Classroom Participation (5%)
Students should arrive at class prepared to share their views on the week's assignments and readings by posting to the class listserv. Professional conduct is required of each student. This includes but is not limited to: attendance, polite discussions, timely completion of assignments and group participation.
Primary readings are what we will certainly discuss in class (bring questions to participate in class discussion to work towards your class participation grade).
Secondary readings we will discuss as we have time each week and may come up in subsequent weeks. They are also for those who *really* want to know their IA issues (and refer to them in their IA presentations and papers). Last semester we had time to discuss these almost every week. They are also fertile readings for additional questions in class - be they answered by me or another of your classmates.
Research Topic Paper
Print Version in APA (15%) and Web Page in HTML (5%)
[Top]
The research paper is an eight-page paper on the conceptual understanding and practical applications for an information architecture topic. Each student will research techniques, methods and historical context of the topic. Research topics can be chosen from a list of topics. Research papers will be written in APA format and is due on November 2nd. After you receive feedback from the instructor, you are required to transform the paper from a print format to a Web-readable, enhanced format by November 16th.
Papers should delve into details relative to the research undertaken for your particular topic. You should also add your own insight into the topic (and its relation to Information Architecture) including thoughtful analysis of the topic. It would also be helpful to number your headings (and sub-headings).
Please use citations and format your paper using APA style guidelines. For more information on APA guidelines, see http://www.apa.org and http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html. Citing sources is a critical part of graduate scholarship. Quotes (5 or more words used verbatim from a source or significant words or phrases) should be noted with quotation marks or block quotations. Credit sources when you paraphrase. One point will be deducted from the assignment grade for each sentence that is closely drawn from uncited sources.
Papers are due at the very beginning of class. Assignments not submitted on time (even if absent) will be assessed an immediate penalty of 20% and a subsequent 20% for each day (24 hours) the assignment is overdue. This penalty is applied before the assignment will be graded. The overdue clock begins at the start of class the day the assignment is due, hence the requirement of turning in the assignment at the beginning of class.
Web-ready formatted papers should include any minor corrections from your printed paper. DO NOT email the paper as an attachment. Send an email with the URL for your paper to me and the class listserv. You can publish the paper as one Web page or use our good IA principles to make it a more interactive experience (e.g. include links to examples in the body of the text; use each section as a page with linking hierarchies, etc.).
Unless the graphics are essential to understanding of a concept (e.g. I don't need to see what a personalized amazon.com page looks like), feel free to either not include graphics or put them in an appendix.
A few quick reminders about the Webified paper:
- Do not use Microsoft Word to build your paper Web site. If you wrote the paper in Word, it's certainly okay to do a "Save As..." of your paper into a text file and then markup it up with HTML. But again, DO NOT just save you paper as HTML and expect that to produce a Web page design of any level of acceptable quality. If you're curious, try saving your paper as HTML and then look at the source Word creates. You'll see all kinds of messy, unessential HTML. Ugh.
- Do your best to design papers that aren't either too long (a one Web page of your paper) or too short set of pages (one page for each paragraph would mean way too many clicks to read through a whole paper). Try using the heading level tags (H1, H2...) to help decide on how many headings (and concepts) you should have on each page of content. (That being said, a one, big page view of your paper might be nice for printing.)
- For multiple pages, be sure and include navigation of some kind between them (and a top-level view) as wel as a link for our class Website.
- Use relative links (paper/figure1.gif) instead of absolute links (mystudentsite.domain.edu/studentname/paper/1.gif) as we will do our best to eventually host your papers on our own class Web site. The hard coded, absolute links will obviously break when moved. If this doesn't make sense, ask a classmate or other Web-savvy friend.
Each assignment should have a cover sheet with the following information:
- Student name
- Student email address
- Course Number
- Assignment Title
- Assignment Due date
- Date the assignment was submitted.
Student signature to signify that the assignment represents your own work. (For printed copies.)
Email assignment submissions must include the above information as well, with your verifiable email address substituting as the student's signature.
| Name |
Topic |
||
| Greg Argo | Classifications and Taxonomies |  html |
|
| Xueying Bai | Database-Driven Web sites | html |
|
| Li Cao | IA for Shopping & Shopping Baskets | html |
|
| Chien-Cheng Chou | Web page as User Interfaces: Forms & Web applications | html |
|
| Alex Chung | Search Pages and Results | html |
|
| Kristin Davis | Metaphors in Web Design and Navigation | html |
|
| Rachael Gilg | Color & Typography for the Web | html |
|
| Valerie Gomez de la Torre | Navigation & Menus | html |
|
| Mariela Hristova | Dynamic Web Pages | html |
|
| Hyeyoung Kim | Cascading Style Sheets | html |
|
| Jong Hun Kim | Metadata and Meta Tags | html |
|
| Jessica Kubik | Logos, Icons and Descriptive Graphics | html |
|
| Tammy Latham | Ad Hoc Information Design by Nondesigners and the Need for New Research Areas in Information Science | html |
|
| Helena Loh | Content Management Systems | html |
|
| Misty McLaughlin | Architecting and Designing for Accessibility | html |
|
| Amy Reese | The Architecture of Privacy | html |
|
| Curtis Thomas | Audio & Video | html |
|
| Irma Zavaleta | Understanding Web Advertising: An Overview of Principles, Techniques, and Methods | html |
|
Research Topic Presentation (15%)
[Top]A presentation of findings during class time will also be required. Presentations will be displayed using the classroom presentation system and in PowerPoint or HTML format.
The class presentations should take advantage of the presentation system used in 546. It supports a Windows XP PC, a Macintosh with OS X, a document overhead display, sound and a laser pointer (upon request). You should take advantage of these technologies to prepare a multimedia extravaganza (okay - PowerPoint or HTML document will do) to overview your research topic for the class. Be prepared for a brief Q & A session at the end of each presentation.
Class presentations will be evaluated based on a number of different criteria. The grading criteria for your class presentations is outlined in the Presentation Evaluation form.
| Name |
Topic |
Date of Presentation |
||
| Amy Reese | Privacy Policy Issues and Pages |  ppt |
Sept. 21 | |
| Helena Loh | Content Management Systems | ppt |
Sept. 21 | |
| Jong Hun Kim | Metadata and Meta Tags | ppt |
Sept. 28 | |
| Irma Zavaleta | Web Ads & Advertising | ppt |
Sept. 28 | |
| Web Sitemaps and Directories |
||||
| Alex Chung | Search Pages and Results | ppt |
Oct. 5 | |
| Kristin Davis | Metaphors for sites and Navigation | ppt |
Oct. 5 | |
| Jessica Kubik | Logos, Icons and Descriptive Graphics | ppt |
Oct. 12 | |
| Rachael Gilg | Color & Typography for the Web | ppt |
Oct. 12 | |
| Mariela Hristova | Dynamic Web Pages (Javascript, Flash, etc.) | ppt |
Oct. 19 | |
| Misty McLaughlin | Architecting & Designing for Accessibility | ppt |
Oct. 19 | |
| Valerie Gomez de la Torre | Navigation (including menus) | ppt |
Oct. 26 | |
| Hyeyoung Kim | Cascading Style Sheets | ppt |
Oct. 26 | |
| Curtis Thomas | Audio & Video | ppt |
Nov. 2 | |
| Optimizing Web Pages | ||||
| Greg Argo | Taxonomies & Classification for Organizing Content | ppt |
Nov. 2 | |
| Link Design & Architecture | ||||
| Chien-Cheng Chou | Web page as User Interfaces: Forms & Web applications | ppt |
Nov. 9 | |
| Dynamic Content (tickers, headlines & external news links) | ||||
| Li Cao | IA for Shopping & Shopping Baskets | ppt |
Nov. 9 | |
| Xueying Bai | Database-Driven Web sites | ppt |
Nov. 23 | |
| Version control & file management | ||||
| Tammy Latham | User IA - blogs and WIKIs | Nov. 23 | ||
Design Critique Paper (15%)
[Top]The design critique is a five page written critique with accompanying "before" and "after" screenshots of the Web page(s) critiqued from a Web site approved by the instructor. This assignment is due on October 12th.
You may choose to do a design critique of the one of these three pages:
- UT School of Information - http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/
- eBay Home page- - http://www.ebay.com/
- Google News - http://news.google.com/
Critiques include a screen shot of the current page, and a screen shot of you new design with commentary on why you're making changes to the design. Take in to account the proposed user audience for the site, accessibility, labelling, navigation, colors, etc. (in other words, the topics we discuss in class) and make an attempt to improve on these current designs.
Ideal formatting would be five pages of text describing your changes and why, and a "before" and an "after" picture. Also, send an email to the class list so others can learn from everyone else's ideas.
Digital designs are required (no sketches of design). Two main methods for preparing your proposed design:
- Download the HTML and graphics for the page and modify the source code yourself and add (or resize) any relevant new graphics you require for your design.
- Take a screen shot of the page and use a graphics editing program to "paint over" your proposed re-design.
Divide your new design into some kind of quadrants or use arrows with numbers (or something like that) to note the sections you're discussing in the textual part of the design critique. See our Design of Sites book for examples of this type of approach or refer to last semester's work.
Focus more on how the individual page (the Home page, what you're critiquing) should work and then what a good IA would do to try to make those concepts and designs flow into the other pages.
| Paper Topic |
Name |
| UT School of Information | Greg Argo Xueying Bai Li Cao Alex Chung Jong Hun Kim Tammy Latham Misty Mclaughlin |
| eBay Home Page |
Valerie Gomez de la Torre Mariela Hristova Hyeyoung Kim |
| Google News |
Chien-Cheng Chou Kristin Davis Rachael Gilg Jessica Kubik Helena Loh Amy Reese Curtis Thomas Irma Zavaleta |
Group Project (30%)
[Top]Collaborative projects are required. A project proposal is required and must receive approval before additional project work begins. The professor will work each group during class. Group project steps include:
- Form a project group.
- Prepare and submit a proposal.
- Plan project work and associated project deliverables and timeline.
- Use IA methodology as process framework for Web site information architecture and design.
- Design Web site project per proposal.
- Construct Web site frameworks, templates, sample Web pages and
- Verify design and information architecture with heuristic evaluation and lightweight testing.
Each group may apply for a new account for your group project. To sign up for a ISchool account to publish your group project, please fill out the ISchool Account Sign-up form.
| Project Topic |
Group Member |
| Jong-Hun Hye-Young Kim Curtis Thomas Helena Loh |
|
| Li Cao Jessica Kubik Misty McLaughlin Valerie Gomez de la Torre Xueying (Amy) Bai |
|
| Irma Zavaleta Chien-Cheng Chou Greg Argo Kristin Davis Amy Reese |
|
| Tammy Latham Alex Chung Rachael Gilg Mariela Hristova |
Group Presentation of Information Architecture and Web Design (15%)
[Top]The group presentation of the overall information architecture of the project includes a graphical overview of the Web site, methodological insights (the post-mortem) and design functionality. Group Presentations are in class on November 30th.