Introduction to Information Architecture and Computational Media
Lecture and Exercises
Module 1: Monday, June 10th through Thursday, June 13th 2002
Abstract
- information architecture and content organization
- diagramming and flowcharting techniques
- programming + media
- content + function
- programmer thinking
What is the new discipline of Information Architecture? What place is there for
craft in working with digital tools and computer programming languages? How do
creativity and logic interact? This section of the course offers students a hands-on
introduction to content organization, programming, and a discussion of some of
the issues raised by the collision of code and content.
So far, Information Architecture has been largely applied only to the web. As
other forms of digital media grow more complex and ubiquitous, Information Architects
will find their skills appropriate to other systems and projects. We will spend
two days learning the basic techniques and methods of Information Architecture,
including flowchart, and process diagram design and interaction design, and will
look at how Information Architects communicate their ideas in documents and diagrams.
In the second part of the section, students will be introduced the "Design by
Numbers" (DBN) programming language written by MIT Media Lab professor John Maeda.
This simple programming language introduces students to the fundamental principles
of computation-variables, loops, and if/then constructions. Building on these
core concepts, we will progress to basic interactivity: programmed response to
mouse movements, keyboard input, and time.
Finally, we will discuss how the power of programming and computation underlies
most of the work that information architects do. We will briefly look at how "programmer
thinking" is applied to structured, networked data and content on the web, and
the potential impact of that kind of content in other media. We will look at some
examples of how innovative designers/programmers are responding to content and
code in their work.
Course Outline
day 1 - 2
- What is Information Architecture? What are its goals?
- What are the basic techniques Information Architects use?
Students will be introduced to the emerging discipline of Information Architecture.
So far mostly a web-oriented field, IA has its roots in visual information design
and software application design. Students will work on exercises that introduce
user-centered design, content organization, and flowchart and process diagram
creation. We will spend some time discussing methods and documents suited to presenting
Information Architecture concepts to others on a design team.
day 3 - 4
How can "programming" ideas and approaches be applied to varied types of digital
networked content?
- How are they applied to handling the primarily text-based content of the
Web?
During the second part of the section, students will work with the "Design by
Numbers" (DBN) programming language written by MIT Media Lab professor John Maeda.
This simple programming language gently introduces students to the fundamental
principles of computation-variables, loops, and if/then constructions. Building
on these core concepts, we will progress to basic interactivity: programmed response
to mouse movements, keyboard input, and time.
Finally, we will consider how the power of programming and computation underlies
most of the work that information architects do. We will look at how "programmer
thinking" is applied to structured, networked data and content on the web, and
the potential impact of that kind of content on other media. We will look at some
examples of how innovative visual designers/programmers are responding to content
and code in their work.
SUMMARY
- Students will be exposed to Information Architecture, its goals, and its
methods.
- Students will do some hands-on programming work.
- Students will evaluate and discuss the place of code, coding, and coders
in the new media project.
- Students will be exposed to a broad range of innovative and successful examples
of digital media design that illustrate the programmer's craft.
Morning sessions will last 3 hours, afternoon sessions will last 4 hours,
and we'll have an hour for lunch in between.
- How to optimize a website for search engines
- webdesign according to the demand of search engines
- meta-tags (title, keywords, description, robots.txt)
- (paid) registration
Afternoon Session
During the afternoon you will prove the above mentioned information either by
doing a search for special information or by making a concept to place certain
content in the net. These excercises will be done in groups.
XML
Lecture and Exercises
Module 2: Thursday, July 11th 2002
Abstract
There are many "three letter acronyms" on the web: FTP, BBS, URL. One that's receiving
a lot of attention is XML. This seminar aims to give the participants an understanding
why and how XML is a powerful tool. Meta tagging information not only enables
users to find and trace information, it allows for the information to dynamically
integrate into different contextual environments.
Course Outline
Morning sessions will last 3 hours, afternoon sessions will last 4 hours,
and we'll have an hour for lunch in between.
Morning
Exactly what is XML, and why is it suddenly so popular?
What can it do, and what can't it do? (And why is it so hard to figure that out?)
Who writes XML, and who (or what) uses it?
What is "parsing" XML data? (We'll look at code examples in Flash.)
Afternoon
Examples of how XML can be used, and why:
Design using "dynamic structured content sources" (XML)
Possibilities for "dynamic shared structured data" (in online narratives, journals,
or interactive designs).
Types of XML that you can use right now: RSS
Weblog Tools: personal publishing and shared structured data.