evaluating information architecture

7/29/2019 Evaluating Information Architecture

1/12

Evaluating Information Architecture

Izabella Warner

Information Architecture for the Web

Site location: www.defencejobs.gov.au

Site purpose: To provide information regarding defence force career and study options and

associated benefits.

Target audience: Prospective and current recruits and their families and friends.

OrganisationalSystems

OrganisationalSchemes

Sharedcharacteristicsofcontentitemsandtheirgroupings

The information on the sites is organised according to a topical hierarchy allowing for fast

and streamlined navigation of the content. Content is organised according to the three main

divisions of the Australian defence forces that being: Army, Navy and Air force, as well as ageneral education and recruitment section.

The organisational scheme defines the shared characteristics of each of the three main

sections of content and logically groups information under major topical sections:

lifestyle

training

pay and benefits

jobs


2/12

reserve and

technology

These sections are consistent for all three categories and provide a clear navigation across

the site (see Figure 1 below). Each category has its own associated phrase (Air Force

Accomplished, Army Challenge yourself, Navy The team works) I think the recognition of

the different sections could be further aided by applying a more aggressive colour scheme to

differentiate the various sections of the site and give each section a more defined branding.

This would increase the chances that visitors would be able to make a lasting, unconscious

connection between a given colour/branding scheme and content of the site, aiding future

information retrieval.

Figure 1: Shared content categories for each of the three main defence force branches.

Breadthvsdepthofthesite

The site is in essence broad in structure. There are many categories for the user to choose

from and not as many levels of information that the user needs to penetrate to get to the

content in mind.

Hybridorganisationalstructuresandschemes

The site successfully combines topics and tasks on their main page and within the

navigational menu making use of a shallow hybrid scheme. The information is also, by

default of being organised by topic (army, navy, air force), geared towards specific audience

types. This caterers for repeat visitors who will only be interested in one of the three topical

areas. In essence the site is a series of three mini sites which, are organised in the same

fashion ensuring that once a visitor becomes familiar with one section browsing through the

others can be based on recalling the major navigational menus.

Figure 2: Shared content categories for each of the three main defence force branches.


3/12

The site control requirements cater to both the experience user who knows what section of

the site there are heading to, and the less experienced user by providing a consistent, clear

navigation strip at the top of each page (see figure 2 above). This navigation allows users to

quickly re-position themselves within the site and exit to the home area by making actions

and options highly visible.

Basic instructions for use of the system, like Apply Now and Contact Us are easily

retrievable from most places on the site.

The design of the site is minimalistic and streamlined. There is a lot of information on the

site with additional information being accessible via a link so that the details are available,

but dont interfere with the more relevant content.

The site has also an extensive help and documentation section including FAQs

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of the site is based on the three main branches of the defence forces: army,

navy and air force as well as a general education and recruitment section. These categories

are coherent and logical. Content is specific to each section and the degree of overlap is

limited to general information which is the same for each category.

LabellingandVocabularyControl

The labelling of content on the site is clear, consistent and effective. The language used is

professional and free of jargon or specialised terminology. The site maintains a good match

with the real world through the use of words, phrases and concepts which, are familiar to the

everyday user.

Navigation

The global and secondary navigational structures are effective and consistent across the

site.

Conclusion

This is a well organised website with clear, concise and effective content labelling and

navigation. The structures and systems used in the major sections are intuitive and aid

information recall for subsequent visits. I think a stronger branding would aid visual


4/12

navigation of the site with the three main areas of army, navy and air force benefiting from a

more defined visual identity.


5/12

Site location: www.arc.gov.au

Site purpose: To provide information on research and innovation policy and programs

supported by the Australian government.

Target audience: Government grant seekers (researchers) and the general public

OrganisationalSystems

OrganisationalSchemes

Sharedcharacteristicsofcontentitemsandtheirgroupings

The information on the sites is organised according to topic as reflected by the main

navigation in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Main topical navigation menu of the ARC website.

The main navigation menu is a little ambiguous with sections such as About ARC and

General Information causing confusion at first glance. One needs to click on the General

Information link to discover that this section contains informationpublishedonthispage

relatestovariousaspectsoftheARC'sbusinessandactivitiesthatmaybeofinteresttomembersof


6/12

theresearchandgeneralcommunities,andothers. This only creates further confusion as to

how, this section differs from the ARC-Supported Activities section. Essentially the site is

very content-heavy and requires careful reading to discover what a given section is about.

This leads to the first time user having to wander through the site and visit various sections

before being able to find the desired content.

A possible way to aid quicker identification of what each section is about would be to include

bolded text at the beginning of each section which, would describe, in a short sentence, what

information that section contains. For example, purpose of the section National Competitive

Grants Program isnt clear until the reader gets down to the bullet point about funding for

research activities. A suggestion would be to present the content with a heading and a

descriptor sentence underneath as seen below.

National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP)

Funding Australias highest-quality research

The use of additional headings on each page would also aid the scanning of information and

quicker identification of relevant content.

Breadthvsdepthofthesite

At first glance, it is difficult to make an assessment if the site is deep or broad in structure.

There are a lot of categories on some pages such as the National Competitive Grants

Program making the site broad. In most instances there is also considerable depth to the

structure and users are asked to drill down through many levels before they reach the

desired information. This makes the site rather complex.

Hybridorganisationalstructuresandschemes

The site is organised according to topic or subject matter. I think however that the site would

benefit greatly from being more audience/task focused. From a preliminary assessment

some of the content on the site is clearly aimed at researchers and administering institutions

wanting to:

find out more about different funding opportunities National Competitive Grants

Program

find out how, when and who can apply for funding Information for Applicants

actually apply for funding by submitting a proposal RMS log in

manage their user records


7/12

One suggestion would be to clearly divide the site into sections which support the tasks

associated with initial information discovery about funding, application process and

management.

Figure 4: Action box, informing the user that they are about to be taken to an external site without giving the

option to return to the ARC pages.

The areas for performing actions on the site are limited to the ERA Login section and the

RMS/GAMS Login. The ERA Login section lacks any basic instructions for use of the

system. On the other hand, the RMS/GAMS Login link leads the user to a page over

loaded with information and the actual log in link is not clearly visible.

There is also a link on the site, which takes the user away to an external page for the

Minister responsible for the portfolio (Figure 4). The user is informed that they will exit the

ARC site and be taken to a different page. However, there is only one option to accept this

and proceed to the new site. The user is not presented with the option in the action dialogue

box to stay on the ARC site. While the back button can be used to cancel the action I find

that a lot of users are will not make the switch from page navigation to the browser function

to perform this action.

Taxonomy,LabellingandVocabularyControl

The taxonomy of the site is polyhierarchical and ambiguous. The categories used to group

content are not exclusive, in fact under such menus as About ARC, General Information

and Information for Applicants I can see content that could easily belong in either grouping.

The labelling of content on the site is a little obscure. For example on the Information for

Applicants page there are links labelled.

Information for researchers


8/12

Information to applicants

Since the ARC provides funding for research, the applicants are researchers and thus it is

not clear how the content of those two links differ. What is also not clear is how the linklabelled Information for Applicants differs from the link Instructions to applicants. Also the

use of similar phrases like Progress reports and Reporting requirements can be

confusing because the phrases suggest that both of these are referring to the same

information (Figure 8 below).

The language used throughout the site is consistent and very much what one would expect

from a government publication characterised by broad policy statements and jargon. There

is a range of acronyms used in links for example FOR, RFCD, SEO, ANZSIC Codes which

assumes the user is familiar with those terms and able to identify the content hidden behind

such links.

Navigation

The global navigational structure is consistent throughout the site. When a user clicks on

one of the top links the text becomes blue and there is a bread-crumb trail activated above

the given page heading. This is a very useful navigational structure given how complex and

content heavy the site is. There is, however, an inconsistency in the mechanisms. When a

user selects the ARC-supported Activities, section the General Information section

becomes blue (See figure 5 below).

Figure 5: Inconsistency in the way the main navigation displays.

The secondary navigational structure is not consistent across the site and does create some

confusion. On the home page the left hand side supporting navigation bar displays a series

of Quick Links (see Figure 6 below). These seem to have been chosen based on the

information seeking needs of a wide range of audiences from potential applicants for grants

Instructions to applicants to job seekers Job Vacancies to obscure links such as File

Lists which do not reveal the type of user they are intended for or the type of content they

might be hiding.


9/12

Figure 6: ARC home page with a Quick Links left hand side menu.

The left hand side navigation menu changes depending which page the user selects. If one

is on the About ARC page the Quick links change to a selection of links with general

information about the Council and its operations (Figure 7 below.)

Figure 7: Left hand side link on the About ARC page.

When a user selects the Information for Applicants link the left hand side navigation

changes again and displays a series of links with information about the ARC grantapplication process. On this page however the links on the side are also replicated in the


10/12

main body of the text albeit not in the same order with some information only appearing on

the left hand side navigation and some on the page (Figure 8 below). A better way of

organising the information in the body of the page would be to outline a typical application

process and provide contextual links to further information. This would allow users to

identify the particular stage of application they are at and permit them to locate the desired

content quicker.

Figure 8: Left hand side links on the Information for Applicants page and links in the body of the content.

Conclusion

This is a very content heavy site with some ambiguity in the navigation structure and content

labelling. The inconsistencies in structures and systems used across the site hinder intuitive

information recall for subsequent visits.


11/12

Figure 9: Example of screen space being wasted on repeating links from the side navigation in the body of the

text.

Figure 10: Example of screen space being wasted on repeating links from the side navigation in the body of the

text.

The site often replicates information like in the example above (Figure 9 and 10) where linksfrom the side menu are repeated in the body of the page. This produces information


12/12

redundancy, can be confusing for the reader and increases the amount of clicks required

before information is located.

The site would benefit greatly from an architectural overhaul. My suggestion would be to

conduct a thorough content inventory and analysis. Approaching the design of information

architecture from a more audience centric angle and grouping the content based on the

purpose of the visit of a given user is recommended. One such approach would be to

assume that a typical user visits the ARC site to:

1. obtain information about the ARC

2. seek information about research funding

3. seek information about ARC activities such as the ERA initiative

This way of organising content would also align with the overall organisational goals of the

ARC.

The use of a A-Z index for organising information for applicants would also be beneficial and

allow users to locate content much more quickly.

While pull down menus can pose accessibility challenges their use could also benefit the site

by providing users a quick glance at some of the content behind a given link.

evaluating information architecture

Documents