Informing Information Architecture Problems through Convergence of IA Methods and Future Workshop Technique
Authors
Alasevicius, Giedrius ; Rasko, Diana Reka
Term
4. Term
Education
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-08-09
Pages
120
Abstract
User involvement in web design has become the norm, yet the field of information architecture (IA) lacks shared semantics and stable methods, and practice often outpaces research. This thesis investigates how classic IA methods can be combined with the participatory Future Workshop technique to inform IA in the early stages of design. As a case, the authors outline a social book-sharing application within the sharing economy. Acting as information architects, they defined key aspects of the solution, conducted a comparative analysis of similar applications, and applied Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa’s persuasive systems requirements framework. They then organized three Future Workshops with 11 participants and a follow-up survey about habits and workshop experiences. Findings indicate that Future Workshops can reveal weak points in an initial design, confirm the relevance and prioritization of problems, and surface user priorities not evident in other data. The study also reinforces that the level of facilitation in such workshops strongly affects whether participants produce more workable, realistic solutions. Gender-specific differences were observed: male participants tended to focus on technical aspects and visualization, while female participants more often described ideas in text and expressed stronger emotional relationships to books. As an overarching contribution, the thesis proposes an information ecology framework that integrates data from multiple methods by structuring them into content, context, and user categories to support better-informed IA decisions in the conceptual phase.
Brugerinddragelse i webdesign er blevet normen, men faget informationsarkitektur (IA) mangler konsistente begreber og metoder, og praksis udvikler sig ofte hurtigere end forskningen. Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan klassiske IA-metoder kan konvergere med fremtidsværksted som deltagende teknik for at informere IA tidligt i designprocessen. Som case skitseres en social bogdelingsapplikation i delingsøkonomien. Forskerne fungerede som informationsarkitekter, definerede centrale aspekter af løsningen, gennemførte en sammenlignende analyse af lignende applikationer og anvendte Oinas-Kukkonen og Harjumaas ramme for persuasive systemkrav. Derefter blev der afholdt tre fremtidsværksteder med i alt 11 deltagere samt en efterfølgende spørgeskemaundersøgelse om vaner og workshopoplevelser. Resultaterne viser, at fremtidsværksted kan afdække svagheder i et indledende design, bekræfte problemers relevans og prioritering og afdække brugerprioriteter, som andre datakilder ikke indikerede. Studiet bekræfter også, at graden af facilitering i fremtidsværksteder er afgørende for, om deltagerne formulerer mere gennemførlige og realistiske løsninger. Der blev observeret kønsspecifikke forskelle: mænd fokuserede oftere på tekniske aspekter og visualisering, mens kvinder beskrev mere i tekst og udtrykte stærkere følelsesmæssige forhold til bøger. Som overordnet bidrag foreslås en informationsøkologi-ramme, der integrerer data fra flere metoder ved at strukturere dem i kategorierne indhold, kontekst og bruger for at skabe bedre informerede IA-beslutninger i den tidlige konceptfase.
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