towards a cross-context IA

from digital to physical spaces (and back)

Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini

Europe's Third Information Architecture SummitBarcelona, September 21-22 2007

Paper available at http://lucarosati.it/download/from-digital-to-physical.pdf

Foreword

Information architecture is not just for the Web: information architecture has a larger impact on many offline activities and affects our daily experience in many different waysIts contribution becomes crucial where complexity, unfamiliarity and information overload stand in the way of the user

(Image: Jim Benson, http://ourfounder.typepad.com/leblog/)

A Unified Model of IA

We would like to outline a unified model of information architecture able to traverse the diverse contexts we encounter daily, from digital to physical spaces, providing a conceptual framework for the design of cognitive and informational continuity between environments

Within this model we propose to apply organizational and interactional models typically used on the Web to the design of physical objects and spaces

(Image: Paul Walsh, http://segala.com/)

From Digital to Physical Space

We believe this evolution of information architecture is a strategic part of the general evolution of design, from the design of objects to that of processesBy enabling coherent bridge-experiences, information architecture can provide better and more satisfying Human Information Interaction (HII) in both worlds, online and offline

(Image: Clipart ETC, http://etc.usf.edu/)

Laws of Findability

In this presentation, we will briefly outline some of the laws, principles or rules we believe define the boundaries of a successful cross-context model, focusing on

Coherence

Flexibility

Correlation

and following a path of scents, suggestions, occasional detours, and case-studies

(Image: Patrick Lambe's Map of Findability, greenchameleon.com)

coherence

(Borges, Foucault, Lakoff and classification)

The Animal Menagerie

Seals (gray, tiny and white)

Elephant (small, tiny)

Sheep

Dogs (German shepherd, Scottish collie)

Rabbit

Penguin

Platypus

Skunk (one stripe)

Donkey

How do we classify these?

(Image: some sort of seal, courtesy of O'Reilly)

Karl von Linn Says (1)

Karl von Linn (1707-1778)

Born Linnaeus, then ennobled, Swedish botanist and scholar

Envised the classification scheme for all living beings

In Linnean Taxonomy, all of these anymals belong to Eukaryota (Domain), Animalia (Kingdom), Chordata (Phylum), Vertebrata (Subphylum), Mammalia (Class), except for the penguin, whose Class is Aves (birds)

(Karl, relaxing after some taxonomy work)

In Linnean Taxonomy, all of these anymals belong to Eukaryota (Domain), Animalia (Kingdom), Chordata (Phylum), Vertebrata (Subphylum), Mammalia (Class), except for the penguin, whose Class is Aves (birds).

Linnean Taxonomy is our primary example of classical, Aristotelian catalogation:

categories are abstract containers with things either inside or outside the category

things are in the same category if and only if they have certain properties in common

each category has clear boundaries

the category is defined by common properties of the members

the category is independent of the peculiarities of any beings doing the categorising

no member of a category has any special status

all levels of a hierarchy are important and equivalent

Karl von Linn Says (2)

Linnean Taxonomy is an example of classical, Aristotelian classification where:

category is an abstract container

things are in the same category if and only if they have common properties

category has clear boundaries

category is defined by common properties of the members

category is cataloger-independent

no members have any special status

all levels in a hierarchy are equivalent

carnivora

caniformia

canidae

canis

(Image: animal pictures courtesy of O'Reilly).

canis familiaris

phocidae

halichoerus

halichoerus grypus

In Linnean Taxonomy, all of these anymals belong to Eukaryota (Domain), Animalia (Kingdom), Chordata (Phylum), Vertebrata (Subphylum), Mammalia (Class), except for the penguin, whose Class is Aves (birds).

Linnean Taxonomy is our primary example of classical, Aristotelian catalogation:

categories are abstract containers with things either inside or outside the category

things are in the same category if and only if they have certain properties in common

each category has clear boundaries

the category is defined by common properties of the members

the category is independent of the peculiarities of any beings doing the categorising

no member of a category has any special status

all levels of a hierarchy are important and equivalent

Gaia Says

Gaia, 7-year-old

Italian, 3rd grader

Owner of a large collection of plushes (well, make that rather large)

Wildly loves animals

What does she say? First let's have a closer look at the animals

(Hey! Isn't that tower leaning? Now wait a sec)

The Animal Managerie Redoux

Mmmmh, plushes...

Looks Like Gaia Has a Point!

The seal, the small elephant and the donkey are friends

The dogs stay by themselves since they are predators and eat the others animals. We need to sedate them at times

The rabbit and the sheep spend time together when the rabbit is not hiding in his hole because they come from the same place (a farm, possibly)

The penguin and the skunk go together because they are both black. Plus, the penguin is teaching the skunk to swim

The platypus and the tiny elephant are the same age and play together. So do the two other tiny seals, since they are the same size

(Gaia in mum's shoes, self portrait)

black, swim

same agedangerousQuick Recap

carnivora

caniformia

canidae

canis

canis familiaris

phocidae

halichoerus

halichoerus grypus

seal

small elephant

donkey

rabbit

sheep

german shepherd

border collie

skunk

penguin

(Karl, classical)

(Gaia, prototypical)

platypus

other elephant

friends

predate onpredate on

same place(Image: animals courtesy of O'Reilly and Gaia)

A Classification for Drugs

(Image: http://oskool.com/)

National legislations often have ideological roots: alcohol and tobacco for instance are socially accepted drugs in many countries

Dangerousness is a sum of factors: privileging one over the other, for example chemical composition, leads to skewed classifications

Currently drugs are classified as Class A: cocaine / crack, heroin, ecstasy, LDS, magic mushrooms, crystal meth; Class A/B: amphetamines; Class C: cannabis, ketamine

Nutt and his group used a 3-way system which compounds toxicity, dependency, effects on social life and compared it to the Misuse of Drugs Act

Comparing Classifications

The Lancet Group

based on a pool of parameters (social harm, physical harm; dependence)

5th and 9th place respectively

Aristotelically incoherent but coherent in respect to its social context

Misuse of Drugs Act

based on the drug's chemical formula: its essence

alcohol and tobacco are absent

Aristotelically coherent but incoherent in respect to its social context

A Different Graph

Color classes A, B, C refer to the Misuse of Drugs Act

Unclassified drugs are listed in gray

The graph shows the new classification emerging from Nutt's study, with some surprises

Coherence

The animals are divided into: a. belonging to the Emperor, b. embalmed, c. trained, d. suckling pigs, e. mermaids, f. fabulous, g. stray dogs, h. included in this classification, i. trembling like crazy, j. innumerable, k. drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, l. et cetera, m. just broke the vase, n. from a distance look like flies

(Jorge Luis Borges , The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, in The Analytical Language of John Wilkins, 1960)

(Image: chinese dragons, www.orientaloutpost.com)

Coherence in classification is deeply tied to context, culture and prototypical mapping

flexibility

(to each their own mapping)

Binding Two Worlds

The map of the library from The Name of the Rose

The real world is mapped, via a clever mnemonic system, onto the physical space of the library

There is a certain degree of correspondence: to go from Yspania to Anglia you have to travel through Gallia and Germania

Books are classified geographically

But another cognitive model is often superimposed which amends errors: this is not the world as it is, but the world as it should have been

(Image: U. Eco, The Name of the Rose. Gruppo Bompiani)

A New Kind of Supermarket

by applying web guidelines to physical spaces

by tracking our interaction stories with items and spaces

to allow re-finding, customization, suggestions/correlations

(Image: TVScoop, http://www.tvscoop.tv/)

asdsa

Rethinking Retail

(Mapping the web page on the supermarket)

(The ICA web page, http://www.ica.se/)

A Map of Correspondences

(Detailed sample correspondence map)

Flexibile navigation can be provided by accurate wayfinding and signage and combined with tracking technologies:

Icons for departments, letters for aisles, numbers for racks and shelves

Colors for shortcuts and navigational themes (using ceiling or floor signage)

Personal paths (customer card or reader registering shopping patterns via RFID or similar technologies)

Smart labels

Tracking Paths

Flexibility

Traditional classification and new social systems aren't competing for supremacy: rather, they complement and improve each other

(Jim Kalbach, Navigating the long tail, talk at EuroIA 2007)

(Paths in a radial retail space model)

Goals, cognitive and cultural models strongly impact behavior: different individuals search differently, and single individuals modify their patterns according to context, time, and goals

To work effectively, then, a classification system has to be able to adapt to these ever changing information seeking strategies

correlation

(circularity and the paradox of choice)

(You read the Bible? There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17 [...] I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass.)

(Image: Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino)

Stories along a Circular Path

Pulp fiction is a wonderful example of non-linear storytelling. The storyline moves in circles and the beginning and the end of the movie are tied together in a Mbius bandThe narrative moves freely back and forth in time and space and the movie ends up looking like a tightly integrated series of different episodes which continuously reference one another and other moviesThese correlations which link elements belonging to different physical and digital collections constitute what we call information circularity, something we think fuels positive feedback loop which favors berrypicking and information scent

(Image M.C. Escher, Moebius Band II, http://www.mcescher.com/)

If You Like x You May Also Like y

Correlations can then be used to improve the IA of retail space and its wayfinding and classification systems, using technologies such as RFID, to propose:

Theme paths, such as regional recipes, organic products

Personal paths, based on previous data

Coupling paths: if you like a we suggest b, that you may find there

Recommended or best selling products, to further reduce the burden of choice

Building Orthogonal Paths

Moreover, findability can be improved by mixing alternative classification models to produce multiple seek paths. These could be:

faceted classification

social classification (top views, other users also bought, reviews)

collaborative tagging

customization based on navigation

network paradigms (topic maps)

(Correlation creates paths orthogonal to the aisle / rack model)

Reducing The Paradox of Choice

Contextualization and customization help reduce the paradox of choice as well

Following the long tailmodel, it's not about having fewer choices, but about showing these choices

at the right moment

in the right way

in the right context

(Reducing the paradox of choice in a supermarket's electronic scale)

Correlation

I've often imaged gazes surviving the act of seeing

as if they were poles, measured distances, lances in battle

(Valerio Magrelli, Nearsights, 1991)

RFID, touchscreen technology, mobile phones, PDAs, are increasing the amount of data our enhanced selves constantly produce, receive, process and transmit

These could be used to improve the relational dimension of IA in physical spaces, allowing related-items links among products and alternative ways of navigation which free themselves of the shelf

conclusions

(Building bridge experiences)

Design the Process

Information architecture should inform and structure a company's Internet and Intranet presence, its documents and its physical spaces as an integrated, tightly related whole which spans across environments.We need a traversal integrated information architecture model that moves away from industrial design, where we shape physical or digital objects, into the new territories of process design, where we shape the very processes in which objects, information, context and users talk to each other and constantly produce new meanings

(Image Fractal Tree, http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~sequin/)

Design for the Cognitive Shift

We have to design for a cognitive shift which effectively reshapes the user experience and moves

From artifacts to processes

From interfaces to human-information interaction

From objects to users

From a static, isolated view of products and information to a dynamic, fluid view of space-time data-rich items in a synchronic society

From end-users to wranglers, who play, as much as the designers, an important active role in the building of objects / information and have with them a continuous change-inducing interchange

From today to tomorrow

(Image Bruce Sterling, Spime Meme Map)

Thank You!

(Bringing it all back home, with a twist. Coherent, flexible, related)

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Luca Rosati & Andrea Resmini :: EuroIA 2007, Barcelona

towards a cross-context IA