SpoolCast: Information Architecture Essentials

Published by Robi | Filed under General, Professional

Three times today in discussions on the web  and web presences I felt that I was compromising my beliefs on the best way to either begin to structure a web presence or revamp an existing one. So for self sanity (a.k.a. therapy) I went and sought out others thoughts. As usual Jared Spool found his way to the center of my research. Below is an excerpt from an October 6^th 2009 publication, its entirety can be found at http://bit.ly/5Qm3g

“Donna Spencer is our long-time, go-to expert on the topic of Information Architecture. We’re happy to bring her stateside again for the upcoming User Interface 14 conference. Recently, I spoke with her, all the way from Australia, in advance of her trip to Boston.

I asked Donna, what happens when, one day, you’re asked into the boss’s office and they drop “the web site” and “information architecture” into your lap? Regardless of your experience, where do you begin? Donna says your first question should be, “Why do we bother to have a web site in the first place?” “What’s its purpose?” She says if you don’t get this out of the way first, you’ll run up against it when you’re further along the trail and it won’t be easy to deal with.

One strategy Donna likes is to work backwards. Start with what should not be on the site. Sometimes pruning your unnecessary or no longer timely content is an effective way of honing the site. You should ask, “What’s the value of this content? Is this still relevant?” Before you can answer this for certain, you need to research your users’ needs thoroughly. Along with establishing the site’s purpose, knowing your users is the most important step to begin with. These two items will work hand in hand.”