1. What is information? Describe the qualities of information.
Information is knowledge or facts learned, especially about a certain subject or event. The qualities that describe information include being accurate, complete, relevant, authoritative and easy to use.
2. What is the Dewey Decimal System? Describe how it operates.
The Dewey Decimal System is a classification tool to organise and provide access to the growing number of books and other publications. This system operates by arranging a number of books (mainly non-fiction) into 10 main subject groups and is represented by numbers beginning with 000 up to 999.
Each digit in the number represents a different category, where the first digit represents the main class, the second digit indicates the division, and the third digit indicates the section. An example of this is that the first digit – 500 represents natural sciences and mathematics; the second digit – 500 is used for general works on the sciences, 510 for mathematics, 520 for astronomy, 530 for physics; the third digit – 530 is used for general works on physics, 531 for classical mechanics, 532 for fluid mechanics, 533 for gas mechanic.
3. What is information architecture?
Information architecture can be defined as:
- The structural design of shared information environments.
- The combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems within web sites and intranets.
- The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and findability.
- An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape
4. List and describe at least three reasons for why information architecture is important (i.e., the return on investment for hiring an information architect).
- Cost of finding information –
- Cost of not finding information –
- Value of brand –
- Value of education –
5. List and describe the three main information architecture systems that support a web site.
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6. List and describe the four main information architecture deliverables.
7. Describe what is meant by the term “information ecology”.
8. What is metadata and how is it used in information architecture?
9. Explain why the “Too-Simple” information model is unrealistic for modelling users’ information seeking behaviours.
10. Describe the four common information needs, and provide an example that illustrates each of them.
11. Describe how a web site user typically finds information.
12. What is the Berry Picking Model? Give an example of how you might search for a topic using the Berry Picking Model.
13. What is the Pearl Growing Model? Give an example of how you might search for a topic using the Pearl Growing Model.
14. Explain what search analytics is and how it helps you learn more about information needs and information seeking behaviours.
15. Explain what contextual enquiry is and how it helps you learn more about information needs and information seeking behaviours.
Xavier Huang 