This was a theoretical but fascinating presentation.
Adding features to a website increases its value only up to certain inflection point. After that, adding features reduces value as the addesd complexity is not helpful.
Before carrying out a major project, planning, playing and practicing are important. Sometimes failure has lasting consequences. Process: Plan – think – build – do.
We need to make sure that our models are not too simple. Factors outside our ecosystem can affect us.
Architects know and concentrate on the critical few details that really matter. This is relevant in understanding the nature of information in systems. If you remove the keystone, the whole ecosystem collapses.
Classification is dangerous but not bad. Categories are cornerstones of cognition and culture. Different kinds of categories:
- Bounded set (you are either in or out)
- Centered set (whether you are in or out depends on the direction you're doing rather than your current location)
- Fuzzy set (less distinct boundary in vs. out)
Don’t use radio buttons when check boxes are better. (Don't force patrons to choose only one option when they might wish to choose several.)
When attempting change: “The system always kicks back.”
Information architecture has changed – we need to look more closely and deeply at surrounding context. Ask right questions in right ways (ethnography) – look at users and stakeholders and a bicultural fit between two groups. Culture is like water to a fish - it's everywhere but not something it is aware of.
Elements: Artifacts – Espoused Values – Underlying Assumptions (unconscious – look at organization’s history). Need to map culture to understand what’s really going on. Double loop learning rare – people are open to changing actions based on feedback but resistant to changing their beliefs based on feedback
Have we passed the inflection point in the amount of information that’s available?
River daylighting (bringing buried rivers back to surface) results in less flooding, healthier & happier communities. The same is true for information – making the invisible visible.
Example: Redesign of 12-year-old website, studied as part of a connected library ecosystem. How do you do research – what techniques and tools do you use? Library as publisher, opportunity for us to do new research.
One patron reported: We’re in the middle of the library, which means we’re trying to be quiet. The librarian showed me how to do a few things, but I forgot them once I left. I would really like to learn how to do this; maybe I’m just a totally dumb user. (Opportunities: Website re-design, email follow up).
One thing that we all can do is map the system, then map the broader context, then share the map.
Information architects use nodes and links to create environments for understanding.
Aim for strength, utility and beauty – learn from past. Each step is a potential place that can be used in many ways over time. Organic simplicity – synthesis of form and function.
Libraries serve as keystone and bridges.
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