[Sigia-l] My card sorting book is underway!

[Fred Beecher]

On 4/24/06, Listera <listera at rcn.com> wrote:
>
> In the age of dynamic applications (vs. page-based, form-driven,
> navigation-heavy web *sites*), widgets, task-driven flows, small services
> for mobiles, etc., it's a bit of an anachronism.

So what technique do you use for determining the relationships between
bits of information, related tasks, etc? Despite the fact that we're
in "the age of dynamic applications," there is still a TON of need for
the Web as an information-gathering tool. These examples you mention
are typically not appropriate for this type of use (depending on
context, of course).

Card sorting won't be an anachronism until people stop using the Web
to find information, which I can't imagine ever happening.

But you do bring up a good point. What techniques do we use to
determine users' mental models when we're designing for rich
applications that focus on manipulating something other than
"information." (To clarify, by not-information I'm thinking of data
[raw numbers, etc.], non-textual objects [pictures, music], social
interaction, etc.)

- Fred