INLS 180 Day 9 Notes
1. One minute papers
Main Points
IA for the web and from the
‘organizational’ sciences—dynamic path with uncertain future
Networking more important
than grades [?]
Example interface designs
that support IA
So many of our discussions
are about terms with fluid definitions
Get into IA now when it is
nebulous and you can sculpt your experience to match definition
Questions
How and why do fields emerge,
splinter? How do new fields
progress/mature?
How does networking (e.g.,
for a job) affect personal integrity?
Are there IA
classes/curricula?
How to bridge tech and
content? (role for intermediary)
Do we need standard web
design practice?
When is design entertaining
designers rather than useful to the user?
SILS user studies course?
Do most companies/orgs’
websites reflect their internal org?
How do we decide how to
‘slice and dice’? [design sense + science]
2. Information architecture
and midterm assignment
PP slides
Some general observations
a) The bottom up approach to learning (reverse
engineering).
b) Distinguish classification (creating bins)and
cataloging (using bins)
c) Semantic versus syntactic markup (most did syntactic
for books, semantic for TV)
d) The role of hierarchy in structure
e) The role of expectations in how we do these tasks
(perhaps indicated by the variance in approaches for the different assignments)
Books
Consider generic tags that
work for many books in a genre versus tags specific to a particular book.
If you were given the
tagged structure of a book without any content, could you guess its genre?
What if we showed the size
(e.g., number of words) of every tagged chunk, would this help in guessing
genre? Would it help in other ways?
Could you imagine a set of
structure indexes? (e.g., an index for typographic forms,
others for space, time, people, events, themes, etc.)
How might these help in
understanding (beyond search)
Video
What does the length of a
shot mean? Is it a surrogate for relevance?
Consider not only the
length of a shot, but how these lengths vary across the entire segment (e.g.,
patterns in the shot lengths to affect gist,response).
Are there staccato and euphonious ‘phases’?
Also, what goes on in a
shot adds to the frenetic or calming effects.
How to handle forward
references (e.g., news to come when we return, previews for next week's sitcom
or drama, etc.). How might these be
tagged? How do hyperlinks work in video?
How to markup the video AND
audio channels?
Websites
What draws your eye? (motion,
size, color, shape)
The ‘sectors’ could be ‘wireframes’
for the underlying information architecture on a page
Should visual links (either text or icon) be repeated
on page?
If there are lots of links, how are they ordered or
clustered?
Are genre-specific styles emerging (e.g., university
sites all give audience options)?
Did you try reloads, alt resolution settings,
different browsers, did controlled queries, greped
for HTTP to count links, etc. to get more in-depth views of the pages?
Portal versus search, directory
versus analytical search, ads, special services/personalizations. Advertising and business model
What is the purpose of a website? Generate
interest? Provide information? Sell products? Entertain?
Do you want to be entertained by your bank?
What is good design?
What is good architecture?
Comparisons across media
Design from user vs content/system view
Message
design?
User styles/preferences (text
vs graphic; browse/drill vs
search; simple vs complex;)
User platform
settings/constraints
3. Roles of intermediaries: More
Intermediation or Disintermediation? [service vs self-serve]
Information Overload and the
need for intermediaries
See
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info/index.html
The amount of print information is now trivial in volume
(93% digital each year) [next wave of sensor data not even started yet]
Quality versus quantity?
Disintermediation
Many services changing models/roles (gas attendants,
travel agents, bank tellers, cashiers, sales clerks)
Phone menu systems, WWW services
Physical services adding value (e.g., Bookstores add
creature comforts, newspapers & TV add WWW interactivity)
What about publishers? (author
publishing on WWW?, roles of non-commercial presses?)
What about libraries?
Online reference? What about corporations?
What added value services can we invent?
Reading discussions: Great questions!
Janes: Lee Lambert & Trish Losi
Dewdney & Sheldrick Ross: Sarah Hays
4. Read for next meeting:
Smith, L. C. (1981). Citation analysis.
Library Trends, 30(1), Summer 1981.
83-106.
Ackerman,
M. & Malone. T.
Optional: Garvey, W. D.
(1979). The role of scientific communication in the conduct
of research and the creation of scientific knowledge.
Optional: Harnad, S. (1990). Scholarly skywriting and the prepublication continuum of scientific
inquiry.
5. One-minute paper
What was the big point you learned in class today?
What is the main, unanswered question you leave class
with today?