ToRCHI, the Toronto chapter of ACM SIGCHI, is organizing a one-day
workshop in June on the topic of user experience (UX) design of web
site information architectures (IA).

== Workshop details ==
This event is seeking to attract about 10 people who have significant
professional experience in the workshop topic. Attendees will learn
from each other by participating in structured activities and
discussions facilitated by the workshop leader.

This workshop examines the design of web site organization and
information architecture with a focus on user experience and usability
considerations. Workshop activities will consist largely of analyzing
and critiquing existing sites, discussing underlying design principles
and guidelines, and completing design exercises and critiquing the
results. The workshop will be divided into segments to focus on
specific discussion topics, such as the following:

        * Contexts of use as a determinant of web site organization
        * Task-based organizational schemes
        * Global (site-wide) navigation design
        * Definition and design of site sections (a.k.a. sitelets, sub sites

== Workshop leader: Keith Instone ==
As workshop leader, Keith Instone is responsible for preparing the
structured workshop activities and ensuring a productive workshop
discussion. Keith Instone is the information architecture lead and IA
team lead for the ibm.com site. This site is one of the largest sites
on the Web and is often cited as exemplary. In a prior position as
usability specialist at Argus Associates, he helped define the field
of information architecture as a merger of UCD and library science
practices. He was also an early advocate of web usability, building
UsableWeb.com. Keith has a long track record of organizing workshops,
professional service, and speaking engagements. Recent speaking
engagements related to the workshop topic include serving as a
panelist for "The State of Web Site User Experience in 2007" at
Internet User Experience 2007 and for "Setting the IA research agenda"
at the IA Summit in 2006.

== For more information ==
For additional details, view the call for participation at:
http://torchi.memberlodge.org/Default.aspx?pageId=91841&eventId=10909...

See also the ToRCHI homepage: http://torchi.memberlodge.org/

I'm planning to meet Keith at the IA Summit this weekend. $370 seems a
little steep for something we could surely put together ourselves. We
certainly have the talent on this board to do so. I find it funny that
I have to go to Miami to meet Kaleem and Mr. Milan. Looking forward to
the next UXI meetup. I'll have to rib Keith about this workshop.

Mario

On Apr 7, 7:37 pm, Paul McInerney <paul...@ca.ibm.com> wrote:

OK. So I'm in. Who else is coming?

Mario,

I'm in tentatively. I just joined the group, so here's the bio:

HyperText(1) '88-'92 (including managing CoSy at UVic, building an OO
HT system w. Darryl Fuller, and running BBS)
Tech Writer '88-'94 (IBM TID)
Multimedia '89-'96 (HyperCard, Owl, ToolBook, AVC, UltiMedia,
IconAuthor, Shockwave)
Web '94-present (IBM, Sierra (no, not the game company), Haven, Klick)

Currently Senior Info Arch at Klick in group of 6-7 depending on how
you count and what day it is.

Only interested if this is very senior level group talking in depth
(no intro stuff).

--Brad

(1) As an aside I was at HyperText '91 in San Antonio. You are truly a
Web historian if you know the significance of that.

On May 7, 10:20 pm, Mario Bourque <mtbour...@gmail.com> wrote:

Agreed.

All,

For what it's worth... here are my suggested topics...

__________________
Data-Driven Personas

How do we create personas that truly reflect the target audience? Cut-
and-paste personas imagined by the UX professional do not cut it any
more. What are best practices in gathering target market data and how
do we communicate this deep data in a way that presents an accurate,
quickly understood manner that facilitates drilling down to the
underlying data?

_____________________________________
Task-Based vs. Exploratory Usability Testing

For corporate websites, is it better to have a strict set of tasks to
test? Or better to have an open-ended discussion with participants?

_________________________________________
Generating Trust in an Untrustworthy Environment

The Internet is full of “dark side” activities including: drive-by
downloads, Trojans, viruses, and simple spam. This great commons is
also home to many fringe individuals and groups with motivations
different from the audience (axe to grind, hatred and resentment,
undue optimism, fame seeking, etc.).

As users learn about (through stories or first hand) the untrustworthy
nature of much of the content on the Internet they become “hardened”
to legitimate messages.

As IAs, how can we use the latest in trust research to ensure the
legitimate messages cut through the clutter while reinforcing the
defenses that user’s develop against harmful information?

_____________________________
Managing the Power of Wireframes

The most potent tool we have in our UX toolkit has to be the
wireframe. Clients will anchor onto the wireframes like no other
document because they are often highly visual and quick to understand.

With this power, however, comes a high expectation on the fidelity of
the wireframe experience. Where do we draw the line on content vs.
Lorem Ipsum? We have to use some content to expose the taxonomy of the
site but clients will sometimes ask to see the full site rendered in
wireframes which is simply not feasible inside most UX budgets.

What tactics have practitioners found that help manage this with
clients?

Excellent suggestions!

I have been on this list for a long time but my schedule has not allowed me
to attend any meetings or active discussions. I hope this will change a bit
this year ...:)

Sorry to be a pain, but could someone forward the original post to me?
Seemed to have deleted by mistake, keen to know more about this UX and IA
workshop.

Thank you
Evelyn