Program Overview

Course Information

Course Description

The course IMT4316, Information Architecture, is no longer taught and is only available for examination. It covers key topics such as types of information structures, categorization, labeling, navigation, and search.

Course Details

• Credits: 7.5
• Level: Second degree level
• Language of instruction: English
• Location: Gjřvik
• Examination arrangement: Multiple Choice Test/Assignment/Essay

About the Course

Course Content

The course content includes:

• Types of information structures (sequential, matrices, hierarchical trees, hypertext, deep versus shallow)
• Categorization
• Labeling
• Navigation
• Search Potential additional topics may include:
  • The codex book and its global and local access structures as a forerunner of the web
  • Social navigation, collaborative filtering, and tagging
  • Prototyping techniques

Learning Outcome

Knowledge

Upon completion of this course, the student will know how collections of information are organized and accessed to satisfy user needs.

Skills

The student will be able to:

• Create new information architectures from scratch
• Evaluate the architecture of existing collections of information, document their organization, identify issues, and suggest improvements
• Carry out informed analysis and research on the tools, methods, and concepts of information architecture, and present those findings to others

Overall Competence

The student will know how to contribute to the development of sound and user-friendly information architectures for commercial and public websites, based on a familiarity with commonly used approaches and strategies. They will also be able to discuss and reflect on the practices and theoretical and conceptual frameworks current in information architecture.

Learning Methods and Activities

The teaching methods and activities include:

• Lectures
• Seminars
• Group work
• Lab work
• Assignments
• Essay Compulsory requirements include oral presentations of written work in seminar meetings.

Evaluation

Compulsory Assignments

• Coursework requirements

Forms of Assessment

• Written essay reflecting on methods or theory of information architecture (40%)
• Quiz on basic information architecture concepts (10%)
• Written group assignment documenting, evaluating, and suggesting improvements to an existing information architecture (50%) Students must receive a passing grade on all assignments to pass the course.

Re-sit

The next ordinary exam will be used for re-sit.

Specific Conditions

Admission to a programme of study is required.

Recommended Previous Knowledge

Ability to read and write scientific essays.

Course Materials

Required Reading

• Rosenfeld, Louis, Peter Morville, and Jorge Arango (2015). Information architecture for the Web and beyond. Fourth edition. O'Reilly.

Supplementary Reading

• Hearst, Marti A. (2009). Search user interfaces. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Garrett, Jesse James (2003). The elements of user experience: User-centered design for the web. New York / Berkeley: American Institute of Graphic Arts / New Riders.
• Porter, Joshua (2008). Designing for the social web. Berkeley: New Riders.
• Resmini, Andrea and Luca Rosati (2011). Pervasive information architecture: designing cross-channel user experiences. Burlington: Morgan Kaufmann.
• Hunter, Eric J. (2009). Classification made simple: An introduction to knowledge organisation and information retrieval. Third edition. Farnham: Ashgate.
• Levene, Mark (2010). An introduction to search engines and web navigation. Second edition. Wiley.
• Russell-Rose, Tony and Tyler Tate (2012). Designing the search experience: The information architecture of discovery. Elsevier / Morgan Kaufman.
• König, R. and Rasch, M. (editors) (2014). Society of the Query Reader: Reflections on Web Search. INC Reader #9. Amsterdam. Institute of Network Cultures.

Credit Reductions

This course has academic overlap with other courses. If overlapping courses are taken, a credit reduction will be applied to the course with the lowest grade. If grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Subject Areas

• Interaction Design