It’s easy to forget the less glamorous races during the intense news cycle of a presidential campaign but it’s important to remember that there are “down ticket” candidates running in this election as well.
Hillsborough’s County Commission is one of the most bizarre elected bodies in existence. Deciding that a giant Confederate Flag near I-4 is free speech while banning GLBT events, for example.
I won’t even go into transit policy or sustainable development. If you live here you’re aware of these things. If you live here and are aware of these local issues (say you commute via bike, perhaps) you should really consider Kevin Beckner.
I’m not making an endorsement, but I will tell you that I voted for this gentleman in the primary (along with 2% of my fellow citizens, which was enough to win, but don’t get me started on turnout) and nothing against Joe Redner, but it’s nice to have someone whose campaign slogan isn’t “You don’t want me but you need me.”
Crossing the bridge from research and strategy into design, the landscape shifts quite dramatically. The emphasis moves
from process to deliverables, as your clients and colleagues expect you to move from thinking and talking to actually
producing a clear, well-defined information architecture.
Guidelines for Diagramming an information Architecture
Architectures as we’ve mentioned many times, are abstract conceptual things. Sites themselves are not finite, often you can’t
tell where one ends and the other begins. Subsites and the ‘invisible web’ of databases further muddy the picture of what
should and shouldn’t be included in a specific architecture.
Communicating Visually-diagrams are useful communicating the two basic aspects of an information system’s structural elements.
Content components-how those components should be grouped and sequenced.
Connections between content components-components are linked to enable navigating between them.
Blueprints-show the relationships between pages and other content components and can be used to portray
organization, navigation, and labeling systems.
Wireframes-forces the architect to consider such issues as where the navigation systems might be located on a page.
Content Models-are micro information architectures made up of small chunks of interconnected content.
Content models support the critical missing piece in so many sites.
Controlled vocabularies-there are two primary types of work products associated with the development of controlled
vocabularies. First, you’ll need metadata matrixes that facilitate discussion about the prioritization of vocabularies.
Chapter 13
Education
Transition in Education-a variety of education programs has been tested by the evolutionary pressures of the
market. Only those programs that add value have survived. The independent forces of supply and demand have moved toward equilibrium.
A Word of Choice-freedom of consumers to choose what they want.
1. Experience
2. Apprenticeship
3. Formal education
4. Conference and seminars
5. Literature
6. Communities
7. News and opinion
But Do I Need a Degree
You don’t need a specialized degree to become an information architect, but it helps. As our field matures and become
more competitive, the emphasis on formal educational credentials grows more pronounced.
The State of the Field-Architecture educators and practitioners to get a clear shapshot of this fast-changing environment.
Websites
http://www.net.vg/media7/index.html
This site provided a high-level strategy of metadata schema used by graphic designer and
tagging documents.
http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000030.php
This site provided a strong content of identification and management that was used for labeling and
and navigation.
Last Weekend, I was invited to a birthday dinner for one of my teammates. The diner was at Ichiban, a Japanese steak house. I was not really excited to go because I really do no like Chinese or Japanese food. At home, when I was growing up, I had a really bad experience eating at a Chinese Restaurant. The waiter brought my food out and it was disgusting. The food was so cold that I could not even put it in my mouth. However, I decided to go anyway because I knew I would have fun with my friends. When we first got there, they sat us all down at a huge table with a grill right in front of us. They brought us our drinks, salad, and soup, which were all delicious. Then, the chief came out and began cooking the food right in front of us. It was so much fun, entertaining, and the food was mouthwatering. I learned from this experience that if one restaurant is not good, it doesn’t mean that all of the restaurants like that one are the same way. I am really glad that I decided to forget about my past experience because I found out that I really do like Japanese food.
Who knows when I’ll ever get to see this [considering my new Wisconsin town has yet to get Burn After Reading], but I know I’ll look as hard as I can to find it. May even drive to Milwaukee since this schedule says filmmakers will be there in November.
As Loki writes, “It is fortunate that Katrina hit us in an era when technology has made documentation like this possible. Camera phones and video cameras have allowed a much more intimate view of the disaster than any prior era could offer. This is an opportunity to be on the inside for a moment, to put yourself in the shoes of one of us.”
Last week I was interviewed by the communications staff here at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. They contacted me, saying they had heard about my research into the post-Katrina blogosphere, and the result of our conversation is this press release, which was sent out to 50 local and regional reporters. I guess you could say that my new media efforts are about to make waves through the old media channels.
On a more serious note, the blog post that accompanied this news story has reminded me of my ever-conflicted feelings of trauma and loss. It features a picture of me that they describe as follows: “Pignetti is shown here in a February 2006 photo as she sits on the front steps of her childhood home in New Orleans, which was devastated during Hurricane Katrina.”
Anyone viewing the picture can clearly see that it was taken on a sunny day, with my house gleaming white. The only visible indication of Hurricane Katrina’s wrath is the spray paint on the front door. Because of this, I felt I should immediately share a link to pictures of the house’s interior, which truly shows the damage 10-feet of water can do.
The urgency with which I left that comment proves that I still wrestle with feelings of being misunderstood. After all, I was living in Tampa in August of 2005 and didn’t have to physically endure anything other than frustration at not having any precise information about which levees breached and what that even meant. Yet, three years later, I am still traumatized by what happened to my house, on my street, and to my city. I experience survivor’s guilt on a daily basis, with my feelings of doubt only increasing with the passage of time, making me wonder, how am I justified in feeling as sad as I do?
For instance, when I meet people face-to-face for the first time, I still proudly proclaim that I’m from New Orleans, but often only respond with, “We lost everything” to their question of “How’d you make out after Katrina hit?” Why is that all I say? I certainly am annoyed if no one bothers to ask, so why, when given the chance, do I truncate my story to a three-word response?
I think it is because I figure that if I respond, “I couldn’t find my parents for almost a week,” they will think that my mother and father were like the people they saw stranded either at the Superdome or Convention Center. I am convinced that when they find out my parents are better off than most “victims” due to their relocation to a second home we already owned in Picayune, Mississippi, any sympathy they had for us will diminish.
Writer and scholar Louise DeSalvo states the following in her book Writing as a Way of Healing, and I believe it explains my situation as a transplanted New Orleanian exactly:
Often…trauma remains undisclosed because, though people would like to discuss it, they can’t or won’t because they fear punishment, embarrassment, or disapproval or because they can’t find an appropriate audience. So, many people actively stop themselves from telling their stories; they inhibit the need to tell their traumatic narratives.
By directing my writing to an invisible, nonjudgmental audience, I have used this blog to cultivate a more emotional persona and, as a result, have embarked on a journey of healing. When I find an image of a now-destroyed familiar place or a news story that disturbs me to the point of again unleashing the sorrow of that week of national and man-made disaster, I know I can blog about it. Not only will I feel better as a result, others will recognize that I am not OK that New Orleans is nowhere close to being recovered, and that the world should not deny us its sympathy.
Today I visited more rooms in lively. I got added to the contact lists of other users. When I was talking to some other people they had moved out of site and asked me to come up. I did not know how and they told me about an icon on the left hand side that I could click on to get different views. There was a birds eye view, avatars view and a viewfinder. The birds eye view allows you to see the room from the top like a bird would view you from the sky. The avatars view allows you to return to normal viewing. The viewfinder allows you to rotate 360 degrees. Some objects have comments when you click on them where as others do not. Some rooms I was unable to move to or sit on chairs as in one room called lively: high school 101. Again all people I spoke to were able to speak English. Some rooms would not let me add furniture. One room had a background animation of snowflakes falling.
Well, even before logging into a room I notice that there seems to be many more rooms available. Quite a few are non-English as well. This means (to me) that Google Lively is getting exposure around the Globe. One even says “Win Lively Buck$”. Maybe I’ll try that one for fun.
This room was supposed to be “magic”. When I arrived, I could not move the normal way. Fortunately, there was a friendly person (Wanderer) that told me one just clicked to another spot to “fly” there. Then he fly away and I had some trouble finding him as he had flown off the floating room into the sky and it seemed I could not click/fly there as there was no physical thing to land on.
I tried the different ways of viewing and finally figured out how to stretch the view so I could see where he was and click over there. This is one thing I see in Lively that is very different from Second Life. In SL, one can use the arrows to move the avatar different directions, and you can fly around where you want, and you can teleport to different parts of the “world” or directly into a room.
From what I have seen so far, Lively is not as intuitive. Also, as my new friend Wanderer mentioned, the speed of Lively is not up to snuff and often the lag time is quite noticeable. I imagine Google will invest more money in servers and bandwidth as Lively grows into whatever THEY want it to become.
Our class trip to the Orient Road Jail was completely fascinating. We were greeted by Major Robert Lucas, who was our tour guide for this trip. After going over a bit of the ground rules, our trip was underway…
Booking
We started off in the booking area. This is where the incarcerated are received from the streets and processed into the system. First they go to the Intake station, where all their personal information is documented. This then becomes available on the county website, for those doing public records research. The next phase is Property. All their personal valuables are inventoried for the time being. They can either obtain them upon their eventual release from the jail, or they can sign a release for someone else to get them. Then they are taken to Fingerprinting. It was fascinating to see that the fingerprints are taken digitally. Then, instead of the old t.v./movie style of taking a pic holding a sign, with two profile pictures, they simply do a digital scan of the face. Major Lucas noted that having these images in their database (the photos are also available when doing an inmate records search), makes traditional lineups unnecessary. After they visit the Medical station, they then are taken to the body scanner. Since federal law now prohibits strip searches, the body scanners effectively determine any orifices that may be hiding metal. After that, if it is determined they aren’t going to bond out, they are sent to the resident areas. See a map of the Booking area Learn more about the Ranger Boss II Body Scanner
Living Pods
Actually, the residences are not long hallways of iron-bar cells as you might expect from television and the movies. They are more like little dorms. Stress the “little”. Each inmate effectively lives in a room not much larger than a closet, with either a single bed or a bunk bed, and then a desk. They are only confined to their rooms for certain times of the day, if they behave well. Major Lucas seemed to stress the behavioral modification aspect of the jail. If they misbehave, they lose privileges. Extreme cases get them put in Lockdown.
Lockdown is very similar to solitary confinement. An inmate is shut in a narrow room, only allowed to leave to shower, or one hour of indoor and one hour of outdoor recreation. Unless they lose the recreation privileges, then they can only shower. We then moved on to the final stop of the tour.
Master Control
Our tour ended at Master Control. From there an operator can see all the cameras throughout the jail. Major Lucas told us how even though we saw only a small part of the jail, that it was fairly symmetrical, and that the whole jail was pretty much the same from then on. I was rather impressed with the tour, particularly how technologically advanced they were. I would have like to see more, particularly the video courtroom, and the adult education center.
Another week has passed and I’d hoped for more progress. I jumped ahead in Kompozer, set up a basic layout for my Green Gaia Growers website and I’ve been jotting down content ideas; plant price lists, sustainable gardening links, homepage link, map, photo gallery, etc. The Beaird reading has been very helpful. The law of thirds or “turds” was particularly interesting as well as the tendency to put the links in a left aligned column, simple things we overlook.My difficulties thus far have been table and cell manipulation within Kompozer. Rearranging tables and cells in Word, Excel, Acces, etc, seems much easier. I’ve read through the help section within Kompozer and I’ve read several tutorials. All give basic instructions for html tags and uploading but not for layout instruction. Kompozer is useful but I’m curious as to what I’m missing out on without Dreamweaver. Chpter 7 in Creating Web Sites covers the basics of using graphics. GIF file formats are best for logos and JPEGs are best for photo images. PNGs are another format but older browsers have trouble with them. I’ll be sticking to reliable GIFs and JPEGs. I’m using Corel Paint Shop for my graphics program and I’ve spent hours manipulating family photos. Chpter 8 deals with creating links internal and external for your site. Much of this can be done easily with the link feature in KompoZer but the book offers concise manual instruction and understanding of the basic HTML commands. Unfortunately, reading about things that are ahead of where I am in putting this website together is less than ideal. I began designing my homepage and this has created challenges for starting my Cascading Style Sheet( the more you do before you establish a style sheet, the more code to sort through).
Web site reviews: http://webstyleguide.com/index.html - This is really a good site for getting organized. (Something I notoriously struggle with) It sets forth an outline in stages and covers everything from information architecture to multimedia usage. Very useful for producing a functional site that meets the needs of the business/organization while attracting visitors. One interesting section describes three basic information structures to consider in layout; sequences, hierarchies, and webs. http://universalusability.com/access_by_design/index.html - Here’s another A-Z handbook for layout and usability. Both sites open with tables of contents. However this one offers an aesthetically pleasing color scheme. While the webstyle guide is cold white with blue text this site is warm tan with soft blue borders etc. While white is typically easier to read from, this site offers a certain comfort for the user. http://www.jjg.net/ia/ - This site is useful to designers and information architects focusing on user experience rather than aesthetics. The homepage appears clean and futuristic looking with a sharp font and large colorful icons that link to subcategories; elements of user experience, how to work as a web team, structural schematics, etc. Worth visiting later. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/05/08/now-more-than-ever-50-more-excellent-blog-designs/ - Wow!! smashing magazine offers lists and links to some amazingly attractive blogs. Many ideas for our own sites.
I am one of those guys who gets along with the majority because I absolutely love people and I believe life would be boring without people to be with. But in college, if you are set up in a dorm situation in particular, you are around other people constantly and even though I like this, it can definitely be a huge challenge at times. I think the hardest part about living with other people is the ever-present potential to get distracted when you are trying to do your homework or study. I am not known to be a bookworm as it is, so for me to actually sit down and study is especially challenging. The atmosphere has to be semi-quiet at least and there definitely can’t be something fun going on in the same room or I will immediately go off track. Studying can seem nearly impossible sometimes in my living situation. I live in Beta, a dorm with only freshman, on the second floor where everyone hangs out. Not to mention everyone tends to gravitate towards my room to hang out at night to watch movies until 2:00 am almost every night. The distraction problem is for sure the most difficult aspect of living with other people so far.
I live at home, so what I find the hardest part of living with my parents is being able to experience my college life like a normal college student does. They don’t usually care what time I come home at night, because they know I’m safe and make good decisions, but it’s difficult to experience the college life when it takes me a half an hour to get to campus. Most of my friends that I hang out with daily live in Riverview, so I don’t usually get invited to the campus parties or to hang out with people I talk to at school. I get along with my parents and can talk to them about everything, but for a college freshman, I’d like a little more freedom and ability to do as I please. My parents agree with how I handle my social life and school work most of the time, but sometimes they get on my back about putting off work a little longer than I should. It’s alright for now that I live at home, but I’m saving up to move out next year with a good friend. I know at first it may be difficult living with a friend, but I know that we can make it all work out for the good.
Going out of state for college by oneself is a pretty big step. Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive about the random roommate assignment. I’m pretty laid back, so getting along with me isn’t the tricky part. The hardest part about living in community, especially on campus, would probably be time management. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. When you share a dorm (whose size is comparable to that of a jail cell) with someone else, you can’t help but have their schedule have an impact on yours. Sometimes it is hard to turn down opportunities for fun or socializing in order to do schoolwork. In this case I sometimes have a hard time resisting temptation, and if I don’t correct this soon, then I am in for big trouble. On campus, there is always something going on. There is a mass amount of peers anywhere you walk ready to distract one from one’s schoolwork or other responsibilities. Besides from that, living in the USF community has been great. I live in beta hall with nothing but other freshmen, so I have met a lot of people in the same boat as myself. I cannot complain about the most influential one (my roommate). So far we have seemed to be meshing well together.
Research
This phase begins with a review of existing background materials and meetings with the strategy team, aimed at gaining high-level understanding of the goals and business context, the existing information architecture, the content, and the intended
audiences.
Process Overview
Early days of web design, many companies employed a one-step process called “Code HTML”.
A Research Framework
Context, Content & User
Research Meetings
Strategy team meeting
Content management meeting
Information technology meeting
Stakeholders interviews
They are often one of the most valuable components of the business context research.
Content Analysis
Defining component of the bottom-up approach to information architecture, involving careful review of the documents and objects that actually exist.
Gathering content
1. Format
2. Document type
3. Source
What Is an Information Architecture Strategy?
1. Information architecture administration
2. Technology integration
3. Top-down or button-up emphasis
4. Organization and labeling sysems
5. Document type identification
6. Metadata field definition
7. Navigation system design
Research to Strategy-a good information architect starts considering possible strategies for structuring and organizing the site
before the research even begins. During the research phase, through out the user interviews and content analysis and benchmarking studies, you should be constantly testing and refining the hypotheses already in your head against the steady
stream of data you’re compiling.
Metaphor Exploration-Powerful tool for communicating complex ideas and generating enthusiasm
1. Organizational metaphors
2. Functional metaphors
3. Visual metaphors
The Strategy Report
The process of integrating the previous results, analysis, and ideas into a single written document forces rough
decisions, intellectual honesty, and clear communication.
Executive summary
Provide a high-level outline of the goals and methodology, and present a 50,000-foot view of the major problems and
major recommendations. The executive summary sets a tone for the entire document and should be written very carefully.
Content Management
1. Rules
2. Roles
3. Resources
4. Templates
5. Metadata
6 Thesaurus-helps users find information more easily.
Presentations
1. Umbrella Shell for Separate Hubs
2. Integrated Content Repository
3. Active Inter-Hub Management
Website-NewsMap
The structure and organization of this site sort of hurt the search and navigation process. The site has overwhelming content, confusing and frustrating. However, strong color schemes which makes the labeling very readable to some users. The site has a good visual metaphor with the images, icon and color that created a great connection.
The hardest part of living with a room mate is just the simple fact of not having the privacy I was always used to. It took a lot of getting used to be I don’t really mind it now. I feel as if I can adjust to just about anything now and although I still get woken up sometimes I’ve realized it has more to do with the fact that I am an unusually light sleeper. Although I would rather have my own apartment (who wouldn’t) I’m happy with my current situation; it’s even a good environment for getting my work done. I know this wasn’ t this case in my last bog entry but if I can’t study in my room then I just go in the lounge where plenty of other people study also. I love the people on my floor also, they’re really nice and easy to get along with so honestly, I couldn’t ask for more out of what I’ve been dealt. Plus, an apartment is much more expensive unless you’re off campus. All in all I have to say things are coming together nicely, hopefully I’m not jinxing anything!
When living in a community it’s important to get along with those around you and work well with them. Unfortunately it takes cooperation for relationships to work. If there is no cooperation or compromising on either side, there can be many difficult issues that I personally would have a problem with. Some things that come to mind right away might be the following: Are they considerate and respectful of me? Do they mooch off of me for everything? Are they messy? Are they loud and noisy when I need some peace and quiet? Are they obnoxious? Of course, I have to look at myself and ask these same questions of myself so that I am not the difficult one to live with. However, if I had to choose one thing to sum up what I find to be the hardest part of living with other people, it’s that often they are so oblivious of how they are affecting those around them. Personally, I’ve been lucky enough to live with great people who are considerate and try to cooperate and compromise when there are differences.
Living with others can be a lot of fun but at times it can be very hard. Everyone comes from a different background, living arrangement, and a different way of being brought up. What I find the hardest about living with others is learning how they live. It isnt always easy living with others because everyone is different. The first week living with my new roomates was really easy. Everyone was meeting each other and trying to make a good impression. We were letting each other know that we are going to have a great year as college freshmen. However, after about three weeks everyone is continuing to get along but learning what gets on our nerves about each other. We have found out whether one person is messy or a neat freaky and so forth. One thing that really annoys me about ivng with others is the way that they do not care if the dorm is clean. I like knowing where all of my stuff is and having a clean room, kitchen, and bathroom. However, my roommates are not really worried about it. I think as time goes by I will learn to adjust to my roommates and and show them how much better it feels to live in a clean dorm.
This was my second time visiting lively. I went to a couple different chat rooms. I found out that I was able to walk outside of the building of the chatroom and walk around. A lot of other first time users were there. There were a lot of different people from different countries such as China, Thailand, Brazil, Holland, etc. I thought that it was amazing that they all spoke English. When I was walking around the rooms I clicked on some new objects and found out that some objects have animations that you can play. Some objects even had their own website listing. Some rooms took more time than others to load. The rooms had different background music themes. Some played music, some had drums playing on and off and some even had narrative themes. Some rooms had multiple rooms as oppose to one open room with multiple floors. One thing that I disliked was having to resign in to enter new rooms.
I’ll be presenting a paper on teaching with Twitter at 4Cs next year, so, in order to get my “data,” this Monday I will present my students with their task of creating accounts on the popular microblogging site.
I was nervous over the summer when the Fail Whale kept rearing his power-blue head, but it seems like things have stabilized since then. As my previous post indicated, though, I am hesitant to require students to visit sites outside of the already confusing course management software, but because the writing shared on Twitter comes in spurts of 140 characters or less, I think it is a great opportunity to experiment and meet my students where they are in terms of technology use—relying heavily upon text messaging and social networking sites. Ideally, my rationale for this project [which will be their final exam] is that asking students to post to their own timeline will teach them valuable lessons in audience, linking, community, and active reading. At the end of the semester, they will have to rely and reflect upon their short posts in order to compose a technology literacy autobiography. Hopefully they will see from their timestamped posts that they’ve evolved as producers and consumers over the semester, that their life on the screen is not necessarily an alternative life but a space for growth.
Now to put that into directions that are easy to understand…perhaps this video will help?
Our visit to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was full of useful information. J.D. Callaway, the SO’s Public Information Officer (and USF graduate), gave an informed lecture on the process that most reporters go through to obtain information on criminal activity and arrests. From a News Release, to an Arrest Report, to Incident Reports and Criminal Report Affidavits (CRA), there is a wealth of information for reporters to sort through. Callaway noted that a common mistake reporters make is not obtaining the CRA, which often contains the officer’s notes, evidence lists, and lots of other useful nuggets of info.
Another topic Callaway addressed was the immediacy of reporting driven by the surge of internet news. He noted that the SO had to be cautious with what was said over the radio, as reporter’s listening to the scanners may write stories that are incomplete, or worse, inaccurate. What is said over a scanner, he cautioned, may be completely reverse of the reality of a situation. That leads the SO and dispatcher’s to carefully monitor what they are saying on the scanners, but I would add that the reporters have the additional responsibility to do some fact-checking before posting something on the web where millions of readers could potentially access it. Another overlooked source of info was search warrants, which are public record. Half of the warrants, Callaway says, don’t result in an arrest.
Then we took a brief tour, leading past the records department to the “War Room”. On the way Callaway told some facts about the county and the SO, such as it’s the 9th largest county in the nation, with approximately 920 square miles. The SO used to be the central location, but that much of the operations are now decentralized.
The “War Room” is a small conference room with telephones and computers that serves multiple functions. “Roll Call” and briefing meetings happen there twice a day, and it’s used as a classroom, for training new phone agents for 911 and dispatch calls. But it also can be used to coordinate in case of an emergency, such as a hurricane.
The 911 center employs about 120-130 agents total, with 22-25 on a shift at a time. The center receives about a million calls a year, with about 60,000 of those actually hitting the streets. Landline phones go to certain stations based on the first three numbers (not the area code). Cellphone calls generally depend on the user’s proximity to a tower. These calls can be tracked to a general area, but technology does not yet help them pinpoint exact locations.
We also learned how incoming calls have lists of who’s responsible for policing, fire, and ambulance services in the area the call came from, so the call can be forwarded if necessary (although it was noted the 911 operator stays on the line). Also, arial views of the call area can be shown to determine entrance/exit points, in the event of a hostage situation, etc.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of Reverse 911, a program in which the phone agents are able to target an area and call for emergency notifications. Reasons for such a service may include neighborhood emergency situations such as a hazardous chemical or gas leak, a natural disaster prompting evacuations, missing person alerts, or criminal notifications such as sexual predators moving to the neighborhood, or whether a fugitive is in the area.
The trip was very interesting, albeit a bit short. I would’ve like to seen the records room. I am also anticipating the visits to the jail and the courthouse, to see what the differences in records between the three agencies are.
