Contact:cdent@burningchrome.com
Gullikson, S., Blades, R., Bragdon, M., McKibbon, S., Sparling, M.,
and Toms, E. (1998). The impact of information architecture on academic
web site usability. _The Electronic Library 17_ (5), 293-304.
A classic usability test for an academic website that shows how
important it is to attend to the fundamentals of information
architecture when creating websites. Recommendations from testing
include: provide multiple access points and pathways to deal with user
diversity; provide keyword scearching, a site map, an alphabetic index
and a FAQ to assist navigation into the depths of the site; provide
consistency in organizational scheme, categories and labels.
-=-=-
I had something of a revelation when I started reading this article:
there is a significant difference between information
recovery/discovery and knowledge generation. The tasks described in
this article are information recovery--there is a target.
My infatuation with hypertext comes from the way in which it
facillitates knowledge generation--finding unexpected links between
things. It's effectiveness for information recovery is perhaps
somewhat suspect given the degree of planning required to make it work
well.
In my own life I seem to get around that by viewing my misnavigations
as opportunities for knowledge.
It's always about perspective.
Back to the Index