Information architecture

The following is a list of pages on this site that are tagged with information architecture.

In pursuit of the ultimate techCom information architecture

Should the Answer to a User Question be a Short or a Long Topic?

A user asks questions when stuck in product use. Displaying information-seeking behavior, they search for answers; and it’s you—the technical communicator—who is responsible for providing them with one. But then you get stuck as you ask yourself: how long should the answer be? As the question of topic size, (as in a DITA topic), continues to be controversial in the technical communication community, we also need to ask ourselves how the size of an answer relates to the size of a topic. My conclusion is that users prefer short answers. Why is this?

Read more

In pursuit of the ultimate techCom information architecture

Will an answer be easy to find if we mimic human dialog in user assistance?

Research has shown that most people avoid using the traditional book-like manual, whether it’s on- or offline. Researchers have provided a number of explanations to why this is the case. One common explanation is that users avoid manuals since they perceive them to be difficult to search.

In response, many technical communicators are exploring innovative new ways to design and deliver user assistance to make manuals more user-friendly. To make the manual an option for the user, we need to make answers easy to find.

Read more

In pursuit of the ultimate techCom information architecture

What does it mean to predict user questions following a reversed taxonomical approach?

Are you a technical communicator? Do you call yourself an information architect or an information designer? Are you responsible for the design of your company's product manuals? Are you specifying what type of information these manuals contain and how that information is structured? Are you in a process of re-thinking what type of information to include in a manual and how to organize the same information to achieve high findability? Are you uncertain about how to do it? If so, this is the blog for you.

Read more

XML.org Focus Areas: BPEL | DITA | ebXML | IDtrust | OpenDocument | SAML | UBL | UDDI
OASIS sites: OASIS | Cover Pages | XML.org | AMQP | CGM Open | eGov | Emergency | IDtrust | LegalXML | Open CSA | OSLC | WS-I