for markup-based querying and dynamic hypertext, with particular emphasis on a model of dynamic hypertext that computes hypertext links on the fly using queries.
Bodner, Richard and Mark Chignell. ACM Computing Surveys (1999). Articles>Information Design>Hypertext>Semantic
#22777
E-mailing and Submitting PDF Forms
What’s the easiest way to e-mail a PDF form and have people fill it out?
Sprague, Rich. PDFzone (2004). Design>Information Design>Forms>Adobe Acrobat
#18712
Topic maps are a standard for storing metadata (similar to thesauri, or RDF). They can be used to generate navigation for a website, and lots of other metadata tasks. Topic maps are a new standard (since + 2000) and are slowly starting to be discovered.
Easytopicmaps.com (2003). Resources>Information Design>XML>Metadata
#22707
An Ecological Approach to Design
This talk will explain how to use ecological design, which is an expansion of ethnography, to leverage both the rich local information from case studies, and a wider sociological perspective to take account of global realities.
Nardi, Bonnie A. Argus Center (2000). Presentations>Information Design>Knowledge Management
#27035
Edit XML Documents with Emacs and nXML
The nXML mode for GNU Emacs provides a powerful environment for creating valid XML documents.
O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML
#21901
The Form tool as we know has been abandoned. There is now a Field tool which is subdivided into tools for the individual field types.
Wyss, Max. PDFzone (2004). Articles>Information Design>Forms>Adobe Acrobat
#15126
Offers editors tips on creating and using style sheets.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2002). Design>Information Design>Style Sheets
#21733
Educating the Information Architect
The good news is that the job market for information architects is exploding. Searches on sites like Monster.com regularly turn up 200 to 300 postings for "information architects." From consulting firms like Argus and Scient to e-businesses like LookSmart to Fortune 500's like Cisco, everyone is desperately seeking information architects. The bad news is that there's no established educational degree program geared specifically to meet the needs of aspiring information architects.
Morville, Peter. Argus Center (2000). Articles>Education>Information Design
#30761
Education for Librarianship and Information Studies: Fit for Purpose?
As this issue of the journal goes to press, the Europe-wide professional bodies representing the Schools of Librarianship and Information Studies (EUCLID -- The European Association for Library and Information Education and Research) and the Library Associations (EBLIDA -- the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations) will be meeting together for the rst time since they were both founded some 15 years ago. The meeting is intended to focus on the effects of profound social changes related to digitization, multiculturalism and the growth of the knowledge economy.
Johnson, Ian M. Information Development (2007). Articles>Education>Information Design
#19167
Educational Programs in Information Design 
More than graphic design, more than technical writing, but not really in the information architecture or interaction design space, the ideal information design program combines coursework that may touch all of these fields. This can make it hard for those interested in learning ID to find a suitable degree program (or course, as our friends across the pond like to say). Below are some programs that may be of interest.
STC Information Design SIG. Academic>Education>Information Design>Interaction Design
#18849
The Effect of Hyperlink Wording on User Performance
A Web-based study is underway to examine the effect of the wording of local navigational links in hypertext documents on user performance. We anticipate that more concretely labeled links will enhance user performance, specifically comprehension and perceptions of an informational Web site. In the study, subjects will log in remotely and complete a content knowledge test and background surveys; they will browse a test Web site and complete another knowledge test and a questionnaire on perceptions of the site. Log file data will be collected. Results will be analyzed and presented.
Mobrand, Kathryn A. and Jan H. Spyridakis. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design
#25374
This article discusses writing software that helps the user effectively work with large amounts of data. The approach that I will describe is called filtering.
Rowe, Robert. VBMySQL.com (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases
#29493
Effective Search Engine Submission Strategies
Now that you've got a website it's time to start thinking about promoting it. Search engine listings are the number one way to generate traffic to your website.
stevenforsyth.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization
#20315
The Effects of Information Design on Perception of Environmental Risk
Communication about environmental risk is important and problematic. A few prior researchers have explored the impact of information design in this area. This paper describes research done involving one common graphic tool, the risk ladder. Risk ladders explain the magnitude of risk from an environmental hazard, often by including comparative information about more familiar risks.
Campbell, Kim Sydow. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Information Design>Environmental>Rhetoric
