BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:IA Summit 2007 PRODID:-//Apple Computer\, Inc//iCal 2.0//EN X-WR-RELCALID:9AD15825-7AB1-451D-9D74-4FE6B92D7808 X-WR-TIMEZONE:US/Pacific CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:US/Pacific LAST-MODIFIED:20070319T031448Z BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20070311T100000 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031332Z LOCATION:Mesquite UID:A3928CA6-ED08-43EA-B0F2-E0075FDF2836 SEQUENCE:6 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/researchpaper/utilizing_ritua l_in_the_design.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T140000 SUMMARY:Utilizing ritual in the design of information spaces for the cog nitively impaired DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T150000 DESCRIPTION:Research paper by: Dr. D. Grant Campbell\, University of Wes tern Ontario\, Faculty of Information and Media Studies\n\nThis paper ex amines the potential relevance of ritual in the design of information re sources for users suffering from cognitive impairments\, particularly Al zheimer's Disease. Using examples that show how patients with cognitive disabilities respond to metaphors\, symbols and religious rituals\, the analysis suggests that ritual\, with its emphasis on repetition and proc ess\, its use of symbols that appeal to multiple senses\, its themes of plenitude and abundance\, and its dialogic relationship between believer and deity\, provides clues to the ways in which information systems cou ld be designed to facilitate comprehension and access by those suffering from dementia. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T013405Z UID:4A62E42D-19D5-4ABC-924B-077B282A47ED SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/grown_up_ia _from_little_to_big.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T134500 SUMMARY:Maximum value IA: create a larger impact on the business DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T143000 DESCRIPTION:Austin Govella\n\nThe world over\, information architects ar e so busy with day-to-day projects and business as usual\, they can't fi nd time to work on bigger issues\, the mythical Big IA.\n\nThis prevents IA from offering input that impacts the entire organization. And\, it p revents practitioners from earning the experience they need to move from tactical projects to Enterprise Information Architecture.\n\nFortunatel y\, Big IA isn't a type of work: it’s a way you work.\n\nWe can adjust o ur tools and techniques to become more relevant and offer more value to our organizations. By changing how we approach specific tasks\, we can t ransform lessons from small projects into frameworks that guide entire s ystems.\n\nEight strategies for maximum value IA\n\nFrom my work with gl obal IT companies\, Universities\, political campaigns\, interactive age ncies\, and financial institutions\, I’ve collected eight experiences th at show how common design deliverables (like wireframes\, controlled voc abularies\, mental models\, rich interfaces\, personas\, and flows) can be used to influence – and change – the broader organization. For each e xample\, I’ve tried to isolate a specific strategy (and give it a memora ble name):\n\nTools\, not rules: \nGive people something useful they can use in other situations.\nMountains from molehills: \nChange perspectiv e to make things more important.\nPlant seeds: \nLet ideas blossom over time.\nBirds with stones: \nWith everything you do\, always work towards multiple goals.\nEvery bitch is valid: \nIn every complaint\, there’s a kernel of truth (and often much more) you need to address.\nNo is only part of Now: \nNo only starts the conversation. See where the conversati on takes you.\nFind great minds: \nThink like them. Or\, find out why yo u don’t.\nPlay new games: \nChange the rules and change the goals to cha nge the outcomes.\nIce the cake: \nAlways add one more layer.\nFor each strategy\, the example shows how you can communicate the big picture whi le still working on the little details. These strategies bridge the gap between knowing design methods and using them for maximum value.\n\nWho should attend?\n\nThough the examples and strategies are useful for prac titioners of any skill level in any discipline\, newer and intermediate information architects will learn the most.\n\nNew IAs will learn how to extract maximum value from individual projects\, while intermediate IAs will learn how to influence change across the entire organization. Thos e interested in Enterprise Information Architecture or User Experience m anagement will find the presentation and resource materials especially u seful. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin DTSTAMP:20070319T012053Z UID:DF7C69C3-1E7C-4961-B563-F58E5BB5A1FE SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_web_tha t_wasnt.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T103000 SUMMARY:The web that wasn't DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T111500 DESCRIPTION:Alex Wright\n\nWhat if the Web had turned out differently? I n the years leading up to Tim Berners-Lee’s world-changing invention\, a number of other visionary information scientists were building alternat ive systems that often bore little resemblance to the Web as we know it today. The presentation will explore the pioneering early- and mid- twen tieth century work of Paul Otlet\, Vannevar Bush and Doug Engelbart\, fo rebears of the 1960s and 1970s like Ted Nelson\, Andries van Dam\, and t he Xerox PARC team\, and more recent forays like Brown's Intermedia syst em.\n\nIn probing the heritage of these largely forgotten systems\, we w ill also keep an eye out for promising ideas left sitting by the histori cal wayside.\n\nThe phenomenal success of the Web over the past decade h as overshadowed most research into alternative networked information sys tems\; for most information architects\, the Web is all we have ever rea lly known. But if the history of technology teaches us anything\, it is that the best technology does not always win (see also: Mac vs. Windows\ ; Betamax vs. VHS). Despite the Web’s current dominance\, in many ways i t remains\, as hypertext pioneer Ted Nelson put it\,“the simplest form o f hypertext imaginable.” As most information architects understand all t oo well\, today’s Web is hamstrung with fundamental flaws: statelessness \, the lack of two-way linking\, versioning\, and the inherent limitatio ns of the two-dimensional page metaphor. To compensate for these shortco mings\, we rely on makeshift workarounds like AJAX\, metadata repositori es\, comments and trackbacks\, and a host of other gerry-rigged solution s. However much information architects may like to rail against the page metaphor (especially at IA conferences)\, the lowly page still lies at the heart of the current Web. But what if things had been different?\n\n What would a better version of the Web look like? If we are willing to l ook just a few years back\, we can find answers lying in plain sight. Th is presentation will invite participants to explore a world of discarded ideas about how electronic information retrieval systems could work\, i n search of useful concepts and metaphors that could guide our thinking about common information architecture problems. Ultimately\, this presen tation will look for clues to the future of information architecture by mining our not-so-distant past. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin II DTSTAMP:20070319T031023Z UID:6207D0B0-129A-4D90-ADF9-28F79CEC8DDA SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/my_grandmot her_the_information.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T090000 SUMMARY:My grandmother the information architect: The IA of everyday lif e DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T094500 DESCRIPTION:Hallie Wilfert\n\nThe first edition of the Polar Bear book d escribes an information architect as a person who:\n\nclarifies the miss ion and the vision for the site\, balancing the needs of its sponsoring organization and the needs of its audiences\ndetermines what content and functionality the site will contain\nspecifies how users will find info rmation in the site by defining its organization\, navigation\, labeling \, and searching systems\nmaps out how the site will accommodate change and growth over time.\nMy grandmother is a person who:\n\nclarifies the mission and the vision for her home\, balancing the needs of my grandfat her and the needs of anyone who might visit her home\ndetermines what st uff in her home stays and what stuff goes out to the trash\nspecifies ho w people will find things in her home by defining its organization\, nav igation\, labeling\, and searching systems\nmaps out how her home will a ccommodate change and growth over time\, e.g.\, having guests for the ho lidays.\nEerie similarities\, no?\n\nMy presentation examines the inform ation architecture of everyday life\, using my grandmother\, the quintes sential “domestic engineer”\, as a case study and example. Through parti cipant observation\, I will examine her core IA skills (content inventor ies\, wireframes\, and card sorting)\, illustrate them with photos and a rtifacts of her work\, and compare her work to “traditional IA” best pra ctices.\n\nWhile seemingly tongue-in-cheek\, my presentation will be val uable to anyone who wants to crawl out from the weeds and examine how in formation architecture is used everyday by regular people. I will talk a bout how home organization\, as a metaphor for web site organization\, c an be used to describe IA to those who might not understand its value in a larger context. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T012835Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:4003E11C-052D-4BB4-A040-ECD291C37C66 SEQUENCE:6 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/where_does_ ia_fit_in_the_desig.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T111500 SUMMARY:Where does IA fit in the design process? DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T120000 DESCRIPTION:Moderator: Peter Boersma. Panellists: Larisa Warnke\, Peter Merholz\, Livia Labate\, Leisa Reichelt and Josh Seiden\n\nThis panel wi ll discuss the place of Information Architecture (IA) activities and del iverables in the design process of interactive systems. Several well-kno wn IAs with experience in researching and designing their own methods\, adapting existing software development methodologies\, or resorting to o utside consultants to implement a method will all be present.\n\nWe will discuss (amongst each other and with the audience) issues such as:\n\nW hat are the typical IA deliverables and activities? (briefly!)\nWhen sho uld IAs be part of a design team?\nHow do IAs work together with other d esign team members?\nHow do you communicate your design process to new e mployees and clients?\nHow do you measure improvements in your design pr ocess?\nThe audience will see examples of IA-aware design processes\, le arn what approach to process design worked in which situations\, and hea r what the results were for both IAs and their environment. After attend ing the session\, audience members should understand the benefits of dev eloping\, adapting or foregoing a design process that includes IA activi ties and deliverables. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031209Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:F111F188-FE5F-44CA-9173-26B988C17B46 SEQUENCE:5 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/online_prod uct_development_in.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T093000 SUMMARY:Online product development in the financial services industry\; can it be done? DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T101500 DESCRIPTION:Michelle Watson\n\nI was assigned to work on a web store pro ject for a large financial services company. My job was to investigate t he suitability of traditional off line products to be sold online. In th e discovery phase of this project I learned that Independent Financial A dvisors (IFAs) currently account for 90% of all existing product sales. As a result this company’s products are designed purposely to accommodat e the IFA. Each product’s commission structure and its perceived benefit s are assembled in such a way that ensure IFAs collect a larger commissi on and are able to entice customers with more features and benefits than comparable competitor products. Products are continually morphing into seemingly more attractive versions of themselves. The problem is after a series of these reinventions\, financial services products have become so convoluted and complex they cannot be sold without an IFA’s or at lea st a customer service agent’s guidance and advice.\n\nDid the solution l ie in stripping these products down to their core elements and rebuildin g them in such a way that they are easy to comprehend by any online user with average intelligence? Or was the answer to equip online users to h ave a more informed interaction with their IFA by educating them about t he mechanics and complexities of the existing product set? As a starting point I designed an interactive application called the \"Asset Protecto r\". Focusing specifically on Healthcare and Insurance\, this tool guide s an online consumer down a simple path towards a tailored protection pl an that will ensure future financial security. In order for this tool to be successfully applied online\, Life\, Protection and Healthcare produ cts had to be stripped down and rebuilt in such a way that they could be first and foremost easily understood and then sold as individual compon ents of a complete protection package. By applying this thinking to two different areas of the group\, Healthcare and Insurance\, we began to se e product relationships springing up across the group as a whole.\n\nBy enhancing and optimizing existing products and stripping out irrelevant features we were able to isolate and draw on emotional triggers and allo w users to find products that were relevant to them without 3rd party as sistance. The \"Asset Protector\" allows users to come to their own conc lusions about the usefulness of product features and benefits and can di scard elements that will not add direct value to their financial wellbei ng or growth. This case study will illustrate my journey from trying to understand the peculiar way in which financial services products are cur rently sold\, to stripping products down and rebuilding them using a ser ies of isolated product features to form simple clean propositions that could be sold online\, and leveraging all the unseen opportunities that arose along the way. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031351Z LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom UID:F7080C9D-8C81-43F9-A10E-717D76C379BA SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/when_a_publ ic_administration_m.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T093000 SUMMARY:When a public administration met its citizens: changing perspect ive\, creating new tools DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T101500 DESCRIPTION:This paper is about the ways to improve findability in a web site of a public administration. Sviluppo Italia is an agency aimed at developing the country thanks to a wide range of economic tools/products . It is difficult to find the contents of our portal for two reasons:\n\ nwe talk to different targets\nwe manage a wide variety of topics\nDurin g the years the information has rapidly grown up\, much faster than the solutions adopted to cope with the problem of information retrieval and usability. We were working on the navigation tree and labels of the most difficult sections in order to re-organize the hierarchical tree.\n\nWe ’re currently adopting the solutions used by e-commerce sites offering p roducts or services. Nevertheless adopting a pure commercial logic is no t correct to our purpose because the inner characteristics of our conten t are not clear and objective. Besides we need to offer clear and reliab le information about our agency according to governative politics.\n\nIn the paper we will shortly tell you about the data collection step\, wil l investigate the topic of the new communication logics and finally will say something about the application of these classification systems in a traditional CMS.\n\nThe contents tell you the way\nOur site contains a wide number of very heterogeneous contents.We started our job interview ing all the operation areas of our company to know what they have to tel l to their audience. In the meantime we analyzed the information request s received by our CRM to understand:\n\nwhat our clients want\nwhere our site doesn’t match their needs.\nCrossing all the data collected we arg ued that the structure wasn’t working anymore and we had to dare a subst antial change of route: create a customer oriented portal with many acce ss point and navigation paths (multidimension).\n\nPUSH and PULL approac h: that’s all folks!\nWe set up 6 points of view to surf the site. Three of them (who am I? – where am I? – What do I need?) are facets that per mit to the users to follow their own way in searching the site: this is the PULL action where a user doesn’t follow a path designed by the infor mation architect but create a personal navigation path to reach a specif ic content. The other points of view (who’s talking? - what do we offer you? – what’s hot?) are traditional hierarchical tags that open navigati on paths thought by the IA according to a typical PUSH action (the compa ny decides what subjects need to be pushed according to its agenda). Bes ides that in home page we reserve a “the users make the site up” area\, a real folksonomy that brings in home the ten most wanted items.\n\nHow we customized our CMS and lived happily\nThree years ago our company sig ned a contract with a little Italian software house that created the CMS we’re working on\, a traditional tool supporting a traditional informat ion architecture. We decided to work together to personalize and modify this software so that it could support the facet logic.The final result is a traditional CMS with some added innovative tools to search and surf the site. With these new tools we can implement:\n\na multidimensional navigation based on facets\, tags and folksonomy\na “guided research fun ction” based on alternative/additional criteria compared to the facets\n the “search function” that – as the e commerce sites - give you back the searched item and some clues to deepen the research.\nThis last functio n is based on a dedicated thesaurus made up by the users themselves: the more a term is searched the easier its entry in the controlled terms li st (thesaurus). END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031250Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:EA09F3CE-3AC2-4258-9D3A-708094DC36C7 SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/how_to_mana ge_a_user_experienc.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T140000 SUMMARY:How to manage a user experience team (without losing your mind) DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T150000 DESCRIPTION:Katrina Alcorn\n\nChances are\, if you’ve been working as a user experience architect (or information architect) for many years\, yo u didn’t go to “information architecture school.” Maybe you studied anth ropology or graphic design or journalism or library science. You fell in to the work\, and to your surprise and delight\, you found that you like d it. Through trial and error\, you actually got good at it. Likewise\, many of us who rose in the ranks to become managers didn’t go to managem ent school. Someone saw we were capable\, they offered us the job\, and we were off to the races. It was hard enough to master all the different skills involved in being a good user experience architect. Most of us a re generalists. We need to know enough about technology to work with eng ineers. We need to know enough about visual design to work with designer s. Every time we start a new project\, we need to learn about our client ’s business and their business problems\, until we can recite them in ou r sleep. We need to be part designer\, part psychologist\, part research er\, part corporate therapist. We need to be able to write cogently\, sk etch our ideas so that even the most distracted marketing executives can understand them\, and give killer presentations.\n\nBut managing a user experience team takes these skills to a whole new level.\n\nHow do you find people who have potential to be as good at this work as (or even be tter than) you are?\n\nHow do you inspire them to do their best work\, a nd keep getting better?\n\nHow do you handle a team member who is not pe rforming?\n\nWhat if\, (heaven forbid)\, you have to fire someone?\n\nHo w do you keep yourself inspired\, when your job is to make the rest of y our team look good?\n\n\nThese were some of the questions I had when I w as hired as the director of a user experience group three years ago for an award-winning design agency in San Francisco. In those three years\, I built the team from zero to an all-star group of a dozen full-time emp loyees and long-term freelancers. Along the way\, I learned a lot about creativity\, human nature\, and communication. Now I’m ready to share th is hard-won knowledge with others in the field.\n\n\nWhether you manage a UX team\, or you’re just thinking about it\, this presentation will gi ve you practical advice grounded in real-world experience. It will incor porate interviews with other managers of UX teams from consulting agenci es as well as in-house groups. If you’re thinking about becoming a manag er\, it may help you decide if the job is for you. And for experienced m anagers\, you may confirm what you have learned on your own\, and pick u p some new ideas as well. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T013254Z UID:22BD0F81-303C-41E3-95F7-8B4D94D4DA25 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/tuning_up_s ite_search.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T144500 SUMMARY:Tuning up site search DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T153000 DESCRIPTION:Chris Farnum\n\nUsers expect that typing a word or two into a single box will always give them exactly what they are looking for. Se arch is supposed to “just work.” Unfortunately\, enterprise site search for portals\, intranets\, e-commerce\, and e-service sites often fails t o deliver the results that users expect. If your search system isn’t del ivering on these high expectations\, an important question to ask is wha t (if anything) has been done to configure and optimize your site search tool. Given the fact that many organizations have already made a big in vestment in purchasing a search engine\, it makes sense to explore ways to tune up your search engine before sending it to the digital scrap hea p.\n\nIf you are new to the area of site search and facing the challenge of how to rescue your site’s users from a frustrating search experience \, this introductory presentation will provide you with effective strate gies\, starting points and examples. It will also include opportunities for incorporating user testing and search analytics into the process of improving search. The strategies covered will range from low-hanging fru it (taking better advantage of existing features) to more robust solutio ns. The ideas we’ll discuss include the following:\n\n(Re) Configure you r site search engine\nImprove the search user interface\nMake your conte nt more findable\nCustomize to take search to the next level END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T031259Z UID:EB594793-6D04-4B25-9699-6656295CB59D SEQUENCE:7 DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T083000 SUMMARY:Case Study: how cognitive framing analysis impacts organizationa l strategy DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T091500 DESCRIPTION:Sarah Rice\n\nThis case study shows that IAs can borrow tool s from other fields and adapt them as needed for our own practice. Cogni tive framing methodology was used to develop a communication strategy fo r an organization's presentations\, papers and speeches\, as well as art iculating a clear direction for a web site redesign.\n\nFraming is defin ed as the process of selectively using mental structures to facilitate a thinking process or invoke a particular image or idea. (Wikipedia) This organization struggled with how to best talk about its mission with a d iverse audience. Using principles from linguistics and cognitive science helped to target which frames were being invoked in their current commu nication and which ones were missing. The results were subtle but powerf ul. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T013337Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:7B1C3866-041A-4076-A023-7EA87C7DCADA SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/peer_or_tea m_design_reviews_ho.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T170000 SUMMARY:Peer (or team) design reviews -- how to give 'em and take 'em DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T174500 DESCRIPTION:Dorelle Rabinowitz\, Lucas Pettinati\n\nHow does your team r eview work-in-progress? Do you informally collaborate with other informa tion architects or is there a formal process in place? How do you decide that work is ready to show to the \"outside\" -- the business folks\, c lients or other stakeholders -- and feel confident that the work deliver s what was promised?\n\nIn the case of our team\, we are extremely comfo rtable with the work being produced because of twice-weekly internal des ign reviews. The entire team (interaction designers\, visual designers\, design researchers and even engineers) attends and participates. These recurring meetings function as iterative design sessions\, as work-in-pr ogress is reviewed at all stages of development -- from ideas to sketche s to finished mocks and specs. We offer positive criticism and encourage ment\, brainstorm alternative solutions\, and discuss strategies for rev iew with other functional teams in supportive but truthful environment.\ n\nThese reviews are an effective methodology to not only increase innov ation\, but also improve team morale\, while building communication and listening skills. Informal or structured\, they allow designers to gathe r design feedback\, provide managers with knowledge of project progress\ , and distribute knowledge within a team. In turn\, this process yields better designs and designers who can clearly articulate design rationale s to cross-functional teams and get their buy-in. This presentation will describe:\n\nWhen to hold a session (and how often)\nWho should attend (and who shouldn't)\nWho runs the session (and what they need to do)\nHo w to set up a session and manage participants expectations (When to show \, what to show\, creating a helpful\, non-judgmental environment)\nPres enter's and participant's different responsibilities (the difference bet ween positive feedback and personal opinion)\nBenefits of the methodolog y\nReal Life Examples\nAdapting the methodology for your situation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin II DTSTAMP:20070319T031030Z UID:9C899AD8-FA40-4753-B0DF-83DB7DC5FFB8 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/communicati ng_design_an_astoni.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T101500 SUMMARY:Communicating design: an astonishingly close look at what makes IA documentation work DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T110000 DESCRIPTION:Dan Brown\n\nEvery document created by information architect s contains many layers of information. Too few layers of information\, a nd the ideas within lose context and meaning. Too many layers\, and the important ideas become obscured. Choosing the right ideas to include can make or break a document--and the project. In this session\, the author talks about several different IA documents\, the kinds of information t hey contain\, and strategies for selecting the right information for the right situations. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T013320Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:7D10A811-02B6-40C9-AAF2-0547831ED644 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/a_delphi_ap proach_to_card_sort.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T160000 SUMMARY:A Delphi approach to card sorting DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T164500 DESCRIPTION:Celeste Lyn Paul\n\nCard sorting is a common IA activity whi ch aids in information design. It can be a valuable tool in discovering important information patterns and testing the suitability of category o rganization labels. Although a widely used method\, it has disadvantages which potentially effect how difficult results are to obtain as well as how reliable.\n\nThe Delphi method is an interactive forecasting techni que which incorporates the philosophical argument methods of thesis\, an tithesis\, and synthesis in order to reach an unbiased consensus from a group of experts or users. It has been successfully applied to interview ing techniques\, and has the potential to be applied to card sort method s. Some benefits of this adaptation could be the need for fewer particip ants or more reliable results.\n\nThis presentation will introduce the D elphi method and how it can be applied to card sorting\, as well as disc uss some of the advantages and disadvantages. It is suitable for practit ioners of all levels\, however familiarity with card sorting and testing methods is recommended. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T150000 DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T160000 LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom SUMMARY:Closing plenary - Rashmi Sinha UID:CC050FC9-C6C0-4658-8B54-01B567E421E9 SEQUENCE:3 DTSTAMP:20070319T031428Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Reno DTSTAMP:20070319T012519Z UID:26CC5F6B-B4A1-43B5-B0E0-96A52A76724E SEQUENCE:11 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_convers ation_gets_interest.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T160000 SUMMARY:The conversation gets interesting: Creating the adaptive interfa ce DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T164500 DESCRIPTION:Stephen Anderson\n\nWith the proliferation of rich Internet applications and interactions more closely aligned with how people think \, we face some interesting challenges:\n\nDo we design for one common a udience and common tasks\, or tailor applications around specific audien ces and their unique activities?\nHow do we resolve the tension between creating simple applications that ‘do less’ and the demand for new featu res that some people really do need?\nAs we move beyond usability to cre ate desirable interfaces\, how do we handle a subjective domain like emo tions?\nThese types of challenges could all be addressed by creating a t ruly ‘adaptive' interface. More than removing unused menu options or col laborative filtering\, this would include functionality that is revealed over time as well as interface elements that change based on usage. Ima gine the web-based email client that begins offering three forms fields for attachments instead of the default one\, because it 'noticed' that y ou frequently upload more than one file. Or the navigation menu that dis appears because it is not relevant to the task at hand. Sound scary? Loo k at the world of game design\, where inconsistency has never been an is sue and where users learn new functions over time\, as needed. In the sa me ways that ads are becoming more targeted around context and behavior\ , we can also create interfaces that respond\, suggest\, or change based on actual usage data.\n\nWhile much of this is still speculative\, we'l l explore some concrete examples of how such ideas have already been use d\, and other instances where they could be used. We'll also take a brie f look at what technologies might support these interactions\, as well a s some of the rules engines that might make this possible. And\, to grou nd this in the past\, we'll at some existing navigational theories and r esearch that might support this argument for an interface that is truly conversational and context aware. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T031306Z UID:91911667-8581-433E-8AC1-FC645C24E390 SEQUENCE:5 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/a_lastminut e_addition_with_no.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T093000 SUMMARY:Christopher Fahey has no title yet DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T101500 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012352Z UID:C36CB369-5C9A-47E3-9B18-A46C877938C8 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_living_ design_document_and.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T134500 SUMMARY:The Living Design Document and ION: Documenting RIAs DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T143000 DESCRIPTION:Kevin Silver\, Chris Rivard\n\nThe complexity of documenting web sites/applications has grown in the last few years due to the gener al acceptance of using methods such as AJAX in the creation of Rich Inte rnet Applications (RIAs). Since the proliferation of RIAs there has been a paradigm shift away from the page metaphor: inter-page interactions h ave become intra-page interactions.\n\nDesigning and documenting these i nteractions is difficult because we are now dealing with objects that in teract with each other within a single page. Diagramming methods we have relied on\, such as the Visual Vocabulary\, tend to break in this new m etaphor. Communicating the design to developers has increasingly become verbose and complex. With the added complexity of RIAs and the iterative nature of web application development\, the final operative image of th e application and the documentation quickly diverge.\n\nThis presentatio n will cover our attempt to address these issues and to create an Interf ace Object Notation (ION) for RIAs and devise the Living Design Document . ION is a pseudo code language intended to consistently describe the fu nctionality of page objects within a RIA to programmers and clients alik e. Simply put\, ION is a new standard way to notate wireframes and page objects. The Living Design Document (LDD) is a documentation system that attempts to capture the operative image of an RIA throughout it’s entir e life cycle.\n\nCurrent standard practices such as wireframes\, sitemap s\, interaction flow diagrams (detailed with the Visual Vocabulary)\, an d click-through prototypes are all leveraged in the LDD method. Our goal is to combine these tools and techniques to create continuous documenta tion in an agile fashion that is detailed at the intra-page interaction level or at the page object level.\n\nWe wish to share our experience in developing ION and LDD to others within our industry to help spur conve rsation and development of a design documentation standard for RIAs. Our work is applicable to desktop application development\, widgets\, and w ebsites as well. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012821Z UID:3D16DE6A-AE38-45D3-9AF7-CE9154100F74 SEQUENCE:10 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/webpatterns _design_patterns_in.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T090000 SUMMARY:WebPatterns: design patterns in web site architecture and User I nteraction DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T094500 DESCRIPTION:John Allsopp\n\nIn 1977\, Christopher Alexander\, Sara Ishik awa and Murray Silverstein published \"A Pattern Language\"\, which form alized their pattern based approach to architecture.\n\nIn a nutshell\, a pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again ... and t hen describes the core of the solution to that problem\, in such a way t hat you can use this solution a million times over\, without ever doing it the same way twice.\n\nThe idea has been taken up in a number of comp uter related fields. In this context\, Brad Appleton observed\, \"Fundam ental to any science or engineering discipline is a common vocabulary fo r expressing its concepts\, and a language for relating them together\". \n\nUsing this as a benchmark\, can web design and development today rig htly be called a discipline? Or is it a practice in the process of becom ing a discipline? Do we have a \"common vocabulary for expressing [our] concepts\, and a language for relating them together\"?\n\nWhile there a re technologies like HTML and CSS (though we still struggle to even use the terms \"tag\"\, \"attribute\" and \"element\" correctly)\, what abou t higher order\, more complex structures and strategies? What do we call the parts of a page we use over and over again? What names do we have f or particular navigation strategies (such as hierarchical trees\, linear progressions through sections\, and so on)?\n\nA survey I conducted in late 2005\, as well as a more detailed\, though much more narrowly focus sed one by François Briatte\, suggest that while it's clear that there a re many structures we use over and over again\, we lack that common voca bulary to talk about these structures\, and to relate them to one anothe r.\n\nIn this presentation I consider the results of my survey of the st ructural semantics of more than a thousand web sites \"in the wild\"\, a nd argue we lack a pattern language for the web.\n\nI then outline a pro ject for developing such a pattern language\, and propose a structure of one such pattern language. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031432Z LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom UID:B3AD15FA-87F6-4180-B9C7-CE0B60719A0C SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/5minute_mad ness.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T160000 SUMMARY:5-minute madness DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T170000 DESCRIPTION:The 5-minute madness is a fabulous IA Summit fixture. It has an open microphone and anyone can talk for no more than 5 minutes. In p revious years we've had songs\, passion\, arguments and tears. A great e nd to the conference... END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012814Z UID:66D4DE4F-1DFD-4FB9-BABA-67376E074FCC SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/how_the_adv ertising_industry_t.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T101500 SUMMARY:How the advertising industry thinks DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T110000 DESCRIPTION:Eric Reiss\n\nOur world is changing. Advertising agencies bl ew the web opportunity the first time around\, but they’re not going to let this happen again. They’re smart. They understand communication. The y can run persuasive rings around BJ Fogg. And they’ve been doing user r esearch since before Jakob Nielsen was born.\n\nAd agencies generally st ayed out of the blast range when the dot.bomb went off. And they’ve sinc e waited patiently. Happily\, most ad folks still haven’t got a clue as to what IAs do. But when they finally do “get it\,” we are either going to learn to get along with them or find ourselves relegated to an unenvi able group of semi-human subcontractors -- a status otherwise reserved f or printers\, layouters\, and the gopher who delivers lunch each day.\n\ nThe last couple of years\, IAs have learned to appreciate business thin kers like Philip Kottler\, Don Peppers\, and Peter Drucker. Now it’s tim e to get acquainted with Claude Hopkins\, John Caples\, Rosser Reeves\, Bill Bernbach\, and David Ogilvy.\n\nThis presentation will take a close r look at what ad agencies consider “good” advertising\, how they interp ret “concept\,” and why our notion of “proof of concept” is completely n onsensical in the world of advertising. We’ll examine some successful ca mpaigns and some award-winning campaigns -- these are not necessarily th e same thing -- and find out why these are admired by so-called “creativ es” at ad agencies. We’ll explore why advertising creatives despise web types in general and usability folks in particular. We’ll discover why s tuff that “works” on screen doesn’t work in print ads -- and vice versa. And we’ll dispel some of the popular myths about advertising\, such as “all advertising is good advertising.” END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031202Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:34DF9EC2-E02A-4EDF-83FC-9F87711FCAE0 SEQUENCE:5 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/researchpaper/eye_tracking_an d_the_relations.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T083000 SUMMARY:Eye tracking and the relationship between visual design and visc eral reactions in credibility judgments DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T091500 DESCRIPTION:Research paper by: David Robins\, Kent State University\, In formation Architecture & Knowledge Management\nJason Holmes\, Kent State University\, School of Library and Information Science\nHeather Bryan\, Kent State University\, Information Architecture & Knowledge Management \n\nWeb sites often provide the first impression of an organization. For many organizations\, web sites are crucial to ensure a sale or to ensur e sales or to procure services within. When a person opens a web site\, the first impression is probably made in a very few seconds\, and the us er will either stay or move on to the next site on the basis of many fac tors. One of the factors that may influence users to stay or go is the v isual design of a page. Another reason to stay or go may involve a user' s judgment about the site's credibility. This study explores the possibl e link between page visual design and a user's judgment of the site's cr edibility. Our findings indicate that when the same content is presented using different levels of aesthetic treatment\, the content with a high er aesthetic treatment was judged as having higher credibility. We call this the amelioration effect of visual design on content credibility. Ou r study suggests that this effect is operational within the first few se conds in which a user views a web page. Given the same content\, a highe r aesthetic treatment will increase perceived credibility. Eye tracking data show strong tendencies to base judgments on content and design in t he top left quadrant of pages. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012615Z UID:E8B56E1D-21D5-4861-892E-D5030AD3E82B SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/enriching_a udiences_and_organi.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T170000 SUMMARY:Enriching audiences and organizations with clear and useful cont ent DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T174500 DESCRIPTION:Thom Haller\n\nContent doesn’t have to suck. User-focused pr ocess can guide us as we craft text for documents and for re-use. We can attend to how people process information and create focused content tha t supports people in accomplishing what they want to accomplish.\n\nIn t his session you will learn a structure for combining the literature of t he field in such a way that we can explain to our bosses and colleagues why structure at the sentence\, paragraph\, and pattern level matters to humans. We can show how our work supports improvements in user and orga nizational performance.\n\nSpecifically\, you will accomplish the follow ing objectives:\n\nIdentify an easy-to-use structure for thinking about how people use information\; relate specific content heuristics to this structure\; and see how you can incorporate these strategies to help use rs GAIN.\nExplore a five-phased performance-focused structure for produc t development\; use this lens of \"GECKO\" for chunking your work into a vocabulary of gathering\, evaluating\, chunking\, knowing\, and optimiz ing.\nRevisit structural patterns in text\, and learn the \"top five str ategies\" for improving clarity in content.\nAs a participant\, you’ll h ear stories and have opportunities for interaction. You'll laugh. You'll learn. Who said structure had to be dull? END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Reno DTSTAMP:20070319T012345Z UID:EE1AA0AE-E9CB-4548-A017-6479FCEACEBC SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/blog_data_m ining_and_analysis.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T134500 SUMMARY:Blog data mining and analysis DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T143000 DESCRIPTION:Clai Rice\n\nThe weblog has exploded as a genre of writing s ince it first coalesced in 1999. As the blogosphere has grown it has bec ome both more diversified and more formalized. Blogs cover an ever great er variety of topics while holding to more predictable formats and forms . As a result\, blogs have been targeted as a genre that is useful for l inguistic analysis. This presentation will provide an overview of resear ch on collections of blogs as data\, and will show how blogs can be rich sources for social network behavior\, opinion detection\, and understan ding personal characteristics (political affiliation\, nationality\, gen der\, geography) based on writing style.\n\nBlog language (blanguage?) i s first person\, opinionated\, and stylistically closer to informal spee ch than to written letters. Some research on blogs has focused on how wr iting style relates to a variety of other personal characteristics like gender\, nationality\, geography\, and political affiliation. These stud ies suggest that investigation can be quite successful at identifying th ese personal characteristics using only the blog writing as evidence.\n\ nA second area of research has looked at the networking element of blogs . Most blogs link to information sources and especially to other blogs. In addition\, comments on blogs often contain links to similar sites. An alyzing these networks of links can help us understand social networking and especially the shared characteristics--like age\, educational affil iation\, or topic interests--that serve as the foundation for social net works.\n\nA third area of research has focused on opinion detection and sentiment analysis. Blogs provide excellent examples of how opinions get expressed\, and how particular opinions tend to link with particular fo rms of expression. Opinion mining and sentiment extraction is beginning to make its way onto the internet. Opinmind.com\, for example\, specific ally searches blogs and returns results based on positive/negative opini on ratings for the searched item. Some time will be given to comparing t he results of Opinmind.com searches with both general Google searches an d searches limited to other domains that are similar to blogs\, such as newsgroups\, in order to demonstrate what kinds of searches are particul arly suitable for Opinmind.com.\n\nSpecialized consultants already offer information mining services like those described here\, but as studies of data mining and analysis of blog writing continues\, tools that enabl e the everyday information worker to use this kind of information will b ecome more widely available. This session will focus on what tools and t ypes of information might be most useful to typical IA projects. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Reno DTSTAMP:20070319T012104Z UID:AF68AFD5-2DE4-4DC7-B23A-FD5ED65D166D SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/using_searc h_analytics_to_diag.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T103000 SUMMARY:Using search analytics to diagnose what's ailing your IA DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T111500 DESCRIPTION:Louis Rosenfeld\, Rich Wiggins\n\nAny organization that has a searchable web site or intranet is sitting on top of hugely valuable a nd usually under-exploited data: logs that capture what users are search ing for\, how often each query was searched\, and how many results each query retrieved. Search queries are gold: they are real data that show u s exactly what users are searching for in their own words. Search analyt ics—a user research method based on analyzing a site’s search queries—of fers many means for diagnosing problems with a site’s information archit ecture. It can help us:\n\nUnderstand problems with a search system’s in terface design\, query syntax\, and retrieval algorithm\nDevelop and imp rove metadata and navigation\nIdentify and address content gaps and docu ment titling problems\nUnderstand how geography and seasonality impact o ur users’ needs\nImprove the design of the other methods we use\, and ro und out those often qualitative standby methods with real\, quantitative data\nSearch analytics goes beyond diagnostics by helping expose new op portunities for improving and impacting an organization’s business strat egy.\n\nSo far\, information architects and other web professionals have been slow to include search analytics in their toolkit of user research methods. Reasons include ignorance of the method\, difficulties in acqu iring the raw data\, and a dearth of good reporting tools. In this prese ntation\, we seek to:\n\nEducate information architects about the value and application of local site search analytics\nCover the basic nuts and bolts as to how to analyze the data\nDiscuss search analytics-driven me thods for improving an information architecture (such as Best Bets)\nSug gest strategies for addressing common barriers to search analytics.\nWe’ re witnessing a rapid recognition of the value of search analytics among people from a variety of backgrounds\, and we hope that our presentatio n helps crystallize the discussion within the IA community. Our handout will include our presentation slides and pointers to search analytics re sources. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031105Z LOCATION:Laughlin II UID:5D175E7B-5559-4D54-91F3-0EA5BDA1EEF8 SEQUENCE:11 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/researchpaper/personal_inform ation_managemen.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T160000 SUMMARY:@toread and Cool: tagging for time\, task and emotion DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T164500 DESCRIPTION:Research paper by: Margaret Kipp\, University of Western Ont ario\, Faculty of Information and Media Studies\n\nThis paper examines t he use of non subject related tags in three social bookmarking tools (De l.icio.us\, Connotea and Citeulike). Previous studies of Del.icio.us and Citeulike determined that many common tags are not directly subject rel ated but are in fact affective tags dwelling on a user's emotional respo nse to a document or are time and task related tags related to a users c urrent projects or activities. A set of non subject tags from the previo us studies was used to collect posts with non subject tags from the thre e listed social bookmarking tools. These tags have been analysed to exam ine their role in the tagging process. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin II DTSTAMP:20070319T031054Z UID:6CEC8DB9-B6E7-44A3-BAF6-80D97B90FEF4 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/architectur es_of_participation.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T144500 SUMMARY:Architectures of participation: what Communities of Practice can mean for IA DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T153000 DESCRIPTION:Andrew Hinton\n\n“Conversation is king. Content is just some thing to talk about.” – Cory Doctorow\n\nHow can Information Architectur e address the increasing demand for collaborative work\, meaningful conv ersation and social connection? We’ll explore how “Community of Practice ” is more than just a 90s knowledge-management buzz-phrase. It’s an impo rtant model for understanding group behavior – and one that’s becoming c rucial to designing in the age of Wikipedia\, MySpace and YouTube.\n\nUn derstanding communities of practice as a phenomenon can lend a great dea l of clarity to designing frameworks for participation: creating the rig ht conditions for particular kinds of collective effort.\n\nWe’ll gain a n essential understanding of “communities of practice\,” looking at “IA” as a handy example. We’ll then examine how the concept helps us design for a variety of collaborative environments – from intranets and medical forums to multiplayer games. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031225Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:4206C0A0-75C7-401F-B684-85F3371CCA23 SEQUENCE:6 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/startup_cas e_studies_how_five.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T114500 SUMMARY:Start-up case studies: how five of us started our own businesses DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T123000 DESCRIPTION:Five entreprenuers – Lane Becker\, Frank Ramirez\, Lou Rosen feld\, Gene Smith and Christina Wodtke – will each present a case study describing their experience starting a business informed by their inform ation architecture background. A case study format common to all present ers is used to illustrate the story behind each business and highlight s imilarities and differences in each person’s experience.\n\nThe informat ion architecture community has shown an increasing interest in the inter play of business issues and IA. As reflected in the press\, businesses a re increasing aware of the role design and IA can play in operations and strategy. Because of the ease in starting an Internet business and the abundance of inexpensive tools\, many IA practitioners are combining the ir design and business experience by starting up businesses. Through thi s series of presentations we hope to shed light on the real-life experie nces and lessons of business owners from our community. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin II DTSTAMP:20070319T031047Z UID:B3F6A02A-89F5-4787-BFDB-4E8FFF9AA7A5 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/researchpaper/facetag_integra ting_bottomup_a.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T134500 SUMMARY:FaceTag: integrating bottom-up and top-down classification in a social tagging system DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T143000 DESCRIPTION:Research paper by: Emanuele Quintarelli\, Reed Business Info rmation\nAndrea Resmini\, University of Bologna\, CIRSFID\, Department o f Law and Computer Sciences\nLuca Rosati\, University for Foreigners\, P erugia\, Informatics for Humanistic Science\n\nFaceTag is a working prot otype of a semantic collaborative tagging tool conceived for bookmarking Information Architecture resources. It aims to show how the widespread homogeneous and flat keywords' space created by users while tagging can be effectively mixed with a richer faceted classification scheme to impr ove the \"information scent\" and \"berrypicking\" capabilities of the s ystem. The additional semantic structure is aggregated both implicitly o bserving user behaviour and explicitly introducing a compelling user exp erience that facilitates the end-user creation of relationships between tags. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T013428Z UID:FB16430D-D80B-47EB-982E-83F07E0F473A SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/enterprise_ ia_methodologies_st.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T160000 SUMMARY:Enterprise IA methodologies: starting two steps earlier DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T164500 DESCRIPTION:James Robertson\n\nInformation architects working with enter prises are confronted by unique challenges\, relating to organisational culture\, business processes\, and internal politics. There are also som e key differences in how the discipline of IA is applied\, relating to f requent uncertainties around the exact nature of the business problems b eing solved.\n\nIn a typical project\, the problem is known\, and the ch allenge is to work out the best way to design the solution. User-centere d design methodologies then provide a rich toolbox for delivering an eff ective solution.\n\nWithin the enterprise space\, it is often the case t hat even the problem to be solved is not well understood. For example\, information architects may be approached with ill-defined ‘problems’ suc h as to improve the effectiveness of the intranet\, to help call center staff to access required information\, or to increase the uptake of the document management system.\n\nIn all these cases\, the first task for t he information architect is to better understand the problem. In practic e\, this means that enterprise IAs often start two steps earlier\, focus ing first on understanding the scope and nature of the problem\, and the n defining a strategy and approach. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T013417Z UID:2E0973E7-113E-4AA2-AE27-49D41DF44356 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/finding_inn ovation_in_the_five.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T144500 SUMMARY:Finding Innovation in the five hundred pound gorilla DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T153000 DESCRIPTION:Kevin Cheng\, Tom Wailes\n\nTaking one step forward at a tim e gets you nowhere unless you know where you are going.\n\nThe daily gri nd of the designer and information architect can become very focused and repetitive. Project after project\, client after client\, iteration aft er iteration\, we work through the motions of wireframes\, card sorts\, hierarchies and task flows ad nauseum. How do we break away from this cy cle and step away far enough that we can truly explore\, innovate and de fine strategy? In this Yahoo! case study\, we discuss the process naviga ted to free up an entire design team away from the regular product cycle to work on a “vision project” for a three week duration with the full s upport from senior management\, product management and engineering.\n\nW e will discuss the steps we took\, both at the micro project level as we ll as setting expectations with upper management to make such a project come to fruition. We will explore the motivation behind such an endeavou r and the challenges we faced.\n\nA large focus of the presentation will be on the process of the project itself\n\nwhat worked well and what le ssons we learned for future efforts of a similar nature. We’ll be discus sing the importance of creating this project to define the strategy of t he product\, as opposed to simply iterating without direction. Through a series of trial and error\, we also will be able to discuss how the mor e visual storytelling outputs were far more engaging and well received t han other approaches we tried.\nIn addition we will discuss how this pro ject influenced and was integrated into the subsequent project planning\ , design and development lifecycle. Finally\, we will discuss some other initiatives we’re aware of that attempt to address what we call \"innov ation stagnation\" both within the company and without. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T013346Z UID:1D816CB8-FEF9-4F39-B26C-8C0E8B3C0FDD SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/mobil_infor mation_architecture.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T090000 SUMMARY:Mobile information architecture: designing experiences for the m obile web DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T094500 DESCRIPTION:Christian Crumlish\n\nThe mobile interface is coming into it s own. Smartphones and PocketPCs and Blackberries and Treos are sproutin g everywhere. Mobile web access is becoming more affordable and mobile w eb browsers are coming out of their infancy.\n\nBut the mobile interface is still profoundly different from the desktop/laptop interface. It's n ot just a matter of size and space limitations. The context is different . The mobile web browser is seeking information (often)\, yes\, but most likely this person is looking for the answers to questions and not for a long involved reading experience. Mobile users may prefer to send text messages when possible and when they do visit the mobile web they may e xpect to have a similar experience.\n\nMobile applications are also esta blishing some expectations among users. Menu choices are often presented as vertical lists\, usually with numberical accesskeys to provide short cuts from the device's keypad. Working with these emerging standards mak es sense when possible.\n\nWhen designing a website that must function o ptimally on the \"traditional\" web and the mobile web a number of decis ion junctions must be navigated. Do you build one site and have it prese nt itself differently in the two contexts\, or do you design two separat e parallel sites? If the former\, do you try to manage the presentation differences entirely with CSS and the DOM\, or do you use browser-sniffi ng to serve up different content as well? Will the same content suffice for both experiences or must it be modified for one or the other? What d o you do with sidebars and how do you make the design degrade gracefully to support the jumble of form factors\, mobile operating systems\, and browsers that support different subsets of the prevailing standards. (Do es any of this sound familiar?)\n\nAlso\, what about .mobi?\n\nThis sess ion will present a single case study: a combined web/mobile site for a c ompany that manufactures 80% of the devices running the Windows Mobile o perating system in the US today.I will discuss how we addressed the infl ection points listed above\, among others\, and show the IA design docum ents we developed and delivered as well as the visual comps and prototyp e sites. I'll also discuss the usability testing we did on both the webs ite and mobile version of the site. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031322Z LOCATION:Mesquite UID:88B5BE37-DF9F-46D5-B8BF-AC313809B278 SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_grand_c hallenges_in_inform.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T114500 SUMMARY:The Grand Challenges in Information Architecture Research DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T123000 DESCRIPTION:Don Turnbull\, Karl Fast\, Grant Campbell\n\nThe Grand Chall enges in Information Architecture are listed to provide a framework rese archers and practitioners to achieve scientific breakthroughs in underst anding\, designing and building information architectures (of any kind). \n\nThese Grand Challenges\, when solved\, can lead to increased access to information throughout the world and help support the information eco nomy be it from education to commerce.\n\nThese challenges aim to engage creative minds from across scientific and artistic disciplines -- inclu ding those who have not traditionally taken part in information architec ture-related research -- to work on critical problems that when solved\, advance the state of the art and provide a foundation for future work. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin DTSTAMP:20070319T012339Z UID:C2902DAE-DF6D-40C9-BEBB-BB3B6421E300 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_brave_n ew_world_usability.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T134500 SUMMARY:The brave new world: Usability challenges of Web 2.0 DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T143000 DESCRIPTION:Jared Spool\n\nOnce again\, everything is exciting. The adve nt of social networks\, APIs\, mashups\, RSS\, aggregators\, and folkson omies promise a world where the information and services we've always wa nted are delivered right to our browser.\n\nHowever\, delivering on the promise is easier said than done. Moving from a great concept to an exce ptional user experience proves to be more of a challenge than many peopl e thought. What works on a small scale is a very different story\, when put into production.\n\nAs Spiderman's Uncle Ben pointed out\, \"With gr eat power comes great responsibility.\" Just because we can do all these things doesn't mean we should do them. In the early 1980's\, the cheap availability of laser printers and digital fonts produced a plethora of documents that more resembled ransom notes than professional publication s. We could easily imagine designers going wild with the capabilities of this new technology and not using the restraint necessary to ensure the y produce an optimal experience.\n\nIn this entertaining and informative presentation\, Jared will show examples of the usability challenges we face as the web continues to change and evolve. He'll discuss the implic ations of \"The Long Tail\"\, the introduction of a mashup mentality in business environments\, and how basic techniques\, such as usability tes ting and field studies\, change when social network is at the center of the design. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Reno DTSTAMP:20070319T012216Z UID:B9FC4010-9A04-4DA7-B4EC-B40F99033C98 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/researchpaper/data_driven_des ign_using_web_a.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T113000 SUMMARY:Data driven design: Using Web analytics to improve information a rchitectures DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T121500 DESCRIPTION:Andrea Wiggins\, University of Michigan\, School of Informat ion\n\nWeb analytics\, the practice of web traffic analysis\, typically provides intelligence for marketers and executives responsible for provi ng Return On Investment (ROI). While valuable for proving ROI\, web anal ytics. greatest potential lies in improving the online user experience. The use of web analytics to evaluate the online user experience is fuele d by an increasing awareness of web analytics in general\; however\, the sharing of analytics data across units in an organization is not yet th e business norm. When analytics data is shared with the design team\, a subtler and more sophisticated user experience design can emerge. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin II DTSTAMP:20070319T031041Z UID:BEEF3E7D-FBF0-48DC-A37D-5ED2C1A9CF76 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/ia_in_secon d_life.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T111500 SUMMARY:IA in Second Life DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T120000 DESCRIPTION:Moderator: Stacy Merrill Surla\; Panelists: Lori Bell\, Andr ew Hinton\, Beth Kanter\, Peter Allison\, Josh Knauer\n\nSecond Life (SL ) is a highly popular shared online virtual environment. It provides a h ost of social software tools and connections to APIs that allow real wor k to get done. E-business is becoming v-business as retailers\, educatio nal organizations\, corporations\, libraries\, and non-profits jump from Web 2.0 to Web 3-D.\n\nAll the challenges IAs face in creating complex information spaces are present in virtual 3-D worlds. Retailers are usin g SL as a channel for marketing services and goods. Businesses are takin g advantage of group-forming and communications tools to hold real meeti ngs in virtual spaces. Libraries are offering collections\, programs\, a nd services that go where the users are. Non-profit organizations are fi nding SL an inexpensive place to hold events and develop membership. And universities are practicing distance learning in 3 dimensions.\n\nThe g oal of this panel is to engage participants in exploring two questions: What roles can IAs play in shaping\, building\, and using these new envi ronments? And what recommendations should we be making on integrating We b 3-D into the work of our businesses\, schools\, associations\, and lib raries?\n\nThe session will present an overview of Second Life\, focusin g on how SL is being used in large online library\, education\, and non- profit projects. The discussion will touch on what works\, what's hard\, what has failed\, and what's next. Attendees will be able to see SL in action\, since several of the panelists will be joining from within Seco nd Life. Furthermore\, in the days before\, during\, and after the sessi on\, attendees will be able to get hands-on tours of SL\, pick up \"How Would YOU Solve This\" handouts\, and see selected in-world case studies by visiting the \"IA in Second Life\" table in the Flex-track area of t he conference. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012602Z UID:1FD33224-728F-4F17-B35F-3298DDB725E9 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/best_practi ces_for_form_design.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T144500 SUMMARY:Best practices for form design DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T153000 DESCRIPTION:Luke Wroblewski\n\nOn the Web\, forms bridge the gap between people\, their information\, and your product or service. From registra tion forms that welcome new customers to checkout forms that finalize e- commerce transactions\, Web forms frequently broker crucial online inter actions.\n\nIn this session\, Luke will walk you through the considerati ons and best practices of Web form design culled from international usab ility testing\, eye-tracking studies\, and over ten years of designing W eb applications. He’ll outline how the interaction and visual design of Web forms can make the difference between acquiring a customer and compl eting a transaction or not.\n\nAttendees will learn about how different types of forms\, input fields\, input labels\, validation\, feedback\, c alls to action\, and surrounding visual elements can support or impair d ifferent aspects of user behavior. You’ll never look at your Web forms t he same way again. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012120Z UID:5FC13939-D87D-44AE-887B-864DC67F3BCA SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/everything_ old_is_new_again_ia.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T103000 SUMMARY:Everything old is new again: IA and RIA -- you know more than yo u think you do DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T111500 DESCRIPTION:Adam Polansky\n\nFor the last couple of years\, there has be en a lot of giddiness around the creation or Rich Internet Applications or RIAs. Their fluidity\, animation and ability to present and manipulat e large amounts of data makes them readily appealing to businesses that want to go beyond the linear processes that HTML web sites offer.\n\nThe y are becoming more common and the demand from clients is increasing. If you are a practicing IA\, there’s a good chance you’ll have the opportu nity to get involved in RIA development in the near future.\n\nWhat’s th e buzz about? Well…\n\nIt puts customer experience in the driver’s seat! \nIt’s design-centric!\nDesign is the code!\nIt’s faster!\nIt’s cool!\nI t’s shiny!\nIA will go away! ( WHAT!?! )\nIA isn’t going away but it is going to have to re-think a few precious notions. There’s a different vo cabulary to learn\, a different development dynamic to understand and a few new pit-falls to avoid.\n\nThis presentation will discuss both proce ss and dynamics. We’ll look at how some things will stay the same and so me things will be different. We’ll discuss some built-in advantages when it comes to planning and usability testing as well as a few tips on thi ngs to help you work with designers and business owners.\n\nAttendees wi ll also get a free Visio stencil with transition icons for key-frame mod els. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031313Z LOCATION:Mesquite UID:6B56646C-983B-4430-8E2B-697F982CED97 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/project_tou chstones.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T104500 SUMMARY:Project touchstones: how to bridge competing viewpoints and buil d vision\, consensus\, and innovation DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T113000 DESCRIPTION:Even the best design or architecture methods and tools can't save a project that falls to political infighting\, divided priorities\ , and unclear direction. Competing viewpoints and separate camps cause r ifts in projects as energy is devoted to advancing agendas instead of dr iving business value. The reality is that for IAs and our toolbox of met hods to make an effective impact on clients or our own organizations the re needs to be business buy-in\, common vision\, and a shared understand ing of project direction and outcomes.\n\nCreating touchstones is an app roach to improve project success by bridging competing viewpoints and bu ilding a shared vision with clear direction and consensus. Project touch stones are artifacts and exercises whose primary purpose is not to defin e or document a solution\, but to create a channel for communication bet ween different parties. With artifacts that act as common references\, t eams can surface tacit needs\, assumptions and unarticulated expectation s. This lets stakeholders work on clearly defining the problem\, instead of working to define a solution fragmented by miscommunication. Working with these common references\, IAs can map the elements of the project valued by competing interests. Understanding and mapping value then offe rs avenues for divided stakeholders to unite around a shared vision that satisfies their core needs. This composite of diverse perspectives prov ides more opportunities for innovation as solutions emerge at boundaries \, intersections\, and overlaps.\n\nThis session will explore principles for creating effective project touchstones with a mix of grounding theo ry based in framing and boundary objects\, pragmatic real-world examples \, and how-to guidance. By focusing on creating touchstones early in a p roject\, IAs can build buy-in\, avoid wasted effort\, increase their inf luence with their teams\, and make a more meaningful difference with the ir work. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Reno DTSTAMP:20070319T012507Z UID:06C5437E-5CE5-46A8-B76C-94786B8CE8F7 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/intelligent _interreaction_an_a.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T144500 SUMMARY:Intelligent inter(RE)action: An argument for a data-driven appro ach to UI design DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T153000 DESCRIPTION:Garrick Schmitt\, Marisa Gallagher\n\nMore than ten years ag o\, on August 9th 1995\, the Netscape initial public stock offering (IPO ) ushered in the rise of the commercial Web. It enabled a very lo-fi exp erience\, where design work was focused on extending the printed page me taphor online. Since then\, much of what we do and experience on the Int ernet as end-users has changed dramatically. Today we watch videos on Yo uTube\, chat with friends through a host of IM services\, connect with p eople on MySpace and post our photos to the world on Flickr. Most impres sively\, this is all rendered dynamically on top of one of the most impr essive data-rich platforms ever imagined.\n\nMuch has been said and writ ten about how designers are faced with a new set of interaction paradigm s in a Web 2.0 world (emerging navigation\, mash-ups\, tag clouds\, mult i-channel systems\, AJAX UIs\, etc.). But what about data? How are we pr eparing to mine the data-rich platforms that underpin the experiences we create? As User Experience practitioners\, how must we evolve?\n\nIn my presentation \"Intelligent Inter(RE)action\" I'll argue that a data-dri ven approach to design is the ideal model for today's web-based applicat ion design and development. It is a fast\, agile approach that eschews o ver-reliance on qualitative field research in favor of leveraging existi ng data-rich platforms to inform design decisions. It forces us\, as des igners and strategists\, to become much more analytic yet simultaneously rely on our own instincts to begin designing and prototyping much faste r. This methodology redefines the notion of \"participatory design\"\, l eaping out of the lab and into the world.\n\nFrom \"beta launches\" to \ "click density analysis\"\, I'll look at the tools and methods that indu stry leaders such as Google\, Yahoo!\, Salesforce.com and Avenue A | Raz orfish use to deliver optimal design performance.\n\nSpecifically\, I'll walk through several case studies to demonstrate how we use data to loo k for insights across all aspects of a user or customer experience\, inc luding advertising\, search and email. We'll examine how data-mining can alter common misconceptions around customer segmentation. Looking forwa rd\, I'll discuss the need for the creation of an ongoing roadmap for si te optimization\; consider the essential data points involved in trackin g the product lifecycle\, and conclude with the tactics necessary for or ganizations to create better user experiences. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DURATION:PT1H DTSTAMP:20070319T031421Z LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom UID:0F025F8F-6537-410C-8C97-F27E059B76C6 SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/admin_inter faces_the_unsexy_si.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T140000 SUMMARY:Admin interfaces: the unsexy side of information architecture DESCRIPTION:Margaret Hanley\n\nMany times as IAs we spend a lot of time designing the end-user interface for a web site\; creating wireframes\, site maps and user journeys that describe the way people outside a compa ny will interact\, purchase or communicate with the organisation.\n\nOn my last two projects as well as creating the interfaces for end-users\, I created Admin interfaces – interfaces used by internal staff or busine ss users to upload and manage the content on the web site or application .\n\nUnfortunately Admin interfaces are considered the \"unsexy\" side o f IA and ID. Many companies do not see their value until the user is una ble to make a change\; and then they become necessary evil. They are oft en under-funded and the last piece of work to be specified.\n\nFor a tec hnical information architect like me\, it is the ultimate place where yo u draw together the presentation layer\, the database and e-commerce eng ine to firstly ensure that a user can see and buy products on the site\, and secondly continue to maintain the system.\n\nThe aim of the case st udy is to demystify Admin interfaces and provide others who have to crea te them with lessons out of a relatively successful implementation of an Admin interface. I will talk through the development of the Admin inter face for the O2 Shop site and the lessons I learnt in developing that in terface.\n\nIn particular focusing on:\n\nthe business requirements gath ering process\nhow the Admin interface integrated with presentation and technical aspects of the site\ntiming in the development of the site or \"how I created my first XML to carry us through til launch\"\nthe Admin interface as an change management tool – what NOT to do\nuser input and understanding of the tool\nTo wrap up the discussion I will talk about how I have applied this experience to my next Admin interface and provid e the audience with a set of points to consider when developing for an i nternal audience. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom DTSTAMP:20070319T031340Z UID:E896B5A3-26A9-4326-B366-4A67BAC94C33 SEQUENCE:5 DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T083000 SUMMARY:Annals of experience: hacking it alone or the importance of bein g earnest or being mercenary DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T091500 DESCRIPTION:Jason Hobbs\n\nThis presentation will be a personal sharing of the past 3 years of running an information architecture and user expe rience service offering in SA\, where no one has a clue what information architecture or user experience design is.\n\nIt will cover:\n\nLeaving the developed world for the developing\n\n2003: Coming home (from Londo n to Johannesburg)\nThe pressure and encouragement to design wrong\nThe damning conversation that set me free\nSurprise 1 (where others learnt w e didn't)\nSurprise 2 (Where did all my heroes go)\nSurprise 3 (You're t he hero! Now I know I know nothing)\nThe phoenix (advice on burn out)\n\ nThe importance of caring for the subject matter you are IA'ing for\nArt s and culture projects\nThe privilege of getting paid to work for the no n-profit sector\nPositioning IA in a market where no-one knows what IA i s\n\nSome good advice over coffee (the 'T' factor)\nThe burden of educat ion: the trouble in getting your foot in the door. The other side of ign orance is trust\nChoosing your client? the Ad agency\, the web design co mpany or the client?!\nThe importance of being multi-lingual (IA as an i ntersection)\nHow user experience design has helped (the argument in you r pocket)\nProductising\n\nProcess as product\nI am not a consultant\, I am a designer.\nThe importance of information visualisation and languag e\nUnexpected successes\n\ngaining client trust\, ownership and unexpect ed responsibility\nManaging growth and demand\n\nhow can you sell your w ork if it didn't turn out the way it was meant to\nRemaining true to you r core competence vs. the need for control (and thus extended services)\ nEntrepreneurship and opportunism: launching a content company\nDealing with the void: The loneliness of the lone wolf\n\nAll dressed up but no place to go: local community silence\ngratitude to the international com munity\nFuture hope (UXnet and IA Institute local networking initiatives )\nThe richness of IA (future opportunities)\n\nPublishing\, public sect or\, research\, education\, product development\, content\, manifest\nWh at the developed world just doesn't get\n\nThe brain drain\nThe opportun ity and the feeling END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T124500 SUMMARY:Lunch UID:332B8F73-E405-4682-A532-0986112B07BA SEQUENCE:3 DTSTAMP:20070314T032908Z DURATION:PT1H END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom DTSTAMP:20070319T031402Z UID:14FF6788-761F-4983-A48C-C2277875266B SEQUENCE:7 DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T104500 SUMMARY:Communal computing and shared spaces of usage: a study of Intern et Cafes in developing contexts DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T113000 DESCRIPTION:Research paper by: Jason Hobbs\, jh-01\, Johannesburg\, Sout h Africa\n\nWe are investigating Internet and Web usage in Internet Cafe s in Johannesburg. The key hypothesis is that\, unlike in developed cont exts where the perceived use of Internet cafes is by travelers and those 'passing through'\, Internet cafes in developing contexts are the prima ry means of Internet connection for many people. They may travel some di stance to use these cafes on a regular basis. Research in Africa has sho wn that Internet cafes are often used by locals for business purposes or as a secondary venue for connecting when connections go down in private business locations.\n\nThe users we are investigating do not have acces s to information on a private desktop or 'in the next room' when at a ca fe. A better understanding of these users\, their needs and context infl uences how we design for them. If we are to take Internet cafes and the needs of their users to heart\, then there must be a new approach to imp acting the user experience in a 'community computing' or 'beyond the des ktop' environment.\n\nWe will present the findings of our research into the relationship between these cafes and their users\, how Internet cafe s are being used and how they assist people in performing daily life and business functions. In addition\, we will present recommendations for d esigning Web-based services based on an audit of websites juxtaposed to the insights we gain through our research.\n\nThe key question is: \"Are we designing appropriately for users in these spaces?\" END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031408Z LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom UID:D2B51CD8-549A-4153-8917-BD6DF247D941 SEQUENCE:6 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/lessons_fro m_failure_or_how_ia.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T114500 SUMMARY:Lessons from failure: Or how IAs learn to stop worrying and love the bombs DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T123000 DESCRIPTION:It's not unusual at conferences to present triumphant case s tudies about projects that succeeded spectacularly well and the reasons why they did: meaning the stern but judicious stewardship of the brillia nt\, kindly\, insightful\, charming presenters whose work deserves the c laim sure to be heaped upon it in the days to come.\n\nThis will be a di fferent kind of panel. We are going to talk about failure\, and not just failure in the abstract but specific situations\, specific projects\, i n which we have personally failed. Furthermore\, we are going to refrain from blaming the stakeholders and clients for these disasters. We are g oing to own our catastrophes and we are going to talk about what we lear ned from them and why we are doing better information architecture today because of these painful\, harsh lessons.\n\nBut it won’t be a pity par ty. We see the humor in our own failures and we expect to get the audien ce laughing early and often. If we can’t laugh at ourselves then what go od are we?\n\nWe expect a lively panel with a great deal of audience inv olvement. We hope that by breaking the ice and airing our own dirty laun dry\, we will encourage the rest of the people in the room to come up to the microphone and tell hilarious and sad stories of projects that went south.\n\nEach panelist will address a different level of failure: the project level\, the organizational level\, the institutional level\, the global level and each has different insights into why projects fail\, t o what extent failure can and cannot be prevented\, and how failure is a n inevitable by-product of creativity and experimentation. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T174500 DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T194500 LOCATION:El Dorado Ballroom SUMMARY:Posters & reception UID:B03C3B95-A7CA-4606-8C5B-F35A75A6A05D SEQUENCE:4 DTSTAMP:20070319T012652Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Reno DTSTAMP:20070319T012528Z UID:BC5E63DB-8764-4AB7-917E-CAC3EDE853FC SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/corepaths_a _design_framework_f.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T170000 SUMMARY:Core+Paths - A design framework for findability DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T174500 DESCRIPTION:Are Halland\, Mona Halland\n\nWe believe that our traditiona l sitemaps\, flows and wireframes tend to ignore some of the most import ant aspects of findability\, simplicity\, prioritization and persuasion: \n\nWe create \"empty structures\"\, leaving content to be \"filled in\" by others\nWe focus on front and section pages\, whereas 50% of users e nter from Google\nWe forget about SEO\, marketing and other key aspects of findability\nWe miss out on opportunities to solve business goals thr ough Calls to Action\nWe end up making huge websites plagued by navigati on and information overload\nInstead of creating hollow information stru ctures\, we believe that true findability needs to be designed from the inside and out. We need to start with the findable object itself\, and f ocus on the Core content and functionality that will fulfil user needs a s well as business problems.\n\nIn this presentation we will outline a d esign framework for thinking about websites and applications in terms of findable objects - Core pages or Core flows - and Inward and Outward Pa ths to and from these. Through focusing on Core and Paths the project te am\, the client and other stakeholders are “forced” to prioritize and si mplify content and navigation – thus greatly improving findability and u sefulness of the final result. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012843Z UID:89DBC1B8-4786-4B8C-82F4-C7B086331280 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/search_engi ne_optimization_and.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T134500 SUMMARY:Search engine optimization and IA: the beginnings of a beautiful friendship DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T143000 DESCRIPTION:Marianne Sweeny\n\nHow often did you use a search engine tod ay? 1x? More than 1? Did you use the search engine to make your travel a rrangements to this conference\, look up additional information on speak ers\, find the answer to a specific question\, find information on a cer tain topic\, or locate restaurants nearby? Machine mediated search is no w the dominant form of information seeking. The emergence to intrusion o f search engines complicates as much as complements our relationship wit h the Web. There is so much more than we can imagine going on behind the simple box and it is changing fast. Taking Paul Saffo’s advice not to “ walk backwards towards the future”\, I will take a look at what is going on behind the scenes of today's search technology\, what is in the pipe line for tomorrow's search technology and how information architects can work with this technology to create optimal online wayfinding systems. In this presentation we will examine:\n\nSearch Today: Wayfinding today is achieved less by traditional left/global navigation and more by techn ology-mediated “aboutness” and determination of relevance to what the se archer wants. Here we will examine recent search technology changes that use external metadata\, site structure\, and page structure to determin e content context and relevance.\nPersonalized search: How our users are creating their own solutions using niche search\, personal search engin es\, social bookmarking\, and more.\nSearch Tomorrow: Next generation se arch applications are using refinements such as: Hilltop algorithm that determines \"content authorities\"\, Orion algorithm that suggests query refinements for more relevant results\, site structure [url depth and c lick distance from Authority pages]\, query analysis\, semantic indexing \, mechanical distinction of narrative text and more.\nSEO Challenges an d Opportunities for Information Architects: Here is where specific illus trations of search optimization through IA will be presented: what is se arch friendly site structure [the HITS Algorithm and Authority scores]\, how to enhance relevance through association [outlinks and inlinks with a point of view]\, relational content [\"birds of a feather\" or where to send them once they arrive and why]\, the importance of taxonomy\, an d more.\nTeresa of Avila could have been speaking of search engines when she said that there are more tears wept over answered prayers. Search e ngines help us find what we want while lacking the ability to understand the context of our needs. Information architecture is crucial to resolv ing this dilemma by communicating the site message in an organic as well as structured way that is visible to the primary technology users emplo y to find information online. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin II DTSTAMP:20070319T031110Z UID:5B7FB887-EEDC-4DDA-974D-15CAC26A2234 SEQUENCE:10 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/prediction_ markets_an_introduc.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T170000 SUMMARY:Prediction markets: an introduction DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T174500 DESCRIPTION:Alex Kirtland\n\nPrediction markets\, simply stated\, are a place where a person can buy or sell a contract based on a event (e.g. a “Hillary will be President in ’08” contract)\, much like they would buy and sell a stock\, and the price of that contract reflects a prediction \, or probability\, for that event occurring. They are new\, a bit unusu al\, and sometimes awkwardly (but accurately) classified as a collaborat ion technology.\n\nThis presentation will introduce prediction markets\, explain why they work\, why they are interesting\, who uses them\, and why they present compelling information architecture challenges. In addi tion\, the presentation will feature examples of prediction markets\, an d discuss the landscape of the prediction market industry. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012156Z UID:92D81B42-136D-438A-9244-A2929F17E50B SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_living_ design_document_and.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T113000 SUMMARY:The Living Design Document and ION: Documenting RIAs DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T121500 DESCRIPTION:Kevin Silver\, Chris Rivard\n\nThe complexity of documenting web sites/applications has grown in the last few years due to the gener al acceptance of using methods such as AJAX in the creation of Rich Inte rnet Applications (RIAs). Since the proliferation of RIAs there has been a paradigm shift away from the page metaphor: inter-page interactions h ave become intra-page interactions.\n\nDesigning and documenting these i nteractions is difficult because we are now dealing with objects that in teract with each other within a single page. Diagramming methods we have relied on\, such as the Visual Vocabulary\, tend to break in this new m etaphor. Communicating the design to developers has increasingly become verbose and complex. With the added complexity of RIAs and the iterative nature of web application development\, the final operative image of th e application and the documentation quickly diverge.\n\nThis presentatio n will cover our attempt to address these issues and to create an Interf ace Object Notation (ION) for RIAs and devise the Living Design Document . ION is a pseudo code language intended to consistently describe the fu nctionality of page objects within a RIA to programmers and clients alik e. Simply put\, ION is a new standard way to notate wireframes and page objects. The Living Design Document (LDD) is a documentation system that attempts to capture the operative image of an RIA throughout it’s entir e life cycle.\n\nCurrent standard practices such as wireframes\, sitemap s\, interaction flow diagrams (detailed with the Visual Vocabulary)\, an d click-through prototypes are all leveraged in the LDD method. Our goal is to combine these tools and techniques to create continuous documenta tion in an agile fashion that is detailed at the intra-page interaction level or at the page object level.\n\nWe wish to share our experience in developing ION and LDD to others within our industry to help spur conve rsation and development of a design documentation standard for RIAs. Our work is applicable to desktop application development\, widgets\, and w ebsites as well. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T013359Z UID:24E83BF1-D1DB-4FDE-88F2-DB2AC21B1774 SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/real_inform ation_architecture.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T111500 SUMMARY:Real information architecture – new mighty deeds DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T120000 DESCRIPTION:\"Far back in the mists of ancient time\, in the great and g lorious days of the former Galactic Empire\, life was wild\, rich\, and largely tax free.\n\nMighty starships plied their way between exotic sun s\, seeking adventure and reward among the furthest reaches of Galactic space. In those days men were real men\, women were real women\, small f urry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri and Information Architects were real Information Architec ts. And all dared to brave unknown terrors\, to do mighty deeds\, to bol dly split infinitives that no man had split before - and thus was the Em pire forged.\" Richard Dalton in homage to the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to th e Galaxy\n\nToday real information architects’ mighty deeds are moving f rom macro-organisation of one web site for one organisation\, to the mic ro-organisation of information creating a web of data.\n\n“A web of data sources\, services for exploring and manipulating data and ways that us ers can connect them together”\n\nIt allows many sites and applications to build upon not one but many organisations’ intellectual property and therefore making the whole experience of the Internet much richer.\n\nIn this panel\, we would like to explore this idea of a web of data furthe r and it’s implications for information architects creating the next gen eration of web sites.\n\nIn particular we are bring together\n\nMags Han ley who will moderate the panel and provide an interactive introduction to the subject (think human lego)\nTom Coates talking about the componen ts of the web of data\; the specifics of building a site or service with data reuse taking the wider ecosystem into account\, what that ecosyste m is likely to be like and why on earth IAs want to engage with it in th e first place\nMatt Biddulph on how this web of data is being used in AP Is\, and RDF and how they relates to traditional IA deliverables\; and w hat this means to IAs working with developers\nLisa Chan who will talk a bout her recommendations for IAs interested in developing their skills i n this areas\nThe aim of the panel is to open the eyes of the IA communi ty to how we can set the data free\; how this will affect our clients an d organisations\, and the skills we develop ourselves. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Virginia II DTSTAMP:20070319T012610Z UID:D0373D3C-CA60-4380-9F9E-AFC7F62CD5C3 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/how_does_cm s_and_portal_softwa.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T160000 SUMMARY:How does CMS and portal software *really* work? DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T164500 DESCRIPTION:Tony Byrne\, Theresa Regli\n\nContent Management and Portal software has been around for more than a decade\, but in our conversatio ns with information architects\, we find that the inner workings of the tools remain terra incognita to many information specialists. Meanwhile\ , surveys by IAI and others have found that IAs have experienced substan tial (and quite justified) frustration with the limitations imposed by C MS and Portal tools in their enterprises.\n\nThis session will help leve l-set vocabulary and knowledge about how these tools really work. In a v endor-neutral tour and critique of the marketplace\, 2 independent indus try analysts will describe the different types of Web CMS and Portal too ls and contrast key differences in approaches among different classes of products.\n\nParticipants will learn:\n\nHow to describe the fundamenta l differences between Web CMS and Portal systems in business terms\nComm on features of both types of platforms.\nTypical surprises IAs encounter about how the technology works on the \"back end.\"\nSome best practice s for how IAs can effectively impact CMS and Portal implementations\nThe session is geared in particular for the novice practitioner who may be about to participate in her first CMS or Portal implementation and wants to be empowered to become a vital member of the team.\n\nThe session wi ll include many contrasting screenshots of different Web CMS and Portal tools\, including open source packages. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T031216Z LOCATION:Virginia II UID:8D9ABB4C-BD50-4540-9729-A945B0E72CA3 SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/information _architecture_meets.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T104500 SUMMARY:Information architecture meets industrial design: Working collab oratively across disciplines DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070326T113000 DESCRIPTION:Michele Tepper\n\nAs more products come to market with embed ded intelligence\, the opportunities for information architects to creat e rich and usable interaction experiences are growing exponentially. But as anyone who has ever struggled with a new cellphone or digital camera knows\, these new intelligent tools also introduce usability problems w ell beyond the traditional web and software purview of IA. In order to h ave a positive impact on information design and usability in these new r ealms\, IA will have to collaborate with ID: industrial design.\n\nIn th is presentation\, I’ll address the pleasures and difficulties of this co llaboration through a case study of the IPC IQ-MAX\, a successful frog d esign project led collaboratively by information architects and industri al designers. The IQ-MAX\, a specialized communications device used on f inancial trading floors known as a “turret\,” is designed to fit into a trader’s high-tech\, fast-paced and cramped work environment. The IQ-MAX employs color\, shapes\, and iconography to provide complex status and use signals on its multiple digital screens\, so a trader can keep an ey e on his communication environment without losing track of his trades. A whole range of cues\, behaviours\, and control grouping patterns travel across the divide between the digital and the physical realms\, making the product easy to learn and use. Where the previous generation turret relied on specialized training\, the IQ-MAX has been used successfully b y traders within minutes of their being introduced to it.\n\nOur collabo ration across the physical and the digital design is a crucial element o f the product’s usability. But learning how to work in a cross-disciplin ary fashion takes time and effort. This case study shares our experience and process – both the best-practices frog design as an interdisciplina ry firm brought to the project and what we learned from doing it - to he lp information architecture as a discipline come to terms with this new challenge and start to develop best practices around it. I’ll discuss th e way in which physical devices go from concept to final product\, and w here that process and digital design come into conflict. But I’ll also o utline the opportunities this collaboration opens up for both teams\, an d what I’m still learning about industrial design from my colleagues.\n\ nThe case study will end by drawing out suggested best practices for col laborative IA/ID work. By understanding each other’s methods\, work proc esses\, and constraints\, we can work more effectively together\, and ma ke the case as a professional community for bringing IA into the intelli gent device design process from the very beginning. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Laughlin DTSTAMP:20070319T012134Z UID:0BC52C38-A4A1-4DBD-8026-039A3DBC1841 SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/information _architecture_and_e.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T113000 SUMMARY:Information architecture and ethical design DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T121500 DESCRIPTION:We live the experience economy. Long ago we met our basic ne eds: food\, clothing\, housing\, transport and so on. What companies sel l now is 'experiences'\, experiences carefully designed to evoke specifi c emotions. The modern meaning of the word brand is 'the emotional react ion a person has towards a company or product\". Think of what Nike mean s to you\, or Coca Cola\, or BMW\, or Apple or Microsoft. You have a fee ling about each of those companies. And those companies are all working overtime on trying to get you to feel a certain way about them. They hav e designs on your emotions.\n\nIt's this emotional reaction that we are paying extra money for. Maybe it's the feeling of being good citizens an d healthy by buying organic or fair trade goods\, or maybe its the feeli ng of being successful and higher status by buying Prada. Either way\, a very significant part of the value of the product to us is the feeling it gives us to buy / own / consume it. \n\nBut it's all going a bit wron g. The more exposure we get to marketing and branding designed to trigge r our emotions\, the more desensitized we get to these influences. So co mpanies ratchet up the emotion further\, trying to get the same level of reaction. How does your product cut through the noise? By being louder. .. but if you get too loud\, then people go deaf. And they are. We are. We are becoming desensitised.\n\nThe aspirations we have are increasingl y defined by the media\, which is the primary channel companies have for pushing their brands. Create 'aspirational brands' that tell us how we should live our lives\, then offer products that will 'help' us get ther e. Create a new need\, then fulfil it. The aim is to make us discontent with our current lives and experiences\, so we want to spend money on en hanced experiences\, and feel better. \n\nThese patterns are being ampli fied and accelerated as more of our interaction becomes mediated by the net: shopping\, socialising\, entertainment\, education\, communication. Unbranded space is diminishing\; increasingly our lives are becoming co mmercialised\, quantified\, data-mined and ad-revenue aligned.\n\nPerhap s there is a better way?\n\nThis presentation will look at how as inform ation architects we can approach our work in this cultural context. How we might take an informed\, ethical stand. It will cover some of the pro minent contemporary theories of ethical design\, culture / media studies \, and behavioural psychology\, and look at their applicability to infor mation architecture. It will explore areas such as brand authenticity\, privacy\, social networking\, push versus pull marketing\, and ubiquitou s computing. And it will provide concrete examples and methods for how t hese can be used in practice. The aim is to bring abstract ethical theor y down to the level of the concrete and applicable\, and perhaps inspire some to add 'Help make the World a better place' to every list of requi rements. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T031014Z UID:386AB675-46B6-49B3-B86B-CDD4E4E7803E SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/backcasting _or_how_i_learned_t.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T170000 SUMMARY:Backcasting: or how I learned to stop predicting and help my cli ents DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T174500 DESCRIPTION:This session will provide attendees with an overview and und erstanding the backcasting methodology\, and how they can use it in thei r own information architecture practice.\n\nA mashup of scenario develop ment and social learning\, backcasting is a strategy framework that allo ws practitioners to successfully conceptualize\, scope and structure mul tiple future states. It also provides a framework for successfully negot iating obstacles and threats to achieving those states. Originally used in the environmental planning field\, backcasting has been hacked and re fined for use in web strategy discovery activities.\n\nTwo key additions to the original backcasting methodology have been incorporated to help make backcasting a practical tool for information architects. The first addition has been the incorporation of a facilitation framework to make backcasting a very interactive exercise\, undertaken jointly by the desi gn team\, clients and project stakeholders. The second addition has been the use of a participatory diagramming strategy based on rich mapping a nd affinity clustering that makes the backcasting process visible and mo re accessible to the participants.\n\nThe inclusion of these elements ha s made backcasting a practical tool for accomplishing a range of discove ry initiatives in a single\, engaging session. The method allows a team of clients and stakeholders to clearly understand the relationship betwe en a range of strategies\, how to measure the success of these strategie s\, and how to keep in alignment with one or more strategies over the li fetime of a project or engagement.\n\nThe expected outcome for session a ttendees will be an understanding of how the backcasting methodology wor ks\, and how it can be used by information architects and other design t eam members as a tool to facilitate project discovery\, web strategy def inition and measurement\, and social learning about the needs and cultur e of the client organization. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T083000 DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T100000 SUMMARY:Opening keynote: The lost art of productively losing control UID:311A527F-0EC9-4D2F-9EDD-05FEFF05A367 SEQUENCE:4 DTSTAMP:20070319T012032Z DESCRIPTION:Joshua Prince-Ramus END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:Mesquite DTSTAMP:20070319T013353Z UID:FCA06927-DCDC-4EE0-B1D9-28340EAE63F8 SEQUENCE:9 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/rich_mappin g_and_soft_systems.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T101500 SUMMARY:Rich mapping and soft systems: new tools for creating conceptual models DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070325T110000 DESCRIPTION:Gene Smith\, Matthew Milan\n\nThis session will introduce Ri ch Mapping and Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to information architects. SSM is a holistic problem solving framework that can be used to design and model interactions between organizations\, people\, environments\, p roducts and services.\n\nThis session will focus on commonly used tools of SSM--including rich mapping\, the CATWOE framework and action researc h — and how they can help information architects develop complex\, conte xt-dependent architectures.\n\nThe session leaders will talk about the o pportunities that SSM can open up for information architects\, including the using rich diagramming to model how client organizational systems i mpact the design process. Examples will be given from successful experie nces in other fields\, as well as exploratory work done by the session l eaders in recent projects and engagements.\n\nThe expected outcome for s ession attendees will be an understanding of the key tenets of Soft Syst ems Methodology\, how these concepts can be applied “off the shelf” to i nformation architecture problems\, and how soft systems thinking could b e used to drive the development of new IA tools and practices. The Core IA related issues that will be addressed by this session will be strateg ic information architecture\, enterprise IA\, service design and the und erstanding of emergent information environments. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20070319T012429Z LOCATION:Laughlin UID:FDE73FC7-1B00-4ECB-9BE7-75367AADD93F SEQUENCE:7 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.iasummit.org/2007/conferencesession/the_2006_ia _slam_the_workshop.html DTSTART;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T144500 SUMMARY:2007 IA slam: The workshop with a winner DTEND;TZID=US/Pacific:20070324T174500 DESCRIPTION:Lynn Boyden\, Chris Chandler\, Matthew Fetchko\, Eric Reiss\ n\nThe rules of engagement for the IA Slam call for the brief presentati on of a consulting scenario by the Instigators (that's us)\, followed by the completely random division of participants (that's you) into teams. You then work furiously to develop a response to the problem in less th an an hour\, using only the classic tools of IA\, and your wits. At the end of the breakout session\, teams present their solutions to the Insti gators and whoever else is in the room. The Slam requires that teams emp loy not only the core tenets of IA theory\, but also those that inform t he realpolitik of IA practice: managing team politics\,identifying probl ems\, project management\, time management\, expectation management\, br ainstorming and designing solutions\, and presenting a solution.\n\nSolu tions are judged by how well they respond to the clients’ needs\, stated and otherwise. Additional criteria\, too arcane to elaborate in this fo rum\, are also evaluated to arrive at a clear winner of the annual Infor mation Architecture Slam medal. The judges' decisions are often arbitrar y but always final. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR