Government categorizations - .gov extension; supported by tax dollars; departments/agencies; policy briefings; on local level provides links to community resources, contacts, etc. - serves as information resource; safety/emergency alerts

www.cityofseattle.gov - offers several links to local community resources; has directory listings and information on policy

www.whitehouse.gov - provides public service links; information directories by issue/dept.

www.irs.gov - documentation; federal resources for processes

I reviewed THE DESIGN OF SITES by Douglas Van Duyne, James Landay, and Jason Hong at the recommendation of Dr. Gill for a text assessing web site genres. The book took it several steps further than what I was expecting in terms of web classifications and offered a complete profile of what they listed as 'patterns' - observable trends in web design that should be followed to lay the foundations for successful sites. The rules they prescribed, while perhaps achievable instinctively, are excellent prescriptions for what otherwise may be neglected in the early-advanced development stages. Like our inclass text, it strongly emphasizes user-centric design and offers several tips relating from page layouts, navigation, searching, writing & managing content, and e-commerce. The authors are keenly of the 'usability' camp and arguably pay 'design' attention only insofar as to express how valuable it is on a homepage (i.e. first impression) and its role in site branding. The text is a terrific comprehensive resource for all stages of site planning and implementation, but it offers little in the way of innovation.

http://students.washington.edu/lheian/book_review/

Group 3 Discussion_

Within our group, I focused on "Cognitive Psychology & IA: From Theory to Practice". The article strives to conjoin the (perhaps) not so immediately similar schools of cognitive psychology with information architecture and, I believe, succeeds insofar as that it successfully communicates interactive behaviors with the web should take cues from our real life interactions with actual environments.

Along cognitive lines, the article discusses mental category as a tool information architects can use to unite otherwise dissimilar groups of information by way of patterned commonalities or categories. The predominant challenge here is described as the process of categorization itself. Consider the nav bar for Amazon.com. If you wanted to search for the new Nike iPod shoe, would you be more likely to search under 'athletic gear' or 'electronics'? Be as broad in categories as possible without limiting the user in presented information. Cognitive/IA relationships are also discussed in terms of memory - limit nav bar items to a succinct amount and create layouts that are easily scannable and provide quick information retrieval. Furthermore, our brains naturally are inclined to stick with one topic and explore it. IA architects would best follow suite and structure information accordingly - providing links to related content the further users delve into the site. Finally, transference is discussed as the online mind's instinct to expect sites to function in certain ways based off of its experience with other sites. Employ cues, styles, and patterns that are easily recognizable in web culture. Don't break the mold insofar as to turn off or confuse your audience. Use their expectations to your advantage.












The science of laying out information in a manner corresponding to our natural habits of interaction. Simple things like following horizontal/vertical cues that our minds naturally respond due in laying out grids, starting search tools and nav bars at the top left corner of the screen where our eyes naturally start first to read.