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.
#18713
eXchangeable Faceted Metadata Language
XFML Core is an open XML format for publishing and sharing hierarchical faceted metadata and indexing efforts. XFML Core is lightweight and easy to implement, yet uniquely powerful.
Van Dijck, Peter. XFML.org (2003). Resources>Information Design>Metadata>XFML
#32030
The number one enemy of any strategy is poor execution. All across the business landscape, the ability of an organization to execute its strategy is one of the most critical elements of success. And for an effective UX strategy, the broad range of elements requiring alignment and implementation make its successful execution all the more difficult.
Baty, Steve. UXmatters (2008). Design>User Experience>Information Design
#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
#21293
What if there was a new way of navigating an online information space we've all seen before but just never thought to use? I'm talking about subtracting away information the user doesn't want. Content filtering is a much more natural way of sorting through categories, especially when the majority of your content is under more than one subject.
Evans, Clifton. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design
#29375
Exploring Information Design and Development
Known to write a script or two to automate repetitive tasks like help builds, she also likes to write posts about XML-based information models like Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). She often experiments with online help technology, enjoys writing blog entries, and wants to find new ways to use communication to help people understand technical solutions to complex problems.
Gentle, Anne. BMC Software (2007). Resources>Information Design>Documentation>Blogs
#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
#23098
Automated classification tools can't solve today's large-scale web and intranet indexing challenges alone. Neither can humans. But solutions that integrate human expertise with software products such as Interwoven's Metatagger and Autonomy's Categorizer can provide real value and savings. After a brief introduction to automated classification, this white paper discusses the benefits and limitations of manual, automated, and hybrid approaches. It explores the opportunities for leveraging controlled vocabularies and thesauri to produce more effective indexing solutions.
Hagedorn, Kat. DLib Magazine (2001). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata
#23888
Faceted Metadata for Image Search and Browsing
The authors present a new method of image searching based on conceptual descriptors. This method differs from the traditional methods of image searching that are based on keywords and visual similarity.
Hearst, Marti, Kevin Li, Kirsten Swearingen and Ka-Ping Yee. University of California Berkeley (2003). Design>Information Design>Search>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
#18723
FacetMap is both a data model and a software package, created to let users browse complex metadata while retaining a simple, familiar, menu interface.
FacetMap (2003). Design>Information Design>Metadata>Web 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
#10549
Fast Cars, Fast Food, Fast Access
I tend to sit in my own corner and do what I enjoy doing without too much concern with the latest fad, style or trend. Yet, every so often I do look around the web to see what others are doing, and what, if any, benefit this might have for me. So it was that I came to pick up a copy of 'Flash Web Design, the art of motion graphics' by Hillman Curtis. On page 01:08, Mr. Curtis talks briefly about Multitasking Attention Deficit (M.A.D.), and that web motion designers need to be aware of it. The bottom line was, because of M.A.D. you need to communicate your message in 10 seconds or less.
Torrence, Parker. Digital Web Magazine (2000). Design>Information Design>Web Design
#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
#28822
Feedity is an RSS generator for web pages without a web syndication format. The goal of Feedity is to dynamically create RSS web feeds from such webpages. Feedity will take virtually any web page, and convert it into a fully formed RSS web feed. The RSS feed is updated in near-real time.
Nilkanth, Ashutosh. Feedity. Resources>Information Design>XML>RSS
#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
#23034
Findability refers to the quality of being locatable or navigable. At the item level, we can evaluate to what degree a particular object is easy to discover or locate. At the system level, we can analyze how well a physical or digital environment supports navigation and retrieval. This website is a selective, seriously incomplete, and perpetually evolving collection of links to people, software, organizations, and content related to findability.
#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
#24494
Flash: Create an Animated Navigation Bar
This exercise will show you how to create an interesting rollover effect with a nested symbol.
Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2001). Design>Web Design>Information Design
#22298
How you can combine layers and scripting to power up PDFs to deliver richer, more versatile content.
Wraight, Dave. PlanetPDF (2004). Design>Information Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#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
