[Sigia-l] IA myths: conceptual model of navigation - was: mixing apples and oranges and tomatoes

[PeterV]

Hi Tanya,

>In questioning whether or not a user forms a conceptual model
>of navigation, I think, if I understand it correctly, you're not really
>questioning whether users form this conceptual model, but whether they
>are aware of forming it

Not really, I was really questioning the formation of a conceptual model. 
Or maybe I was questioning *what kind of* conceptual model they form, since 
IA's seem to assume sometimes it is related to the architecture they 
develop - I don't think it really is...

I think the types of models they form may be more about "this is a 
trustworthy site", "this area of the page is useless on this site", "Oh I 
remember clicking on this before to get there, let's do that again" or 
"that thing there is really reliable, if I click on it the same thing 
always happens, so I'll try that again.". These models I'd guess are 
probably 99% unconscious, and don't contain much information about the 
information architecture or structure of the site.

But I have the feeling I'm missing a lot here - how do metaphors and 
categories fit in this picture?
PeterV (aka Peter the Pernicious)
http://petervandijck.net