{"id":1399,"date":"2014-07-01T08:28:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T15:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/?p=1399"},"modified":"2015-07-17T14:35:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T21:35:59","slug":"information-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/information-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Information Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I use the term\u00a0<em>information architecture<\/em>\u00a0a lot but\u00a0have found that its\u00a0meaning is often unclear. The reason I chose that word is simply that I haven&#8217;t found or coined a better one yet. To try to describe what I want it to mean, I started by listing close synonyms and related words:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Conceptual Structure<\/li>\n<li>Taxonomy<\/li>\n<li>Object Model<\/li>\n<li>Model<\/li>\n<li>Framework<\/li>\n<li>Classification<\/li>\n<li>Categorization<\/li>\n<li>Hierarchy<\/li>\n<li>Typology<\/li>\n<li>Decomposition<\/li>\n<li>Characterization<\/li>\n<li>Understanding<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the physical world, most objects are distinguished by physical independence. A pencil, a desk, and a chair are self-contained objects \u2014 we can use them and talk about them independently from each other. They also relate to each other \u2014 a desk is a helpful aid for\u00a0using a pencil. But we are not confused about the identity of the pieces\u00a0(pencil and desk). In other words, the &#8220;object model&#8221; is concretely in front of us.<\/p>\n<p>We create an analogous world in our minds that consists of\u00a0concepts and\u00a0theories. Here, our determination\u00a0of independent\u00a0pieces is\u00a0far more subjective. For example, writing and drawing are usually considered separate concepts, but is calligraphy a form of writing, or is it drawing? Or both? Or is it something else entirely? We are free to create whatever concepts are useful to us as we interact with the world and think about what is happening.<\/p>\n<p>When I say\u00a0<em>information architecture,<\/em>\u00a0I&#8217;m referring to an instance of this\u00a0conceptual world. What are the definitions of each component\u00a0part, and how do they fit together?<\/p>\n<p>In software design, the\u00a0component parts are things we call &#8220;features&#8221;, &#8220;pages&#8221;, &#8220;commands&#8221;, etc. The designer&#8217;s\u00a0choices about the definitions of these components are as subjective as the concepts\u00a0in our minds \u2014 but they must be understandable by millions of people who use the software! Though most people\u00a0rarely talk about it or think about it, the information architecture influences everything about the way we\u00a0learn and interact with a\u00a0tool.<\/p>\n<p>And just as we can create new concepts like &#8220;democracy&#8221; with far-reaching effects, we can create new software concepts like &#8220;windows&#8221;, &#8220;hyperlinks&#8221;, and &#8220;text messages&#8221; which transform the way technologies are used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I use the term\u00a0information architecture\u00a0a lot but\u00a0have found that its\u00a0meaning is often unclear. The reason I chose that word is simply that I haven&#8217;t found or coined a better one yet. To try to describe what I want it to mean, I started by listing close synonyms and related words: Conceptual Structure Taxonomy Object Model &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/information-architecture\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Information Architecture&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}