Skip to the content of this page.
Note: This site will look much better in a browser that supports web standards, but is accessible to any browser or internet device.
Home > Meetings > November 2007
IDEA 2007
a conference report by David Nay
November 29, 2007— Hosted by NextPage
Introduction
David Nay shared insights about designing complex information spaces in the physical and virtual worlds gleaned from from IDEA 2007. Dave covered highlights from the conference followed by a more in-depth discussion of modeling techniques learned at an all day information architecture workshop.
Highlighted Talks & Resources
(See ideaconference.org/program.html for information on all IDEA 2007 speakers)
- Michael Wesch The Machine is Us. (You tube video)
- Peter Morville’s Semantic Studios (semanticstudios.com)
- Peter Mertzhold and Adaptive Path's blog (adaptivepath.com/blog)
- Hasan Elahi's website (elahi.org) documents everything he does. He is tracked online at all times (trackingtransience.com)
- Chenda Fruchter is the director of content and agency relations for NYC 311, the non-emergency call number for New York City. 311 has handled over 50 million calls for city services coordinating between over 100 city agencies.
- David Rose from Ambient Devices works on glanceable technology - embedding internet information into everyday objects.
- Fernanda Viegas & Martin Wattenberg work on Many Eyes, an information visualization research project at IBM.
Notes from MAYA Information Architecture Workshop
The slides from this workshop can be downloaded at www.maya.com/web/what/what_sightings_speaking.mtml
Four Information Architecture Models
- Concept Maps - Concept maps start at the most important thing for the customer. Site design shouldn't necessarily start on the home page, rather, start the design with a major focus area. As you begin to see groupings start identifying them. A concept map is a good way of capturing the essence of something.
- Bulls eye Diagrams - for prioritizing by identifying most critical issues.
- Navigation Maps - assist in understanding the flow of information.
- Workflow diagrams - identify a process from beginning to an end. Uses in signage design, product design, spatial design, software design
Explaining IA and its models
Most Descriptive IA Diagram: System architecture -> information architecture -> UI
IA gives you predictability: IA may evolve a little bit, but is the most stable entity out of the three. System Architecture and UI change all the time.
Prioritize issues to get the best return on investment. Technology has evolved faster than humans. E.g., washing machines have evolved so much that they are no longer intuitive and easy
Redesigning the Eaton Electrical high-voltage electric-power meter
Do more features always lead to more buttons? A meter reader that was very difficult to use. Users had to use a thick manual.
Maya replaced the complicated device with a simple design, which was powerful yet simple to use.
Redesigning Carnegie Library
They were supposed to design a kiosk at the entrance of the library. Instead, they revolutionized the library: The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh www.carnegielibrary.org
Did navigation maps of how different people will go through the spaces. www.maya.com/web/images/projects/full/what_pop_clp_01.html
Examples from Institute for Human and Machine Cognition: ihmc.us
Other References
- Some presentations are on the IDEA blog (ideaconference.org/blog/)
- Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language
- Boxes and Arrows
About The Speaker
David Nay designs the user experience of several FamilySearch products for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dave has been working in the field of interaction design, usability, human factors, graphic design – the task of understanding your customer when creating a product – for the past twenty seven years.
David Nay - nayds at ldschurch.org
Thanks
Thanks to Amitava Sinharay for the notes and to NextPage for hosting.
Original Meeting Invitation
IDEA 2007 (ideaconference.org)
a conference report by David Nay
7:00 pm Thursday November 29th at NextPage, 13997 S. Minuteman Drive, Draper. (map)
David Nay will share insights about designing complex information spaces in both the physical and virtual worlds from the Idea 2007 conference. He will describe modeling techniques learned at an all day information modeling workshop as well as review highlights from the conference.
David Nay designs the user experience of several FamilySearch products for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dave has been working in the field of interaction design, usability, human factors, graphic design – the task of understanding your customer when creating a product – for the past twenty years.