Fringe IA (World Information Architecture Day 2014)

@adcockm #FringeIA #WIAD14PDX

Michael Adcock

World Information Architecture Day 2014

Fringe IA?


http://www.flickr.com/photos/aego/4885953564



Fringe?


IA?


http://understandinggroup.com/2013/07/presentation-at-uxpa-2013-understanding-information-architecture/


http://www.jarango.com/blog/2013/06/28/for-the-world-wide-web/

http://www.jarango.com/blog/2013/06/28/for-the-world-wide-web/

Where to Start?


LookToThePast

Connections

S01E

10: “

Yeste

rday

, Tom

orro

w, and

You”

…because the future hasn’t happened yet, and because the future is simply the present, with extra bits attached! - James Burke

Look to the Past


Message from 1978


A Warning Before We Look at IA


“let's look… and see what it's doing — that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

- Richard Feynman

Knowing We Don’t Know


http://www.slideshare.net/The_Understanding_Group/what-before-how-making-a-home-for-information-architecture

IA Understanding


http://si658.danklyn.com/Class-5-Fall-2013

http://si658.danklyn.com/Class-5-Fall-2013

http://2010.iasummit.org/talks/9830

What & How



http://2010.iasummit.org/talks/9830

What & How



http://understandinggroup.com/team/dan-klyn/


IA Understanding







IA/UX Models


http://www.slideshare.net/Hienadz.Drahun/50-visual-definitions-of-user-experience



IA in Practice


BUSINESS SYSTEMS

USER EXPERIENCE

CODING

Object Models

Process Mapping

Information Model

Structural Design

Personas

Journeys

User Research

DESIGN

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE



Reframing with Why


We know how to REFRAME problems.

We can ask WHY.If I asked you to build a bridge for me, you could go off and build a bridge. Or you could come back to me with another question: “Why do you need a bridge?” I would likely tell you that I need a bridge to get to the other side of a river. Aha! This response opens up the frame of possible solutions. There are clearly many ways to get across a river besides using a bridge. You could dig a tunnel, take a ferry, paddle a canoe, use a zip line, or fly a hot-air balloon, to name a few.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672354/how-reframing-a-problem-unlocks-innovation



#ReframeIAat the 2013 IA Summit

“Architect” vs. “Builder”

“Meaning” (Do we discover it, create it, or both?)


http://lanyrd.com/2013/iasummit/sccpbp/




http://iasummit.org/


http://iamania.com/


IA/UX as Discovery

This is not a process of invention.This is a process of discovery.

Jesse James Garrett, IA Summit 2009

Advice from 1957…

“Discovery should come as an adventure rather than as the result of a logical process of thought.”

- Theobald Smith

http://archive.org/details/artofscientifici00beve





IA as Scientific Discovery

"...intuitions always appear at the fringe of consciousness, not at the focus.“

"...the great scientist must be regarded as a creative artist and it is quite false to think of the scientist as a man who merely follows rules of logic and experiment."






IA as Scientific Discovery

“…the most difficult mental act of all is to re-arrange a familiar bundle of data, to look at it differently and escape from the prevailing doctrine.” - Professor H. Butterfieldhttp://archive.org/details/artofscientifici00beve





Tools and Structures

Tools for discovering Meaningyet

Structures to create Context


http://www.slideshare.net/danfnord/determining-what-good-means-ux-strat-2013





An Example from My Work…


Company Background

• SaaS solutions for libraries

• Electronic Resource Management

• Bibliographic & publisher metadata



http://www.serialssolutions.com/en/about/careers

What’s the Problem?

Here’s an example:

Given nearly 1000 client configurations stored in multiple XML and JSON files, “migrate” the information over from an old technology to a new implementation.



RTA Migration

Oh, and by the way:

Some files are for legacy/inactive clients.



RTA Migration

Oh, and by the way:

Some files are for legacy/inactive clients.Some files are for trial/demo clients.



RTA Migration

Oh, and by the way:

Some files are for legacy/inactive clients.Some files are for trial/demo clients.Not sure how many clients must be migrated.



RTA Migration

Oh, and by the way:

Some files are for legacy/inactive clients.Some files are for trial/demo clients.Not sure how many clients must be migrated.It’s NOT a matter of “mapping” or “copying”.



RTA Migration

So, um… yeah. Can we do that?



RTA Migration: Approach

We needed a tool to help us understand.Something that could put all this stuff in a meaningful context.I decided to use aTiddlyWiki,and build onto it.


http://tiddlywiki.com/


http://tiddlywiki.com/

RTA Migration: Resulting Tool







Under the hood:











My Final Thoughts

IA needs freedom to experiment and play.

Sometimes we need to be tool builders.

We can learn from scientific discovery.


Know You Don’t Know


Help Others Understand


Translate Knowledge


Ask Questions


Explain Clearly


Ask for Explanations



Thanks!

"What you must understand, is that as scientists we must embrace every possibility. No limitations, no boundaries, there is no reason for them.“

- Walter BishopU.S. Army ResearchHeadquarters, 1986


Technology

Fringe IA (World Information Architecture Day 2014)