One of the sites we were required to visit was a site called Media 7 located at http://www.net.vg/media7/index.html. This site was pretty cool to look at and was quite simple to navigate. I noticed the use of Flicker to promote the designs and thought that was an excellent way to present the work so many people can see it. Additionally, the pictures were very well designed and appealing.
Another site that was recommended this week was a site that was part of a previous lesson. This site was Peter Morville’s Semantic Studios site located at http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000030.php. There were several interesting articles that were listed under the research topics. We were required to review three and the first article that I looked at was listed under the topic of Information Seeking Behavior and was titled “Toward An Integrated Model of Information Seeking and Searching” by Marcia J. Bates. In this article, the author expresses concern that there is a lack of awareness and attention to issues and questions that are cropping up when it comes to information seeking and searching behaviors. The purpose of the paper was to, “1) to provide a single model that incorporates both information seeking and searching within it, and 2) to integrate the social and cultural with the underlying biological and physical anthropological layers of human experience with respect to information seeking and searching” (p. 1). This article was quite stimulating and really illustrates the different levels and behaviors that exist when it comes to searching for information.
Under the topic of Structure and Organization, I chose an article titled “Depth vs. Breadth in the Arrangement of Web Links” by authors Panayiotis Zaphiris and Lianaeli Mtei. The goal of this study was to study the effects that the depth and breadth of the construction of web sites had on the response time of the user. In order to determine how users reacted, the authors used five dissimilar approaches for connecting web pages with varying depth and breadth. The study found that user response time grew in direct correlation to the increase in the depth of the structure of the web site. These results illustrate the importance of organizing and displaying links simultaneously to save users the trouble of having to bounce between different pages and search engines. I responded to this on a personal level and I really agree with the results of this study as more then once, I have found myself frustrated with having to navigate between multiple pages. When I am doing research, my time is valuable and I don’t want to waste it going back and forth.
Under the topic of navigation, the article I selected for review is titled “Faceted Metadata for Image Search and Browsing” by authors Ka-Ping Yee, Kirsten Swearingen, Kevin Li, and Marti Hearst. In the study, the authors explain that online compilations of images have experienced rapid growth and many researchers have created user interfaces for searching through and perusing these collections. Relevance searches, in which the user enters keywords and the image results are based on their similarity to the keywords, are most likely the most well known interface. The authors argue that while these systems can be somewhat successful in a search for a particular thing, they don’t support random Internet searches, which is a problem because image searches are very popular. According to the authors (2003), “We present an alternative based on enabling users to navigate along conceptual dimensions that describe the images. The interface makes use of hierarchical faceted metadata and dynamically generated query previews, seamlessly integrating category browsing with keyword searching. Conducted with 32 art history students using a fine arts image collection, the study found strong preference results for the faceted category interface over that of the baseline, suggesting this to be a promising direction for image search interfaces” (p. 1). After reading the study, I found their results to very sound and something that is quite worthy of attention. I am supportive of anything the makes the browsing/searching process as quick and painless as possible. I enjoy doing research, but only if I get satisfactory results in a timely fashion, otherwise it becomes more of a headache and my patience suffers.
The last website that was listed in the week’s lesson was Jjg.net, located at http://www.jjg.net/ia/, where we were again asked to review 3 content items. I first decided to look at a 2006 article titled “MySpace: Design Anarchy That Works” by Jesse James Garrett that dealt with MySpace. In reading the article, which is located at http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2005/id20051230_570094.htm, I quite agreed with his assessment that MySpace is not worthy of design awards and that many of the profiles are made up of “unfettered design chaos” and are “truly hideous.” They are usually awash with color, images and sound and, in my opinion, can be overwhelming to view. I flat out refuse to get a MySpace page and told my friends that if they wished to communicate with me, they have to do it the old fashioned way through phone or e-mail. Garrett does concede that the fact that the site allows users the freedom to do pretty much whatever they want to their pages is what attracts users in the first place as it encourages self-expression. The fact that there are approximately 43 million users of MySpace is indicative of how much people like the customizability of the site. All in all, I thought this was a great article and found it to be very engaging. However, I still will not be getting a MySpace page.
The next article I found on the Jjg.net was titled “What’s In a Name?” In this article, Garrett and several others discuss the topic of Information Design and the many different definitions that exist for information architecture and information design. Garrett explains that each field has different skills, concerns and milieus. Garrett (2001) states that, “Information architecture is primarily about cognition – how people process information and construe relationships between different pieces of information. Information design is primarily about perception – how people translate what they see and hear into knowledge. Information architects come from a variety of backgrounds, but I sense that a majority of them display an orientation toward language (the original toolkit for “architecting information”). Information designers, on the other hand, tend to be oriented toward the visual arts. As a result, the majority of information designers come from exactly one discipline: graphic design. Information architecture belongs to the realm of the abstract, concerning itself more with the structures in the mind than the structures on the page or screen. Information design, however, couldn’t be more concrete, with considerations such as color and shape fundamental to the information designer’s process” (p. 1). When reading this article I found Garrett’s definitions to be very concise and helpful and he really clarified the differences between these two fields. I would readily recommend this article for those who are searching for information about these two topics.
The third and final article I looked at that I found on the Jjg.net site was titled the “The Psychology of Navigation” which is located at http://www.digital-web.com/articles/the_psychology_of_navigation/. In this article, Garrett examines the user thinking process with it comes to navigating web sites. According to Garrett (2002), “Information architects can better understand how to communicate navigational choices by examining how users make choices. A typical user takes in all the options available. Then, finally, she’s poised to click. In that moment, she has a picture in her mind of what is on the other end of that link. What informs the details of the user’s imaginary result? Every link makes a promise, but the creators of the link have little control over what that is. The promise exists entirely in the mind of the user. Information architects can hope to influence that image in users’ minds in a way that makes it more likely that what they actually see as a result of clicking the link will make them feel the promise has been fulfilled. The navigation decision hinges on the mental image users create of the page they expect to see. Fortunately, a few tools are available to help influence the images in users’ minds: language, design, and the understanding of the expectations users bring to sites. In order to deploy these tools effectively, the information architect needs to understand the process of extrapolation going on in the user’s head in that moment before the mouse is clicked” (p. 1). Garrett stresses that language is the most important factor as it is the words a user uses to indicate what they are searching for. Presentation is also a key factor because the way search results are presented will be what influences what the user does next. This is why it is so important for architects and designers to pay attention to what users do and how they react to search results so that they will be able to somewhat predict what users need. This was a really good article to read and I like Garrett’s assessment of the importance of anticipating the needs of users. He presented the information simply and with a sense of humor and in my opinion, the article is a really good source of information.
All in all, the web sites for this week were pretty interesting to look through. My only issue with them was the fact that it was a lot of information to take in and it was a little overwhelming. Due to commitments to assignments to my other classes, I was not able to browse through the many articles on these sites. I had to limit myself to the six that I was required to review and could not go as in depth in my assessments as I would have liked.
References
Bates, Marcia J. (2002). “Toward An Integrated Model of Information Seeking and Searching.” Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/articles/info_SeekSearch-i-030329.html
Garrett, Jesse James. (2001). “What’s In a Name?” Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://web.archive.org/web/20030403042314/www.stcsig.org/id/dmatters/apr01.pdf
Garrett, Jesse James. (2006). “MySpace: Design Anarchy That Works.” Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2005/id20051230_570094.htm
Garrett, Jesse James. (2002). “The Psychology of Navigation.” Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://www.digital-web.com/articles/the_psychology_of_navigation/
Yee, Ka-Ping; Swearingen, Kirsten; Li, Kevin; and Hearst, Marti. (2003). “Faceted Metadata for Image Search and Browsing.” Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.8.9649&rep=rep1&type=pdf