期刊名称：Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
印刷版ISSN：1931-6550
出版年度：2013
卷号：40
期号：1
出版社：American Society for Information Science and Technology
摘要：In his 15 years of teaching information architecture classes, Thom Haller's aim for studentswas to identify their goals and help them work toward them. His 10-week courses focusedon useful knowledge about how humans think and use information and how goodinformation architecture can facilitate the process. The courses covered visual thinking,user actions, interconnections between information items and navigating mental models.From the theories and techniques introduced in the course, the most important pointswould continually surface when the class considered the question, "What sticks." Weeklyand at the end of a course, the students reflected on lessons with lasting value about thefield, user experience and the practice of information architecture. In recent discussionswith Haller, former students reported on enduring principles that stuck, resonating throughtheir daily work. They agreed that the core tenet of information architecture – that makingthings simple and understandable creates the best user experience – is equally true inother domains. The concept is graphically represented by a triangle of connected fingers,symbolizing audience, goals and success metrics around a communication product
关键词：information architectureuser modelsinformation science educationusabilityinformation modelsuser experienceSpecial SectionInformation Architecture37ILearn techniques for making information more accessible (and applythose techniques to my current project)And others …IDevelop a strategy to perpetuate optimization as paradigms progressand technological advancements allow increasing accommodations tosecurity classifications.…took a while for me to process.Instructional ChallengesMy instructional challenge was to provide content in coherent wholesthat built upon previous lessons learned. I always reserved our final class inWeek 10 for student presentations. Students would often present a researchidea they were exploring; synthesize a practical assignment they wereaccomplishing – often for the employer who was funding the class – orreport back on a class (group) project exploring real-world architecturalchallenges and providing recommendations or solutions.How could we all travel effectively from Week 1 (introductions andoverview) to Week 10 (final presentations and a class party). We used thesyllabus to guide our journey; and we used a class conversation we called"What sticks." to serve as glue from week to week.The syllabus always began with an opportunity for students to interactand explore their perceptions of the field. Obviously; this explorationincorporated reading from texts (a variety of recommended texts supportingthe Polar Bear book); but also included interviews with informationarchitects. It was not uncommon for guest speakers – frequently a panel – tovisit with us early in the course to talk about their experiences asinformation architecture professionals.I framed the class as a quest for useful knowledge: What happens inhumans' heads when we use information. What are strategies for helpingthem out. What framework can we adopt for envisioning users. Whatresearch techniques can we adopt. What political hurdles do we cross.What enables humans to get their jobs done. The class provided a linkbetween information structure and human experience.During the early weeks of class; we spent a good bit of time talkingabout humans – we'd explore what happens in their heads as they useinformation and make their way through the world.I clustered content using the mnemonic GAIN (humans thinkGraphically; they seek to Act; they look for Interconnections and they try toNavigate). Students explored each concept – getting lost in visualinformation; trying to accomplish tasks in think-aloud protocols;articulating different organizational relationships and exploring mentalmodels and patterns.I was fortunate to come upon a quote by Albert Einstein that helpedframe my thinking for the class. Apparently; a colleague asked him whyEinstein was asking students the same question in the final exam that he hadasked the year before. "Because the answer has now changed;" heresponded. Similarly; IA conversations constantly changed; and I oftenbenefitted from guest speakers following (or leading) these changes.Guests took on different topics: incorporating cognitive research;developing search systems; communicating design; identifying and usingpatterns; developing intranet systems; using different research methods;conducting card sorts; sketching; running usability tests; using remotetesting tools; comparing research methodologies and practices; designing acontent strategy; developing responsible design; optimizing search resultswith metadata; incorporating accessibility thought – I would thank all ourguests by name; but I'm not prepared to leave anyone out.You may wonder how students could maintain focus in a class with suchdisparate topics. I owe a lot of our camaraderie and success that emergedfrom a beginning-of- class conversation in which we discussed "what sticks."For our "graduate" (work-world adult) classes; folks would arrive inclass harried from a long day at the office. To help reacclimatize students tothe lesson topics of the day; I would begin by asking; "What sticks fromyour reading." "What sticks from your individual study or project work.""What sticks from your real-world job experiences this week."Students had to synthesize their week-gone-by experiences or relate an"aha moment." Some classes turned into therapy encounters. Studentswould face obstacles on the job; take a lesson from class back into theworkplace and emerge with new installments in their experience.H A L L E R ; c o n t i n u e dT O P O F A R T I C L EC O N T E N T SN E X T PA G E >N E X T A R T I C L E >< P R E V I O U S P A G ESpecial Section
