11.1. What Is an Information Architecture Strategy? An information architecture strategy is a high-level conceptual framework for structuring and organizing a web site or intranet. It provides the firm sense of direction and scope necessary to proceed with confidence into the design and implementation phases. It also facilitates discussion and helps get people on the same page before moving into the more expensive design phase. Just as the operating plans of each department should be driven by a unifying business strategy, the design of a detailed information architecture should be driven by a holistic information architecture strategy. To succeed, we need a solution that will work within the unique information ecology at hand. Based upon the results of our research into context, users, and content, we're striving to design a strategy that balances the needs and realities of each. The information architecture strategy provides high-level recommendations regarding:
Information architecture administration -
It's critical to look ahead to the end game and create a realistic strategy for developing and maintaining the information architecture. This covers the inevitable centralization versus decentralization questions that are closely tied to politics, the departmental structure, and content ownership. Are you looking at a command-and-control model or a federated approach? Will your architecture deliver users to subsites or all the way through to content and applications? Can we trust content authors to apply metadata? Who will manage the controlled vocabularies?
Technology integration -
The strategy must address opportunities to leverage existing tools and identify needs for additional technologies to develop or manage the information architecture. Key technology categories include search engines, content management, auto-classification, collaborative filtering, and personalization.
Top-down or bottom-up emphasis -
Many factors influence where to focus your energies, including the current status of the site, the political environment, and the IA management model. For example, if there's already a solid top-down information architecture or a strong interaction design team that "owns" the primary hierarchy, bottom-up is probably the way to go.
Organization and labeling systems (top-down) -
This involves defining the major organization schemes for the site (e.g., users must be able to navigate by product, by task, and by customer category) and then identifying the dominant organization scheme to serve as the primary hierarchy.
Document type identification (bottom-up) -
This involves identifying a suite of document and object types (e.g., article, report, white paper, financial calculator, online course module) and requires close collaboration with the content authoring and management teams.
Metadata field definition -
This entails the definition of administrative, structural, and descriptive metadata fields. Some fields may be global (i.e., applied to every document), others may be local (i.e., applied only to documents within a particular subsite), and others may be associated only with a particular document type (e.g., for every news article, we need to identify the headline).
Navigation system design -
The strategy must explain how the integrated and supplemental navigation systems will leverage the top-down and bottom-up strategies. For example, search zones may allow users to leverage the top-down product hierarchy, while fielded searching may allow users to search for a particular white paper. This may also cover implications for customization and personalization capabilities. While this may seem like a lot to cover, it's certainly not an exhaustive list. Each information ecology will place unique demands on the architect regarding what to include in the strategy and where to place emphasis. As always, you'll have to be creative and use good judgment. The strategy is typically detailed in an information architecture strategy report, communicated in a high-level strategy presentation, and made actionable through a project plan for information architecture design. However, it's important to avoid placing too much focus on creating the perfect deliverables. Ultimately, an information architecture strategy must find understanding and acceptance within the minds of the designers, developers, authors, stakeholders, and anyone else involved in designing, building, and maintaining the site. Getting people to buy into your vision is critical to success. |
