Journal Entry Week 4: Information Organisation on the web

Information Architecture can be explained as organizing information in a certain way to meet user needs. Ryan (2012) states that it defines your site’s goals, is the foundation for great web design, and establishes a clear and well-documented plan for what you are about to do. Information architecture is significant as it simplifies the process of users finding and/or retrieving information. So basically, information architecture is the organization of information to support findability, manageability, and usefulness from the infrastructural level to the user interface level (Downey & Banerjee).

In the “Do” activity for Week 4 it was required that we visit 3 local council websites and observe them closely. The website that belonged to the City of Perth council was the most user friendly in my opinion due to the fact that the interface was simplest and the designs used was the most attractive. It also had a search box to simplify the search process for the user without looking through the menus. Nevertheless my experience using this site was the most enjoyable. All the sites had elements that improved the user experience; elements such as methods to navigate and retrieve information.

Incorporate a search box for a local council website is appropriate because users for this site tend to be searching for information on the city and information about the city. Thus, using a search box was very suitable for this sort of website. This is an example of how taken information architecture into account can greatly improve the experience of the user.

References

Downey, L. & Banerjee, S. (2010). Building an information architecture checklist. Journal of Information Architecture, 2(2). Retrieved from  http://journalofia.org/volume2/issue2/03-downey/

Ryan, D. (2012). The Role and Importance of Information Architecture. Retrieved from http://www.verndale.com/Our-Thinking/The-Role-and-Importance-of-Information-Architecture.aspx