[Sigia-l] Less Spatiality, More Semantics?

[signal at received.com]

>semantics are not just important to
>consider when creating organizational schemes - they're mandatory -
>without considering semantics (ie, the meaning your users will infer of
>your content) even your "spatial / hierarchial" schemes might fail.
>
>- Richard Dalton
-----
>(agreeing with Luca here).  The tricky part is that while this can
>still be a simple and elegant description of a complex concept, the
>process of getting there is still quite challenging.
>
>Donna M. Fritzsche


Multiplicity:
Not a word, or a condition, but rather a quality we hope manifests itself in
the user experience as a result of our work as Information Architects.

In reference to another thread on this list regarding the "System IA" vs.
other flavors of our beloved skill set, there must be ongoing recognition
that there is no magic singularity, or even duality in our approach.  The
ideal balance of skills for designing a successful/usable information
appliance should find us focusing just as much on the limitations of
technology as we do the limitations of its users, and everything in between
(taxonomy, task analysis, process mapping, etc.)  By allowing multiple
approaches to balance one another out, we get a richer set of requirements
by which to design.

There is a parallel between that issue and the issue of the "Spatial" vs.
the "Semantic". Applying equal rigor to the task of designing relationships
between informational contexts as we do to the task of understanding the
multiplicity of relationships between and among the information itself
yields a much more holistic understanding of the design issues at hand.

While I already see this as a duality of sorts ; ), I agree that the hard
work lies in the creation of foils within which we balance the findings of
both approaches to inform our ultimate direction...Foils that allow the
"spatial" to inform the "semantic" and vice-versa;  difficult to do, but
entirely possible.  Many successful design teams do this without even
realizing it.  It requires deep collaboration amongst approaches, and I dare
say this is where we may have the most trouble.  Trying to take on these
challenges as an individual IA without a team is difficult as, I think we
can agree, it can be difficult to collaborate with oneself.

This is not so much a case for "Less Spatiality, More Semantics", but rather
an advocacy for a total balance of these approaches and a call for serious
innovation in the realm of fusing the outcome of these approaches to create
something actionable.
___________________________
Jason Valdina
Information Architecture | User Research
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jason at received.com
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