4. Navigation and vocabulary
| Discussion - Week 1 | Discussion - Week 2 | Assignment |
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If you are traveling and hope to arrive at your destination in a timely manner, you need to know the name(s) of your destination and how to read the signs or maps directing you. Moving through a web site is a similar process. The first time we encounter a new site, it can be confusing as we struggle to find a path. Maya describes a similar thought process in a patron as they enter the physical space of the library:
"...customers' initial thoughts when entering a library are likely to be about orientation (Where am I? Where can I go? What's in this place? What can I do?).
Once they determine where they want to go, they need to be able to identify that place.
Next, they may want to learn more about the library processes (e.g., how to search for materials) and library resources (events, classes)."
Moving through a web site involves a similar set of thoughts and questions. An effective Information Architecture will provide the comprehensive navigation system for site visitors. An ineffective one will confuse or even obstruct the visitor's progress. The information architecture consists primarily of two elements:
- the structuring of the pages and the movement between them.
- the vocabulary used for labels and terms within the site.
We have two books that we are going to be using for this section, Designing Web Navigation by Kelbach and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Morville & Rosenfeld. Both books have a similar approach, though they vary on the titles and a few of the details. This week, we will begin the analysis of the structure of our selected web site. This is a simple accounting of the pages in the site. Once inventoried, we want to break them down both by content type, page type and navigation type.
Kalbach has identified three general page types within any web site:
- Navigational pages are stepping stones in information seeking; they point people to content or functional pages. Examples include the home page, landing pages, and gallery pages.
- Content pages contain text, articles, and images. Product pages on e-commerce sites, for example, are content pages.
- Functional pages allow visitors to complete a task of some kind online; examples of these pages include search forms, data entry forms, and web applications.
Every page should contain some forms of navigation. Kelbach has identified three general navigation types. The terms in parentheses are the those used by Morville & Rosenfeld:
- Structural navigation (global & local navigation)
provides access to content following the structure of a web site and includes the main navigation and local navigation.
- Associative navigation
links across levels of a hierarchy, creating semantic relationships between related pieces of content. Contextual navigation and quick links are examples.
- Utility navigation (sitemap, guide, index)
accesses information about the site itself or site functions and may include global utility options, such as 'help' and 'search,' as well as extra-site navigation and tools.

Figure 7-1. Global, local and embedded contextual embedded navigation systems
Figure 7-2. Supplemental navigation systems
By understanding this framework, distinguishing page intent and type and clearly articulating link options, we can help the visitor navigate our site. The next level of information architecture that we need to consider is the creation of 'signage' for our site. We needs to provide a clear, logical and consistent set of terms for the links of our framework. Traditionally librarians have used controlled vocabularies and taxonomies to force users into a set of commonly agreed upon terms. Some quick definitions:
- A controlled vocabulary is a set of terms used by a subject specialist when creating subject headings which will assist in more precise retrieval of content. The Library of Congress utilizes a controlled vocabulary for their subject headings.
- A taxonomy is a set of controlled vocabulary terms, usually hierarchical. Once created, it can help inform navigation and search systems. ITIS, the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, is the authoritative taxonomic information set on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.
Chapter 9 of Information Architecture looks at some of the other alternatives to taxonomies and controlled vocabularies. The web and related technologies are rapidly creating new ways of classifying and organizing information. These are often created by and for the users themselves, allowing users to forge their own paths through the information (assuming that the designers don't get in their way.)
Tagging and Folksonomies
With tagging and folksonomies, we begin to see where some of the real change will occur in the future of information architecture.
Folksonomy is the result of personal free tagging of information and objects (anything with a URL) for one's own retrieval. The tagging is done in a social environment (usually shared and open to others). Folksonomy is created from the act of tagging by the person consuming the information.
The value in this external tagging is derived from people using their own vocabulary and adding explicit meaning, which may come from inferred understanding of the information/object. People are not so much categorizing, as providing a means to connect items (placing hooks) to provide their meaning in their own understanding. Thomas Vander Wal
Tagging was a novelty a few years ago. Now, we do it automatically in our blogs, Flickr and shared workspaces. As it becomes more ubiquitous, tagging and folksonomies are viewed as the future of site labeling, with taxonomies remaining a viable strategy within contained niche markets.
IA will increasingly become what could be called a second-order design activity. Instead of manipulating web pages or metadata directly, IA in the long tail is about giving people the tools they need to create their own context. It's about facilitating great information experiences, if only indirectly. Kalbach
Readings
- Designing Web Navigation; Optimizing the User Experience; Chapter 4 by James Kalbach 39 page pdf( Blackboard)
- Navigating the Long Tail by James Kalbach ( Blackboard)
- Steve.museum: An Ongoing Experiment in Social Tagging, Folksonomy, and Museums by Chun, Cherry, Hiwiller, Trant and Wyman
- Skim: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld
available through UNC libraries, Safari Tech Books Online
Recommended Readings
- Thomas Vander Wal Talks with Talis about Folksonomies (audio file - 57 minutes) excellent history of the history of tagging.
- Social Terminology Enhancement through Vernacular Engagement by David Bearman and Jennifer Trant
- Tag team: An innovative photo organizing service is taking the web by storm by Jim McClellan
- Taking A Content Inventory by Janice Crotty Fraser
- Sample Content Inventory by Sarah Rice
- Universal Principles of Design (textbook)
- Wayfinding p 208-209
- Affordance p 20-21
- Consistency p. 46-47
- Recognition Over Recall p. 164-165
- Forgiveness p 88-89
- Visibility p 202-20
Discussion - Week 1
- Explore the Steve Museum project and try tagging some art. What do you think of the experience?
- Museums are considering the implications of tagging as a way to invite involvement
"Our goal is to stimulate a long-term, distributed, research programme in the museum community on the use of folksonomic methods to augment museum documentation and generate a sense of involvement with cultural collections." David Bearman and Jennifer Trant from an article in Archives & Museum Informatics
Do you see this as a viable concept? - Go to Flickr and search for a photo. Explore some of the places that the tags can take you.
"...tags bring people together and channel their creativity. Flickr fads can take on an activist edge - the "fuh2" tag pools photos of people "giving the finger" to Humvees, the gas guzzling cars favoured by celebrities. Tags also collate newsworthy images - the "tsunami" tag hosts a powerful collection of pictures taken by ordinary individuals." Jim McClellan Did you witness any of this tagging energy and creativity? - Could tagging enrich the user experience of the site that you are studying in this class?
- How can the tagging interface be made inviting and inclusive
Discussion - Week 2:
Often sites suffer from 'insider' labeling. This is more common on academic or institutional sites than on commercial sites. You've seen the sites - places where there are dozens of links, but you still can't find what you want.
Try to find the library at these colleges: Try to figure out where to pay your taxes at these county web sites:- http://www.co.orange.nc.us/
- http://www.co.cumberland.nj.us/content/159/3747.aspx
- http://www3.leegov.com/
Some of the issues are just plain bad navigation, but some of the problem is a vocabulary mismatch. Alamance Community College has the library hidden under Services for Students and then under Learning Resources Center. I never did find the library at Baylor's Medical College, perhaps they don't have one? San Diego MEsa College is another place that uses the words, Learning Resource Center instead of library. What about taxes? You would think that counties would strive to make paying your taxes easy, but many places use more polite words or just don't provide a link. Miami Dade county solves the problem by using a form of user-generated terms, frequently asked questions.
Questions:
Using what you learned about tagging last week, as well as the ideas put forth by the Morville & Rosenfeld, reading: Chapter 6. Labeling Systems:
- What are some possible remedies to vague vocabularies, politically correct language, or corporate jargon (See examples above & feel free to add examples of your own)?
- What is the labeling at your site and how does it stand up to your competitors' sites?
Navigation:
- Avoiding the vagueness of global, local, and contextual navigation, how does your site handle navigation?
- How does it stand up to the competition?
- Are there other standards, outside of your selected industry that should be considered?
- What are some possibilities for storytelling as a part of the navigation?
- What about the Navigation Stress Test - is that a fair test for all web sites and applications? Have you seen any web navigation that seems intuitive and effortless? (please, no complaints about Blackboard or Amazon...)
Assignment:
Part 1 - Overview of the Site Inventory
The site inventory is one of those un-fun, un-sexy documents. Creating your site can be a long, boring, under appreciated struggle. The site inventory, however is an essential part of structuring the site. Often, you will work for a client site has grown and changed until no one has any idea what is really there, much less how things are related or if the links work any more.
The first goal in diagramming your web space is to create a simple map that is a brief overview of your site. Hierarchical tree structures work best for this, as demonstrated below. Both diagrams show the same relationships within the same web site. The diagram on the left follows the traditional tree structure; the one on the right is freeform. The tree begin with a single top level page, which is then split into categories and those pages are then split further.

Figure 2a: [left] A simple tree structure
Figure 2b: [right] The same structure as in 2a, diagrammed differently jjg
This week, you will create a 3 level deep site survey of the major sections of the site. Using your site inventory, you will create the content map.
We will follow the guidelines recommended by Jeffrey Veen in his article, Doing a Content Inventory (Or, A Mind-Numbingly Detailed Odyssey Through Your Web Site).
Example : Architect Magazine
Example Site Inventory:
1 - A hierarchical list of the major pages (to a depth of 3 levels) sections of your site. Example:

2 - A modification of your hierarchical list so that it lists just the pages and the page that it is a child of (related to).
3- Example content map generated by Visio from the modified site inventory:

There are many, many ways to create a site inventory. Sadly, the easiest seems to be manually. At least, to me, adding each page by hand to a list in excel is easiest, fastest and least confusing.
Part 2 - Creating your site map manually
Part 3 - Alternatives to manually creating the site inventory
Grading will be based upon the following:
- Creation of Site Survey
- Survey reflects the Top Level Navigation Options (sections)
- Covers minimum of 3 levels in depth (assuming that the site has 3 levels of depth)
- Each Section (Navigation option) contains information:
- Standard Page numbering
- Page (link)Name
- URL
- Topics or Keywords which are fully descriptive and useful
- Notes that reflect the current content of the pages as well as comments for potential changes or improvements
