|
DM
166 - Introduction to Information Architecture
An introduction
to information architecture, its history, procedures, methodologies,
and production process. Students will gain a practical understanding
of how an information architect creates and designs information organization
schemes and overall Web site structure; including: form, function, metaphor,
navigation, interface, interaction, and visual design.
General
Course Information below
Schedule
& Assignment (subject to change)
Week
1
September 5, 2001
|
Topics
Covered: Brief Introduction to the course; class policies &
expectations; late policy for homework; required books overview
Homework:
None
Reading:
Webmonkey
Information Architecure Tutorial (all lessons)
|
Week 2
September 12, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Students to introduce themselves; discussion of Webmonkey article;
what is IA; the family tree of IA; professional & academic pathways
(HCI, LIS, Cognitive Psych); the dance of form and function (uncle
Jakob's waltz)
Homework:
Find three definitions of Information Architecture (hint: they're
probably not in the required texts). They should be different than
the ones I refer to in class; one can be your own, but the other
two must be referenced (name/author, date, URL or book title)
Reading:
Nielsen Chapter 1; Krug Chapter 1
|
Week 3
September 19, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:Development
Team Roles & Responsibilities, Typical Web Development process
- a broad overview. Timeline of a development process. Competitive
Analysis & Best in Class of chosen Web site. Introduction of
Mock Project.
Mock
Project Description: You have been hired by a small (2-10 person)
Web development company to be the Information Architect for the
development of their Web site. The company is looking for projects
that span anywhere from $5,000 to $75,000. You can choose the focus
of the business, and thus the audience, for this company: be it
Silicon Valley tech companies, local non-profits or educational
organizations, biotech, etc. Many of the homework assignments for
this class will be based around typical IA deliverables for a project
of this size.
Samples
for this evening's class:
Homework:
Competitive Analysis for mock project - find other companies that
provide similar services and see what they do on their web sites.
You can begin with the
list of companies on the SC-IA web site, which has a link to
a much larger list of California Web Dev companies. Write on at
least three of these competitors. Some of the samples above will
be good starting points for the types of questions you should be
asking yourself while doing the homework, as well as structure and
style of the deliverable. Please write at least 1/2 page per site
, but no more than one page, double-spaced, per competitor.
- Figure
out what kind of audience they are targeting.
- Are
they accomplishing the task of reaching them?
- What
kind of messaging are they using?
- How
does the design, layout, graphics, and copy fail or accomplish
the site's communication goals?
Reading:
Nielsen Chapter 2
|
Week 4
September 26, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Target Audience Analysis; Ethnographic research; samples of Personas
Samples
for this evening's class:
Homework:
Build at least two personas/User Profiles for your chosen project.
These should be built upon the audiences you identified in your
Competitive Analysis work. If you only have one audience identified,
remember that the sites you chose might not just be looking for
clients, but also for new employees, contractors, or business partners.
Reading:
Nielsen Chapter 3; Cooper:
Perfecting Your Personas
|
Week 5
October 3, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Class cancelled
Homework:
None
Reading:
Nielsen Chapter 4
|
Week 6
October 10, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
In-class survey for your instuctor; site mapping & tools
(ref. guest lecture
notes); Inspiration demo
Samples
for this evening's class:
Homework:
Build a site map/architecture of an existing site (be it a site
for the Mock project or for any other project - it's best if you
do it on a project you have spent some time on, and especially one
with some of the other homework applied to it).
Reading:
Nielsen's Ten
Usability Heuristics;
How to Conduct a Heuristic Evaluation
|
Week 7
October 17, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Heuristics and Usability 'standards'; Usability audit and what to
look for; in-class walk-through of a site
Samples
for this evening's class:
Homework:
Usability Audit of an existing site or ecommerce experience. You
can, of course, use a site you have already done a competitive analysis
on. When doing the work, you should start with the spreadsheet -
walking through the site and noting violations/comments you find.
They all don't have to have Nielsen's Heuristics referenced to each
one of your violations/comments. You do not have to rank your violations.
I would
like to see about two pages of violations, and about two pages single-spaced
of recommendations. Please see the samples above.
Shopping
experiences you could use:
Reading:
Nielsen Chapter 5
|
Week 8
October 24, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Intranet Development Guest Lecture; Michael Barnes of The
Barnes Group will join us for a lecture on intranet development
and will discuss some projects he has worked on.
Homework:
None
Reading:
Nielsen Chapter 6
|
Week 9
October 31, 2001
|
Mid
Term
written
and due by midnight Saturday, November 3
Scott
will be in rm 518 (our classroom) 7:15pm - 8:00pm
Homework:
None
Reading:
None
|
Week 10
November 7, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Wire framing; intro to paper prototyping; project samples; content
map sample
Homework:
Build a wire frame of a page of your chosen site or Web app (please
read my email on choosing
a page to wire frame). This can be a site you are working for
any class, as long as you tell me, in a written paragraph, what
the site's purpose is. This is due before class.
Reading:
Krug Chapters 6, 7
|
Week 11
November 14, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Paper prototyping; review of student's wireframe homework
Homework:
Build a complete paper or HTML prototype for your chosen site. Build
at least ten to fifteen pages of the site, include elements that
will be in the final site, including internal links, FPO images
(i.e. For Placement Only - they're not the finals, only place holders),
text (mostly greek, but instructions, if needed, may be needed for
testing).
Remember:
when building your prototype, think about what you're going to test.
Are you testing navigational links and their intuitiveness? Do they
understand instructional copy? Can they accomlish a specific task?
You don't have to choose all of these, but focusing in on your goals
will help you focus how much to build out for this prototype.
Reading:
Krug Chapters 8, 9
|
Week 12
November 21, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
Dynamic Content Possibilities Guest Lecture; Geoff Caras,
President of The Igneous Group
will present and discuss some projects his has worked on. He will
show us many possibilities for the use of dynamic content and dynamic
web pages.
Homework:
None
Reading:
Krug Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5
|
Week 13
November 28, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
User testing - preparation; review of student paper prototypes
Samples
for this evening's class:
Homework:
Put together a user testing process/protocol for your prototype
-including testing goals, user profiles, scenarios, and testing
script. Document the questions you want to ask your users, what
order you want them in, etc.
Reading:
Krug Chapters 10, 11
|
Week 14
December 5, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
In-class round(s) of user testing, with most people taking notes,
then discuss; We will be splitting up and testing each other's prototypes,
using the protocol you wrote up last week
Samples
for this evening's class:
Homework:
Produce a user testing report based on your observations after
conducting three to five user tests with your prototype and testing
protocol. This is due before class.
Reading:
None
|
Week 15
December 12, 2001
|
Topics
Covered:
User Testing Report presentation and discussion by students
Homework:
None
Reading:
None
|
Week 16
December 19, 2001
|
Final
Exam (take home)
No
class today. Final is due by Noon, December 20th, no exceptions.
Scott
will be in rm 518 (our classroom) 7:40pm - 8:10pm
|
Instructor
& General Information
Instructor:
Scott Robinson
Class time:
7:40-9:50pm Wednesdays
Class Web
page: http://www.orarian.com/teaching/DM166F01/
Email:
Vmail:
831-477-5201 box #1480
Office
Hours: 1/2 hour before class & 1/2 hour after class
Syllabus
in PDF format (version 1 - 9/4/01)
Grading
Policy
20% In-class
participation
40% Homework
20% Mid-term
20% Final
I do not
grade on a curve. Homework assignments must be electronic and in a portable
format if produced in some other application (i.e., if you are delivering
electronic files you created in Inspiration or Powerpoint or any other
visual application, the file(s) should be delivered to me in PICT, BMP
or ideally PDF format, so that I can view them without needing
the original application; if they are textual, they must be delivered
in PDF). Deliver your files directly to me via email.
Late Assigments:
25% automatic drop in grade if late. I will accept assigments later
than 1 week, but only if you let me know.
Remember:
presentation is important in all your deliverables.
Required
Texts
Designing
Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity.
Jakob Nielsen New Riders Publishing; ISBN: 0789723107
Don't
Make Me Think!.
Steve Krug New Riders Publishing; ISBN: 156205810X
Recommended
Texts
Information
Architecture for the Wold Wide Web.
Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN: 1565922824
Web
ReDesign: Workflow that Work. Kelly Goto & Emily Cotler New
Riders; ISBN: 0735710627
Web
Navigation: Designing the User Experience.
Jennifer
Fleming O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN: 1565923510
Webworks:
Navigation. Ken Coupland, editor Rockport Press; ISBN: 1564966623
©
2001 Scott Robinson | This page last modified
December 18, 2001
|