For week 5 we were required to read chapters 10 and 11 from the Morville and Rosenfeld text. Chapter 10 detailed Research and how it applies to IA. According to the textbook (2007), “The research phase begins with a review of existing background materials and meeting with the strategy team, aimed at gaining a high-level understanding of the goals and business context, the existing information architecture, the content and the intended audience. It then quickly moves into a series of studies, employing a variety of methods to explore the information ecology” (p. 232). This phase is extremely important as allows people to learn about what the project is, decide how to proceed and identify future goals I know from experience how critical research is as you cannot go into a project blind. One must have an understanding of the subject and the goals that are to be accomplished. There are several phases that happen during the research process. There is “design” where the strategy is formed and plans are developed by the team. Next is “Implementation” where the plans and models are constructed and tested and the architect sorts out any issues and documents the process for training purposes. Lastly there is “administration” which involves the constant assessment and development of the information architecture of the website. This involves updating of site info and scrutinizing the use of the site as well as the response from users.
In conducting research, there are many ways of gathering information. There is background research which involves reviewing background materials of a site; introductory presentations; research meetings which can be regarding strategy, content management and information technology; and stakeholder interviews. These types of meeting are critical to the design process as they give those involved a chance to get together and discuss things. In reading this chapter I was particularly interested in the attention given to the research that is done in regard to users. Morville and Rosenfeld (2007) state that, “users are the ultimate designers of the Web. Build a website that confuses customers and they will go elsewhere. Built an Intranet that frustrates employees and they won’t use it” (p. 246). There are many ways to track user satisfaction such as statistics of page numbers and recording the how many “hits” a site gets each day, search-log analysis which traces and examines what queries and keywords the search is using to see what terms are the most common, and customer support data from support technicians and representatives to see what problems, inquiries and comments have cropped up. When a researcher is trying to get data from users and clients, there are many methods of gathering data such as surveys’, interviews and focus groups which the authors do not seem to recommend very much saying that, ““most people don’t have the understanding or language necessary to be articulate about information architectures,” (p. 253). The authors close the chapter by stressing the importance of overcoming the resistant to research as it can help to save time and money and helping managers to what users want.
Chapter 12 of the textbook deals with information architecture strategy which is, “a high-level conceptual framework for structuring and organizing a web site or Intranet” (p. 265). Its importance lies in the fact that it supplies those who are designing web sites or Intranets with a direction in which to proceed as well as confidence in the development and execution. When developing the strategy, information architects need to be able to think creatively, articulate their ideas, communicate their thoughts to others, and test their strategies. When it comes time to display the strategies to others, there are several methods such as scenarios, case studies and stories, conceptual diagrams, and blueprints and wireframes.
I really enjoyed reading both of these chapters as I am highly familiar with the processes of research and strategy due to my school work. Without either of them, embarking on any project would be very confusing and difficult to say the least.