Information Architecture

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Information architecture (IA) is the science of expressing a model or concept for information. Information architecture is used in library systems, web development, user interactions, database development, programming, technical writing, enterprise architecture, critical system software design and other activities that require expressions of complex systems. Information architecture has somewhat different meanings in these different branches of what might be called IS and/or IT architecture. Most definitions have common qualities: a structural design of shared environments, methods of organizing and labeling websites, intranets, and online communities, and ways of bringing the principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape. Information Architecture: Building Our Practice, Information Today, Vol. 23 Issue 10, November 2006.

Information architecture is defined by the Information Architecture Institute as:

The structural design of shared information environments.

The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability.

An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

The term information architecture describes a specialized skill set which relates to the interpretation of information and expression of distinctions between signs and systems of signs. It has some degree of origin in the Library and information science. Many library schools teach information architecture.

In the context of information system design, information architecture refers to the analysis and design of the data stored by information systems, concentrating on entities, their attributes and their interrelationships. It refers to the modeling of data for an individual database and to the corporate data models an enterprise uses to coordinate the definition of data in several (perhaps scores or hundreds) of distinct databases. Recently, the "canonical data model" is applied to integration technologies as a definition for specific data passed between the systems of an enterprise. At a higher level of abstraction, it may also refer to the definition of data stores.

History Information Architecture was originally a term with a meaning more akin to what is called today "Information Design". One fact that is often forgotten is that the term "Information Architecture" was coined by Richard Saul Wurman, himself an architect and AIGA luminary. Afterwards the term has been appropriated by Web Design experts and applied onto high complexity web sites. It is important to note that this appropriation has changed the original meaning into what is today considered to be "Information Architecture".

Critiques

The term “information architecture” has been criticized, as the term "architecture" may imply that information systems are static like buildings. Information systems are dynamic and should adapt to specific users’ actions. This criticism may be due to an assumption on the part of the critics that architecture always is permanent and non-flexible. Structures may be designed to accommodate dynamic changes. Even buildings like skyscrapers are designed to float, sway, and allow for flexible compartment changes. Often the structure of an information system remains static as the information content changes.

User-Centered Information Designers analyze cognitive, behavioral and emotional processes of users and define User-Centered Information Systems and taxonomies. Furthermore, some activities involved in the creation of information systems can be similar to activities involved in the creation of “taxonomies”. Some have suggested that the term “information architecture” is analogous with “taxonomy”. A contrary view is that the activities involved in the creation of a taxonomy are a subset of the activities involved in developing an information architecture (since developing an information architecture typically also involves articulating the objectives of the information, and understanding the intended audience). Some practicing information architects specialize in developing taxonomies, as part of their IA "toolkit," along with deliverables like site maps, flow diagrams and screen-level design prototypes to represent the structure of a Web site or interactive application.

A usage question raised in the information architecture debate might include a graphic web designer adopting (and thus adapting) the term information architect. A similar question might be raised for a programmer using the term seeking computer science as a foundation for information systems.

Because information architecture practices and techniques became popularized with the advent of the World Wide Web, some information architects may lack experience designing systems that are not web-based where browsing is less related. Users of enterprise systems and business systems typically have different goals than non-professional users. Business systems within the enterprise, for example, afford users with tools to expedite required business tasks. In contrast, commerce sites and news sites invite users to explore and browse information in many cases to support their business model. It is important for 'information architects' to understand the specific business and user requirements rather than apply the same techniques to shape a system's information.