Pervasive Information Architecture Designing Cross PDF

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 54, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2011

Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing Cross-Channel User Experiences Book Review —Reviewed by JASON COOTEY Index Terms—Information architecture, information design, internet.

“I nformation is going everywhere. It is bleeding out of the Internet and out of personal computers,

who have interest in information design might find the book useful but are not the audience Resmini and Rosati target. The book seeks to and it is being embedded into the real world. persuade traditional information architects that Mobile devices, networked resources, and real-time user experience is broader than an organization’s information systems are making our interactions website. The book’s primary objective is to provide with information constant and ubiquitous. a methodology with which information architects Information is becoming pervasive” [p. xvi]. can design user experiences. Resmini and Rosati’s book has a place in an undergraduate university The pervasiveness of information goes beyond the classroom. The book can persuade students website to which information architects traditionally to accept multichannel information design. In look for the user experience. Unfortunately, users addition, the book can help tech-savvy students do so much more with information that one website articulate their own information demands, while is no longer sufficient to meet users’ information helping them harness a method to design user needs. The authors illustrate this pervasive user experience. experience with a bank transaction: pay an invoice Resmini and Rosati advocate what they call by visiting the bank’s website, receive a text ubiquitous ecologies or ubiquitous computing. message detailing the account operation, and visit the bank’s location to pick up the bank check. The They point to a long history of research that traces back to the early 1990s. However, where bank transaction requires several channels (hand traditionally minded information architects might delivery counts as a channel). Each channel is outside the scope of a single information producer. gain a lot from the book, researchers who focus on Consequently, information architects need to think writing technologies or emergent media will not be surprised by the book’s revelations—information about cross-channel or multiple-channel user is bleeding out of the internet, users interact with experiences if they seek to meet the pervasive information demands that are, in fact, bleeding out their information, usability necessarily means more of the internet. In addition, information architects than the constraints of a single website, etc. In addition, New Media researchers have been on top need to pay particular attention to the physical integration of information into human life—picking of the user experience since the days of hypertext fiction. Even entertainment media has been on this up the bank check. course for a decade. For instance, multichannel information is a concept that goes as far back as Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati are information the 1999 Matrix franchise. The Matrix boasted a architects, and they primarily write the book narrative distributed over multiple entertainment Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing channels. Consequently, Resmini and Rosati Cross-Channel User Experiences for information architects. Professional communication researchers have taken up a unique challenge of updating the methodologies of information architecture to include multichannel user experience. Manuscript received September 12, 2011; accepted September 13, 2011. Date of publication November 02, 2011; date of current version December 14, 2011. The reviewer is with Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322 USA (email: [email protected]). IEEE 10.1109/TPC.2011.2170911 Book Publisher: San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2011, 229 pp. with index. 0361-1434/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE

The authors divide the book into three parts: foundations, heuristics, and synthesis. The parts are meant to create a high-level vision supported by a thorough research history, define five guiding design principles, and generate a design process that applies to a sample project.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 54, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2011

The second part is the meat of the book. The authors create a heuristic vocabulary for pervasive information architecture; the vocabulary is made up of five guiding principles [p. 55]: (1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Place-making—the capability of a pervasive information architecture model to help users reduce disorientation, build a sense of place, and increase legibility and way-finding across digital, physical, and cross-channel environments. Consistency—the capability of a pervasive information architecture model to suit the purposes, the contexts, and the people it is designed for (internal consistency) and to maintain the same logic along different media, environments, and times in which it acts (external consistency). Resilience—the capability of a pervasive information architecture model to shape and adapt itself to specific users, needs, and seeking strategies. Reduction—the capability of a pervasive information architecture model to manage large information sets and minimize the stress and frustration associated with choosing from an ever-growing set of information sources, services, and goods. Correlation—the capability of a pervasive information architecture model to suggest relevant connections among pieces of information, services, and goods to help users achieve explicit goals or stimulate latent needs.

The authors use a very narrative, conversational voice while describing foundations, heuristics, and synthesis. Consequently, they make information design very accessible. They start each chapter with an epigram and include inserts from professionals in the field. They actually use a broad range of fields to illustrate and develop their concepts. Marshal McLuhen, James Joyce, Donald Norman, and MIT researcher Pranav Mistry all have their disparate roles in the book’s key points. This makes for very richly defined concepts but may be a big front door for readers not so expert or versed in so many fields. Besides which, the playful language and the authors’ unwillingness to commit to these five specific guiding principles belies the calculating precision with which the authors synthesize the principles in Part 3 of the book. The London Underground, movies like Pulp Fiction, and reflections about categorizing the Platypus did not really prepare me for the abrupt synthesis of what was clearly a well-wrought concept. Resmini and Rosati could use some unified information design in Part 2. I would like to see

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a clearly defined principle at the beginning of each chapter. Instead, the authors resist concrete definition because they seek a flexible model. Yet, a flexible model and adaptive vocabulary do not mean that the presentation needs to be obscure. I found myself skimming the chapters to place the epigram, playfulness, anecdotes, and theoretical assertion all in context; then, I would read the chapter. A well-designed schema would go far in presenting a persuasive appeal for multichannel user experience. The synthesis section is the most fascinating section of the book. The authors present their Channels, Heuristics, and User Tasks (CHU) Model as their solution for designing multichannel user experience. Resmini and Rosati have an elegant plan to draw a 3-D model of the entire user experience. The CHU model does seem capable of that objective. The authors can graph their analysis and can bisect the user experience into coded segments. Such methodical, analytical precision efficiently tracks every ounce of blood that bleeds out of the internet. Yet, the dynamic CHU model is an odd way to conclude 200 pages of concepts liberally illustrated by things like the Chinese Encyclopedia of Luis Borges. There are some key takeaways for students and information architects. Most important, there is the concept of multichannel user experiences. The book is extremely persuasive about the pervasive information architecture that demands multichannel design. There is an information typhoon and Resmini and Rosati provide an empirical 3-D model to process and represent user experiences. It is also paramount for readers to understand that not all channels are devices, the web, or traditional media because those methods of consumption are only part of the user experience; after all, users are also producers in the pervasive information architecture. In other words, some of Resmini and Rosati’s concluding thoughts are about “moving beyond user-centered design into participatory design territory” [p. 209]. Resmini and Rosati write a book that is relevant for people unfamiliar with emergent media research and are still unfamiliar with the multichannel information design. However, the methodology alone would benefit anyone already familiar with dynamic user experiences. This is a great book for courses on information design and for colleagues who refuse to embrace a dynamic, multichannel age of rich user experiences and information consumption....