Published on October 28, 2013
Lessons from an ontology nerd by: Abby The IA
Information Architecture (IA) is a practice of making sense
Critical Components Of IA* Ontology: Do you know what you mean when you say what you say? Ontology Taxonomy Choreography Taxonomy: Have you provided logical structures that bring meaning to what you present? Choreography: How is meaning affected across various channels, over time and through usage? *HT @DanKlyn
Ontology This is a ﬁsh. 6
Meaning is subjective Meaning is socio political Meaning is psychographic Meaning gets lost in translation Meaning is not talked about enough 7
...meaning gets further complicated at the intersection of humans & technology. 8
Good user experience is built on a foundation of shared meaning 9
5 Lessons in Ontology 10
Lesson #1 Pay attention to Taxonomic Approach 11
There are only 5 ways to organize anything *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2 12
There are only 5 ways to organize anything 1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2 12
There are only 5 ways to organize anything 1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy 2. Alphabetical: Rome starts with “R” *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2 12
There are only 5 ways to organize anything 1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy 2. Alphabetical: Rome starts with “R” 3. Time: Rome started in 753 BC *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2 12
There are only 5 ways to organize anything 1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy 2. Alphabetical: Rome starts with “R” 3. Time: Rome started in 753 BC 4. Category: Rome is a Romantic city *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2 12
There are only 5 ways to organize anything 1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy 2. Alphabetical: Rome starts with “R” 3. Time: Rome started in 753 BC 4. Category: Rome is a Romantic city 5. Hierarchy: Rome is within Italy, which is within Europe, which is within the Eastern and Northern Hemisphere *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2 12
20 ways to organize a box of vegetables 1.! By cost at the grocery in the USA (Location) 2.! By cost at the grocery in the UK (Location) 3.! By countries it is eaten in (Location) 4.! By ﬁrst letter scientiﬁc names (Alphabetical) 5.! By ﬁrst letter popular names (Alphabetical) 6.! By ﬁrst letter cultural names (Alphabetical) 7.! By seasonality of harvest (Time) 8.! By length of season (Time) 9.! By cooking time (Time) 10.! By popularity today (Time) 11.! By popularity 100 years ago (Time) 12.! By color (Category) 13.! By taste (Category) 14.! By texture (Category) 15.! By size (Category) 16.! By growing difﬁculty (Hierarchy) 17.! By climate (Hierarchy) 18.! By type (Hierarchy) 19.! By soil type (Hierarchy) 20.! By best storing technique (Hierarchy) 13
Taxonomy is Rhetoric The way you choose to organize your vegetables says something about what kind of store you are 14
“It takes knowledge to know that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom not to put it in a fruit salad.” – Miles Kington 15
Mental Models Matter A mental model is an explanation for the way someone makes sense of something. These models of perception shape our behavior and how we relate to information that we encounter. 16
Lesson #2 Avoid Poly-hierarchical overload 17
The more tomato-like objects, the less effective the taxonomy More Usefulness of Taxonomy Less “If everything is a vegetable, nothing is a vegetable.” Instances of Polyhierarchy More 18
Lesson #3 Cultural meaning matters 19
Which is a wedding? Which is a funeral? 20
In America, when we say flapjack, we mean this.... 24
One word, many meanings 25
Lexicography vs Ontology • Lexicography is the practice of compiling dictionaries. Lexicographers collect different meanings for words • Ontology represents the knowledge of terms and concepts within a domain 26
Lesson #4 Reading Level Matters • • • • Words per sentence Average grade level of words Characters per word Use of organizational devices 27
Lesson #5 Watch out for Accidental Synonyms User Customer Consumer Member 33
Customers? Consumers? Users?
Customers? Consumers? Users?
.net .COM User Customer Retailer Consumer 36
.net .COM User Customer Retailer Consumer Accidental synonym alert! 37
.net .COM User Retailer Consumer Something had to change 38
Tools to Wrangle Meaning 39
Alien Dictionary 41
Synonym Rings tranche de Pizza fetta di Pizza Pied de Pizza Slice of Pizza Piece of Pizza Pizza Pie Piede di Pizza Pizza 42
Controlled Vocabularies • A controlled vocabulary is a list of approved terms and deﬁnitions for a particular context and/or setting • Frameworks like this can help teams to decide on things like: • Variant Spellings (i.e. American vs. British) • Scientiﬁc vs. Popular Term Use (i.e. Cockroaches vs. Periplaneta Americana) • Acceptable Synonyms (i.e. Automobile vs. Car) • Acceptable Acronyms (i.e. GE vs. General Electric) • Business vs. User Terms (i.e. What we say in meetings vs. what we say to customers) • Identiﬁcation of homographs (i.e. the word “pool” can relate to “swimming pool” or “shooting”) 44
If you forget everything else....
Lessons from an ontology nerd 1.Carefully consider Taxonomic Approach 2.Avoid Poly-hierarchical Overload 3.Research Culture & Location 4.Play to Grade & Reading Level 5.Avoid Accidental Synonyms 46
Know what you mean when you say what you say 47
Thanks (deck will be at: slideshare.com/abbycovert shortly) @Abby_The_IA | AbbytheIA.com
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