1. What is information? Describe the
qualities of information?
My personal point of view on “Information” - A partially accurate answer to this
will be that the information comes from data. You can have information, which
is derived or obtained by processing the data. But, information can also exists
without data. According to the information published on the website Svieby.com
the information means – “Knowledge communicated concerning some particular
fact, subject or event; that of which one is apprised or told; intelligence,
news.” Information can be concise, relevant and clear or it can indistinct and
irrelevant. Quality of the information can be determined based on a proposed
list of four components –
Intrinsic IQ: Accuracy,
Objectivity, Believability, Reputation
Contextual IQ: Relevancy,
Value-Added, Timeliness, Completeness, Amount of information
Representational IQ: Interpretability, Format, Coherence, Compatibility
Accessibility IQ: Accessibility,
Access security
2. What is the Dewey Decimal System? Describe how
it operates.
Dewey decimal system is a tool to organize the
information (books – being a source of information) in school throughout the
world. In this system, the books are placed on the shelf using number lying
between 000 and 999 (which identifies the subject). It is called decimal, because digits right to
the decimal points are used to get more details about the hierarchy. Each
subject is provided with its own set of numbers. Each subject is broken into 10 smaller more
specific categories for example. The 516 Mathematics will have 10 more subsections, thus creating a hierarchy
of subjects.
500 Natural sciences and mathematics
510 Mathematics
516 Geometry
516.3 Analytic geometries
516.37 Metric differential geometries
516.375 Finsler Geometry
3. Explain what Library Science is.
Library Science is the study of the
organization and administration of a library. This includes developing an
understanding of technical, informational and reference services.
4. What is information architecture?
Information Architecture is the
design of shared information environments. This includes The combination of organisation, labelling,
search, and navigation
systems within web sites and
intranets. The information architecture also refers to the The
combination of organisation, labelling, search, and navigation
systems within web sites and
intranets.
5. List and describe at least three
reasons for why information architecture is important (i.e.,the return on
investment for hiring an information architect).
·
Cost of
finding (time, clicks, frustration, precision)
·
Cost of not
finding (bad decisions, alternate channels)
·
Cost of
construction (time, budget, staff, frustration, technology,
·
planning,
bugs)
·
Cost of
maintenance (content management, redesigns)
6. List and describe the four key
information architecture concepts that help information architects articulate
user needs and behaviours.
Complex systems: Building a rigid
information structure, which helps user to find what information they actually
need.
Invisible work: Most of the work
done IA is practically invisible to the end user.
Knowledge Networks: Use user
behavior, preferences and resources to build a precise knowledge
database.
Information seeking behaviour: Making information available to user, what
they need for by understanding the user behavior.
7. List and describe the three main
information architecture systems that support a web site.
- Searching system – User query makes query
using the systems. The data collected form the user is searched and presented
to the user in form of a result of a query. But, the information presented to
the user is fetched using very complex algorithm based upon user preferences,
filtration and page ranks.
- Navigation System – The navigational
structure of the website should be designed logically to help user easily finds
information what they are looking for.
- Semantic networks – these networks relates
the information in various possible ways to provide the accurate and best
results, while needed.
·
Wireframes –
the content layout of the various elements on webpage.
·
Blueprints –
the navigational schema representing the connection between various objects.
·
Controlled
Vocabularies – providing a certain collection of word that is linked to a given
word. For example – email could be written as electronic mail or e-mail.
·
Metadata
Schema - How the data is organized . The
hierarchy of the data or the elements of data.
9. The following is a list of career titles related to this
course. Research five titles from the list. Write a brief description for the title, what the key
duties are, which potential companies will hire people with those skillsets, and what sort
of remuneration is provided.
Search Engine Optimiser: The SEO/SMO Analyst is responsible for
implementing SEO and social media strategies for clients. The SEO/SMO Analyst
can quickly understand and support initiatives that will contribute to the
goals and success of client campaigns. Salary $77,000. Companies hiring: NBC
universal, Optimum Media Direction, Web jobs.
Web Designer/Developer: create
produce and maintain websites. key duties: talking with clients and discuss
ideas to get get their requirements, develop website content and manage the
image and copyrights of the company on the internet. Salary: $51,918
Information Architect: provides
positive user experience by planning and designing the information structure of
websites and web applications. Key duties are organising information and design
strategies using data from usability testing. Must be able to translate user
behaviour into media structure and craft interactive experiences. Companies
hiring: Paxus Australia, Jenkin Beattem, Greythorn.
UX
Architect: Focuses
on usability of the design, making sure that users face as few issues as
possible while using the design. Key duties creating prototypes, blueprints of
the design and understand how users use the design. The salary for an UX
architect is around 95k-200k. Companies hiring Companies loking for UX
Architect are News Corp Australia, Interactiveine PTY LTD, HCL Australia Services
Pty Ltd.
10. Check out the Information Architecture
Institute. Comment on what sort of value you see such an institute being to the community. Place a link
on your blog to the institute.
Information architect institute provides a platform
where information architect job seeker meets to their potential employers. It
provides links to the professional bodies which are looking for Information
architects. Also, people also get to
know about the job roles of various Information architect jobs.
Below is the link to access the Information architect
institute digital address -http://iainstitute.org/
11. Describe
what is meant by the term “information ecology”.
Information ecology is the relationship between
users, content and context and the complex dependencies that exists between
them. These means the goals of the business and there website needs to be taken
account as well as the needs of the user as well as taking into account the
large amount of content that exists today and how it could change in the
future. The information ecology is simply a term to express that the three
things must be taken into account while developing a Information Architect.
12. What
is content management and how does it relate to information architecture?
Content management (CM) is the
administration of digital content throughout its lifecycle, from
creation to permanent storage or deletion. The content involved
may be images, video, audio and multimedia as well as text. The cintent
management is the in-depth version of information architect. Content management
provides how the information is organised in a IA system over time.
13. What is metadata and how is it used in information
architecture?
Metadata is the terms that are used to describe and
represent content objects within the websites. Information architecture uses it
for describing and representing content objects such as documents, people,
processes and organisations.
Below is the link to a YouTube
video which shows what exactly is a metadata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4tn19O_k0A
14. Explain why the “Too-Simple”
information model is unrealistic for modelling users’ information seeking
behaviours.
15. Describe how a web site user
typically finds information.
A website user generally finds
the information by making a search query using the either a custom third-party
search engine integrated in the website or via a website’s own search engine.
The user then select the appropriates search result matching his initial search
query. However, the user browsing a small website may finds the information
just by selecting the appropriate navigation menu item or available content in
the website.
16. What is known-item seeking?
Give two examples.
Known-item seeking is when the
user knows exactly what they are looking for and what to call it and where to
find it.
- Looking up a friends phone number in the Yellow pages online directory.
- Person searching a friend on Facebook.
17. What is exploratory seeking?
Give two examples.
Exploratory seeking is when the
user is just hoping to find some items that are useful. The user is looking to
learn something from the process of searching weather they know it or not.
- User is looking for a book to read they then change there search to a particular genre of book to read and then change to searching for a particular author.
- Searching the top ten movies of the 2015. Then, searching the rank position of individual movie is also an example of exploratory seeking.
18. What is exhaustive research?
Give two examples.
Example: User is looking for
everything they can find on Disability Rights in Australia.
multiple searches for “Disability
Policies”, “Disability Legislation” and “Disability Laws”.
Example: The user is finding
about all Jhon Nash achievements. The user will create multiple searches like
this – Nash Equilibrium, Governing
dynamics, American mathematician Nash etc.
19. What is re-finding? Give two
examples.
20. What is the Berry Picking
Model? Give an example of how you might search for a topic
using the Berry Picking Model.
In the berry picking model the
user starts off with some information they are looking for and make up a query. The user then moves
iteratively through the information system picking bit of information up as
they go. Throughout the search process they modify the query when they learn
more about what they are looking for.
Example – User make a search for
all animation movie released in 2015, so they typically filter their result in
the following way – Year 2015 – Movies – Animation. Then they finds the list of
animated movie with different animated characters. Then they look through all
the movie searches, and select an animated character. Then, they find the
information about all the movies made using that animated character
22.What is the Pearl Growing Model? Give an example of
how you might search for a topic
using the Pearl Growing Model.
In pearl growing approach in
which a piece of information is used to discover more and more information
which is relevant to the initial information used in searching process.
For example – If you have
watched a video on YouTube about boiling water, than at the end of the video
similar video will appear on your screen. This is a continuous process.
23.Explain what search analytics is and how it helps
your learn more about information
needs and information seeking behaviours.
Search analytics help
website owner to see real-time performance of their website. This includes a
interactive dashboard showing the real-time traffic on their website, search
engine traffic, popular keywords, search engine optimisation suggestions etc.
The data from search analytics help to understand the user search preferences
while they have used the owner’s website including their
24. Explain what
contextual enquiry is and how it helps your learn more about information
needs
and information seeking behaviours.
Contextual inquiry is a semi-structured interview method to obtain
information about the context of use, where users are first asked a set of
standard questions and then observed and questioned while they work in their
own environments. This helps the UX designers to understand better about information
seeking behaviours.
