[Sigia-l] IA myths: conceptual model of navigation - was: mix ing applesand oranges and tomatoes

[PeterV]

I said:

 > Which to me seem one of the great myths of IA: this whole 
building-a-conceptual-model-of-the-navigation business.

and then Erin said:

>"As a user, I have "muscle memory" about where to click on a page (e.g., which
>portlet or tile) to accomplish certain actions or find certain info, but this
>doesn't translate to a "conceptual model of navigation" at 
>all.  Similarly, the
>convention of left-hand taxonomy doesn't help the user navigate per se - 
>it only
>helps us (sometimes) discover and recall the availability of content and it's
>granularity."

And then Mike said:

>Interesting point I have never considered. I might say that your "muscle 
>memory"
>is based on certain expectations you have developed semi-consciously while 
>using
>a certain site. I don't think users develop a very full picture of what a site
>may contain and where something might be, but instead that they make their
>choices of what's behind a certain label based on how they think a site is
>organized. This comes from evaluating a certain choice as compared to the 
>other
>available choices. The vague model comes from this evaluation of available
>options.

My turn :)
I love the "Muscle memory" metaphor for how users retrace their paths 
through a website. Good one Erin, that's definitely an example of a 
*useful* metaphor. It's gonna be a classic I'm sure.

When Mike says: "[...] evaluating a certain choice as compared to the other 
available choices", I don't agree. I don't believe (right now) users 
evaluate when using website. They satisfice - ie. pick the first choice 
available. Check out naturalistic decision making theory (try Google, can't 
find my links right now) for more on this.

Data point: I'm sure we've all seen users move between different sites 
without realising they're on a separate site. This argues against the 
"conceptual model of navigation" model.
PeterV
http://petervandijck.net