Information Architecture

This essential guide starts from the perception that information systems and sources need to be designed within a framework -- an architecture. It then describes and analyzes the various components of this building process: the design environment; hardware, networks, and software; knowledge representation (including taxonomies, classifications, and thesauri); interoperability (including standards and markup languages); user interfaces; usability and findability; and prospects for the future. The roles of general management, computing personnel, and information professionals as joint owners of the information architecture are analyzed. Carefully selected synopses of how these techniques actually work underscore the importance of information architecture in the real world. This state-of-the-art guide will appeal to librarians, knowledge managers, and information studies students.