[Sigia-l] IA system components – add to the list!

[Arno Reichenauer]

Hello all,

this is the first time I contribute to the list after following it for some time; so just a few notes about myself: I am working at an electronics/communication company in Germany. I have a major in psychology with focus on User Interface Design/Web Design. Intranet IA projects form the basis of my work for more than one and a half years now. I am also working on a PhD thesis about IA methodology. 

I’ve also been following the hot debates about what elements constitute IA and its components („small“ vs. „big“ IA, IA vs. Usability, IA - role or discipline or the recently “3 Factors of I/A” -thread, etc..) I also do know that some of you don’t want to cover such questions here. But  IMHO, to move forward as a *discipline*, it is really necessary for the IA community to work towards something like an underlying IA theory, because the term discipline in my understanding describes a branch of knowledge and teaching grounded in a theoretic basis. 

In an attempt to bring different viewpoints together, I did an literature review regarding what I call “components of an IA system”. The term “IA system” is meant to describe the IA-part of an interactive system (website or intranet), and the components of an IA system therefore are the parts of such an interactive system that an Information Architect CAN deliver, but not necessarily has to (because maybe somebody else already does it in that company). I separate this from what I'd call "process deliverables", which are merely used within the process or to communicate the results (e.g. scenarios, Content Inventories,..) 

The goal of this literature review was to identify the highest common denominator of the different opinions held. 
It included IA books (the "Polar Bear" etc.) as well as IA articles, blogs, job openings, company profiles, the archives of this list, and expert knowledge collected from colleagues of my company in Germany and US (Hi Catherine!). 

This clarification serves as a starting point for a theoretical foundation of IA methodology in my PhD thesis. I'd like to suggest these preliminary results as a basis for discussion to the community:

IA system components:

1. Content (=information and applications)
- Content scope
- Content granularity
- Content wording (i.e., the language used in textual documents)
- Content media type
- Content functionality (i.e. the functionality that is offered by information and/or integrated applications)

2. Organization systems
- Classification 
-- Content Type Classes
-- Metadata systems
- Categorization (site organization)
-- organization scheme (exact vs. ambiguous organization schemes)
-- organization structure (hypertext, database model, hierarchy,
)
- Layout (page organization)

3. Navigation systems
- embedded navigation systems
-- global navigation
-- local navigation
-- contextual navigation
- supplemental navigation systems
-- Guides/wizards
-- Site maps/TOCs
-- Indexes
- Collaborative filtering devices
- Personalization, Customization

4. Search systems
- search engine
-- search/retrieval algorithms
-- query languages
-- search zones
- search interface
-- search query input
-- search results display

5. Labeling systems
- labels as headings (see 1.)
- labels as index terms (see 2.)
- labels within navigation systems (see 3.)


Any suggestions, comments and critics are welcomed. Remember: I am talking about what parts an Information Architect can contribute to a working interactive system, not what he has to do to get there. If you feel anything is missing – just add to the list. I'd be happy to summarize feedback.

Best wishes,
Arno

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