// World Wide Wonder Museums on the web

// Information Architecture and the distributed online experience

June 10th 2009

// Jason Ryan Head of User Experience, iCrossing UK

1. INTRODUCTION

• Working in digital for 14 years

• Joined Cogapp in 1998 - involved in many projects with Museums & Galleries

• IA and consultancy work for cultural, government and commercial clients

• Left Cogapp in 2007 to join iCrossing

Focus on 4 main areas

• Introduction: How online is changing – and how this is affecting IA

• Introducing IA: What is it?

• Practical: Developing an effective IA?

• Consider: IA beyond the site

// About me

// About this presentation

2

What does this mean for IA?

1. INTRODUCTIONOnline has changed, and is changing… 3

We started by replicating existing models

(internal structures, buildings, collections, marketing, advertising)

Somewhere along the way we realised it was about doing things differently…

• Explosion of content creation and distribution tools..

• From passive consumers to active participants…

• Increasingly creating interfaces and context for our content

• The web IS social, content is democratic – everyone is having to adapt

41. INTRODUCTIONDigg: A network of experiences

2. INTRODUCING IAWhat is Information Architecture?

Home

Galleries Links Contact Information

Photography Art Other

The effective organisation, labelling and layout of information that allows users to achieve their goals

5

2. INTRODUCING IAWhat about the quality of the experience?

(Introducing User Experience)

6

useful

valuable

credible

usable desirable

findable accessible

‘UX is an approach to problem-solving that is media agnostic, interdisciplinary, holistic, and is driven by an understanding of human behaviour, cognition, capacities, needs, desires, and context’

‘It doesn’t matter how perfect the articulation of the interaction, or how elegantly the experience is structured; if it does not address a human need or desire, it is destined to fail’

‘Ultimately, our efforts must deliver value’

divergent convergent

2. INTRODUCING IAIA is part of a (user centred) design process 7

personas and scenarios

information architecture

interaction design

design iterations

documentation

contextual research

stakeholder research

competitor evaluation

concept development

user research

Many organisations see their website as the sum total of their online existence

– But every organisation exists in a broader network; through networks of links and conversations

– The question is to what degree we choose to be part of those networks ? through listening and engagement

- And to what extent we can develop our IA to embrace and optimise the flow of information across the social web ?

2. INTRODUCING IA 8But what about the rest of the web?

Welcome to the network map ...

2. INTRODUCING IA 9Information Architecture

Is the term sufficient to describe what we are trying to achieve?

We need to design architectures that deliver experiences and support human activities -

communication and participation

- Experience Architecture ? As used by some agencies

- Network Architecture ? A network of experiences

- Social Architecture ? The web is social

- Participation Architecture? As used by Tim O’Reilly re. Web 2.0

- Engagement Architecture?

- Communication Architecture ?

2. INTRODUCING IA 10The challenges

- We are moving from a channel to a network view of the web

- We need to consider centralised and de-centralised web strategies

- Distributed access to content needs to inform the IA/UX strategy

- What does success look like - measure engagement as well as page views

3. DEVELOPING IA 11Developing an effective IA

IA is not about a set of rules and methodologies

IA is about ways of working

- a toolbox of principles, guidelines and techniques

Business

UsersContentIA

3. DEVELOPING IA 12A program for developing an effective IA

1. Objectives: be clear about what you want to achieve

(and how you will measure it)

2. User Needs: Understand what your (potential) audience / collaborators

are doing, and want to do

3. Content: What content meets both your objectives and user needs?

4. Context: Embrace the rest of the web

(understand trends, what people are doing online and where they are doing it)

5. Design, test, iterate

6. Continually measure and optimise

IA is dynamic, it is a process, it can always be improved

3. DEVELOPING IA 13Developing an effective IA: Set objectives

Objectives

•Stakeholder interviews – involve as many as possible

•External consultants are well placed to do this

•The process is important – a good process ensures representation and buy-in

•The output - a clear set of strategic objectives

•Think in terms of cultural, political and economic objectives

Case Study: The British Museum

• 24 stakeholders interviewed

(including Trustees, Deputy Director, Curators, Exhibitions, Education,

Marketing, IT, Content creators etc.)

• Stakeholders asked to identify opportunities, challenges, ideas,

frustrations

• The output was consensus on 10 strategic objectives

3. DEVELOPING IA 14Developing an effective IA: Identify user needs

User needs

•Quantitative site analysis – user journeys and popular pages with web analytics

•User research: interviews and survey – quantitative and qualitative research

•One output is a set of user goal statements

•Another output is a set of task-based personas that are used

to inform design process

Case Study: The British Museum

• Over 50 user interviews

• Over 300 replies to survey

• Around 80 user goals identified

• 5 key personas

(general public, researcher, teacher, journalist, venue booker)

Strategy workshop

•Decide which user goals to support

•Map identified user goals against strategic objectives

•Evaluate strategic objectives against user research: refine if necessary

Case Study: The British Museum

• Refined set of objectives to 3 key objectives – one overarching principle

• Reduced set of user goal statements to take into design phase

3. DEVELOPING IA 15Developing an effective IA: Strategy

3. DEVELOPING IA 16Developing an effective IA: Content

Content review / gap analysis

•Review existing content against the strategic objectives and user goals

•Identify useful, redundant and missing content

•The key output is a content strategy

3. DEVELOPING IA 17Developing an effective IA: Top-down

Successful design comes from two approaches…

Top-down IA

•Top-down is about primary navigation and labelling

•Conceptual models are important

•Research navigation systems first

– don’t reinvent the wheel !

•Build a prototype navigation system and test

Case Study: The British Museum

• Development of a conceptual model that makes sense to everyone

• Card-sorting exercises to test the conceptual model

• Information hierarchy (primary, secondary etc. navigation) was the output

3. DEVELOPING IA 18Why do we need a conceptual model ?

3. DEVELOPING IA 19Case Study: British Museum conceptual model

BUILDING• Visiting• History• Galleries• Shops• Cafes• Tickets

THEMES• World cultures• Themes• Subjects

COMMUNITY• Friends of BM• Partnerships• Outreach• Online networks

PEOPLE• Friends of BM• Curators• Scientists• Archaeologists----• Historical figures• Famous people

OBJECTS• Collections• Highlights

ACTIVITIES• Exhibitions• Programmes• Events

OUTPUTS• Publications• TV Programmes• Learning resources• Picture Library

• Research• Conferences• Workshops

The Building

The Collection

People

Exhibitions

Events

Speed of change

3. DEVELOPING IA 20Developing an effective IA: Conceptual model

3. DEVELOPING IA 21Developing an effective IA: Top-down

Top-down IA

Case Study: The British Museum

• Card-sorting was useful for some areas of the IA, and supported the

conceptual model – but not the collection... how can you find the optimal

organisation of the whole of human history and endeavor through

card-sorting exercises?

• Key insight from the research… 3 modes of enquiry

• I am looking for something specific

• I am interested in this topic/subject

• Inspire me!

• The information hierarchy for the site was developed from the user

research, through both regular testing and consultation with Museum staff

3. DEVELOPING IA 22Developing an effective IA: Bottom-up

Bottom-up IA

Case Study: The British Museum

• Definition of content types and relationships between them

• Definition of taxonomy (authority tags and lists)

• Top-down and bottom-up IA brought together in wireframes

• Iterative testing of wireframes

• Iterative testing continued into the UI design stages

• Bottom-up is about content types, relationships and contextual navigation

• Taxonomies and user journeys are vital

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3. DEVELOPING IA 23Developing an effective IA: Bottom-up

3. DEVELOPING IA 24Developing an effective IA: Bottom-up

3. DEVELOPING IA 25Developing an effective IA: Wireframes

3. DEVELOPING IA 26Developing an effective IA: Wireframes

3. DEVELOPING IA 27Developing an effective IA: Research & testing

Continually test and optimise throughout the design process

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 28From Channels to Networks

The people formerly known as ‘the audience’ now exist in connected networks of experiences and information

Those organisations that are aware, active, useful and ultimately trusted in these networks will succeed

Search and social media help define networks as they enable the navigation and conversation that is fundamental to our online journeys

Search as Navigation

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 29Search as Navigation

UK only

All searches

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 30Search as Navigation

Home page

Search optimised landing pages

Widgets on 3rd party sites

Yoursite.org.uk

Home

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 31Search as Navigation

Industry Language

Oral care

Oral health

Locate dental professional

Good oral hygiene

Oral hygiene

Good Oral hygiene

Whitening

Battery-powered toothbrush

Kid’s toothbrush

Professional whitening system

148

5,232

10

190

5,155

190

5,075

145

592

670

17,407

Consumer Language

Dental care

Dental health

Find a dentist

Dental hygiene

Dental hygiene

Personal hygiene

Tooth whitening

Electric toothbrush

Child toothbrush

Tooth whitening system

188,818

74,588

29,525

24,558

24,558

17,670

146,212

16,522

835

6,205

529,491

Search Volume per

month

Search Volume per

month

TWO : ENGAGE

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 32Network Architecture

3 principles for success in networks

/ listen / be useful / be live/ Map networks and monitor conversations to understand what people are saying and doing

/ Attention is earned in networks not bought

/ Use this understanding to provide useful content for people to find and share

/ Free up information so it can travel online

/ Set engagement targets

/ Measure

/ Respond through active management

/ Use social media spaces that are immediate and responsive, i.e. Twitter

/ Develop relationships with influencers and advocates

Media platforms

Forums

Applications

Streams / feeds

RSS

Widget

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 33Network Architecture

Yoursite.org.uk

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 34Network Architecture

Network Architecture is a framework for effectively planning tactical implementation of objective-led activities or campaigns

It is based on mapping content types to :

(a)locations, either onsite or in networks;

(b)potential engagement activities;

(c)roles and responsibilities around maintaining/building engagement around the content; and

(d)success criteria/metrics

  Content types  Site copy Images Video Audio Docs Links Objects Events People ArticlesFormat(s)                  

Location(s) CMS CMS YouTube iTunes CMS CMS CMS CMS CMS CMS

Flickr Vimeo Vimeo Slideshare Delicious Forums Upcoming LinkedIn Blogs Picasa Facebook Houndbite Scribd Magnolia Flickr Twitter Facebook News Facebook Flickr AudioBoo Papers Google OAI Feeds

Blogs upublica API Twitter

Shareable

Comments

Who

KPIs

Metrics

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 35Network Architecture: 3rd party content

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 36Network Architecture: 3rd party content

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 37Network Architecture: Set your content free

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 38Network Architecture: Set your content free

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 39Case Study: Brooklyn Museum of Art

40

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 40Case Study: Brooklyn Museum of Art

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 41Case Study: Brooklyn Museum of Art

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 42Case Study: Brooklyn Museum of Art

MEASURE & OPTIMISE5. SUMMARY 43Summary

• IA is part of a research and design process

• It strives to balance organisational objectives and user needs

• There are no rules – one size does not fit all

• The web is changing and IA must adapt along with the rest of us

• IA techniques can be useful for designing our web presence as

well as our web site

• We need to consider architectures that support human activities

– such as communication and participation

• We need to consider how we can design and build architectures

that support distributed content and engagement across the

whole of the web

Jason Ryan

Email: jason.ryan@icrossing.co.uk Twitter: www.twitter.com/jasonryan

44

Thank you

4. IA BEYOND THE SITE 45Search as Navigation

AdvocacyActionsAwareness

Volume &Brand Control

Involvement Interaction Influence Intimacy

MEASURE & OPTIMISE5. MEASURE AND OPTIMISE 46Measurement framework: Search, site & social

MEASURE & OPTIMISE5. MEASURE AND OPTIMISE 47Measurement framework

Involvement

• Visits• Clicking on an advert• How long they stay there • “Bounce Rates”; whether

people stick around

“Do people know

about us?”

Interaction

•Rating something... •Leaving a comment...•Registering for something... •Watching a video... •Downloading something...•Signing up…

“What are they doing when they

get here?”

Initmacy

“What do they say?”

• Bookmarking us• Following us• Expressing opinions on

blogs and forums

Influence

• Content recommended / forwarded

• High profile bloggers posting

about us • Attitudes changing

“Are they acting differently?”