Article Idea:
SEEKING AUTHOR: How is IA implemented?--No, really...
suggested by R. Stephen Gracey on 2006/05/01
I’m very frustrated here all by myself in my one-man web development/information strategy workshop. I have many books on Information Architecture that explain all the “big ideas” of thesauri, dictionaries, controlled vocabularies, facets, and PROCESS. I *don’t* have, however, any idea how these things are actually implemented in a web site:
1. Is it a database? What does it look like?
2. Is it a set of files? What kind? How do they work?
3. If I don’t have a stable of ultra-geeks to do these things for me, how do I do it myself? What tools do I need?
I’m all sold on the art of IA—sometimes, I think I was born to it. I just don’t know how to go beyond the design and put it in place.
HELP!
Stephen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R. Stephen Gracey
Bishop’s Assistant for Information Strategy
Deputy L4
Episcopal Diocese of Ohio
Trinity Commons
2230 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
(216) 774-0454 (direct)
Want to see this idea turned into a story?
1 person said yes. | 0 people said no.
Alok Jain
92 Reputation points
Posted 2006/05/03 @ 20:44PM with
This is a challenge anyone without formal study or prior experience faces. Here are a couple of good resources:
http://www.iawiki.net/ControlledVocabularies
http://www.controlledvocabulary.com/index.html
Hope this helps
Alok Jain
http://www.iprincipia.com
Javier Velasco
247 Reputation points
Posted 2006/05/04 @ 17:33PM with
Another path you can take is to join an online community of colleagues to help you out, send them particular questions. BTW once you’ve figured it out, it would make an excelent BoxesandArrows article!
Here are some forums you can join:
http://iainstitute.org/signup/
http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
http://lists.evolt.org/ (thelist)
good luck!
Peter Boersma
2 Reputation points
Posted 2006/05/13 @ 05:14AM with
Most of the time, these tools are implemented as meta-data that is maintained using a content management system (CMS). Editors, using the CMS, link content to the meta-data items. Senior editors maintain the values of the metadata.
In some cases, a dedicated piece of software implements the thesaurus, CV, etc, and the CMS needs to be configured to talk to it.
CMS’s come in all shapes and sizes, from free sets of PHP scripts to super-expensive enterprise solutions.
I must say it’s weird to see this question coming from a “web development/information strategy” company; I’d think someone in that business would have ways to find out… But still, I hope the suggestions given here help you on your path. to IA-nirvana :-)