Information Architecture

Code:

MCI0035

Acronym:

AI

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Information Science

Instance: 2024/2025 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	https://moodle2425.up.pt/course/view.php?id=5000
Responsible unit:	Department of Informatics Engineering
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Information Science

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MCI	11	Plano de estudos oficial	1	-	6	42	162

Teaching language

English

Objectives

The "Information Architecture" course aims to lead students in the analysis of concepts, methods and techniques of digital design that facilitate the search, navigation and understanding of information provided by organizations.

Learning outcomes and competences

Upon completion of the course unit, students are expected to:

- Identify the problems solved by Information Architecture in the development of digital products and services;

- Understand the principles of Information Architecture, including organization, labeling, navigation, search and description;

- Develop navigation systems, labeling systems and taxonomies for digital products or services;

- Understand the processes and methods needed to move from research to definition of strategy, design and implementation of Information Architecture;

- Create wireframes for digital products or services;

- Evaluate a digital product or service from an Information Architecture perspective.

Working method

Presencial

Program

- Introducing Information Architecture

     - The problems that Information Architecture addresses

     - Defining Information Architecture

     - Design for Finding

     - Design for Understanding

- Requirement analysis in Information Architecture

  - Motivation and approach

  - Techniques to analyze the business context

  - Techniques to analyze content

  - Techniques to analyze users

  - Conceptual models

- Basic Principles of Information Architecture

     - The anatomy of an Information Architecture

     - Organization Systems

     - Labeling Systems

     - Navigation Systems

     - Search Systems

     - Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata

 - Design and Documentation of Information Architecture

Mandatory literature

Louis Rosenfeld; Information architecture. ISBN: 9781491911686

Complementary Bibliography

Edward R. Tufte; Envisioning information. ISBN: 0-9613921-1-8
Tony Russell-Rose; Designing the search experience. ISBN: 978-0-12-396981-1
Jorge Arango; Living in information. ISBN: 9781933820651
Dan M. Brown; Communicating design. ISBN: 978-0-321-71246-2
Abby Covert; How to Make Sense of Any Mess
Andrea Resmini; Reframing information architecture. ISBN: 978-3-319-06492-5

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures are used for the presentation of topics, with reference to the bibliography, and for the accomplishment of small exercises that stimulate the learning. During the time dedicated to practical work, topics proposed for research to students are discussed, practical exercises on Information Architecture are done and the results of practical work are presented.

 

keywords

Humanities > Information science > Information management > Information processing

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	20,00
Exame	30,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	52,00
Frequência das aulas	42,00
Trabalho escrito	14,00
Elaboração de projeto	54,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

To obtain frequency, students must attend 75% of classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

PE - Practical Exercises performed individually
PROJ - Project/Group work
FE - Final Exam

Final Grade = round (0.2 PE + 0.5 PROJ + 0.3 FE)

Minimum grade of 50% (10 out of 20) in the Project.
Minimum grade of 40% (8 out of 20) in the Exam.

The Project consists of group work evaluated in 3 components: requirements analysis, information architecture design, and presentation. All students in the group must be present at the project presentation.

The final classification of the Project may vary from element to element of the same group by more or less 2 values based on the self-assessment and hetero-assessment to be carried out internally in each group.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students enrolled under TE and other special status are required to complete all assessment components. Participation in the project presentation is mandatory.

Classification improvement

Students can improve the exam in the appeal season of the same edition. The project can only be improved in the following edition of the course. The remaining components cannot be improved.

Observations

The official language of instruction is English. However, if no international students are enrolled in the course, classes may be conducted in Portuguese. All slides will be presented in English.