This week we began working on the code for the Apalachee Ridge Technology Learning Center’s website.  We created a basic template to use, closely mirroring the wireframe that we created.  We received a banner and content from Terrance and began going through it to determine what content belongs on what page.  I have already implemented all the content I have for the page I am in charge of developing.  We basically have all the pages ready to go, with the exception of the Donors page and some of the Home page.  During class lecture on Tuesday, we discussed the usability protocol assignment and discussed our prototype site with Ms. Lustria to find out if we needed any help with our project.  In class lecture on Thursday, we discussed the four basic principles of design (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition and Contrast), the importance of functionality, and how to successfully increase findability.  We also saw some examples of misleading design.  We ended class early because, there is an extra credit assignment which involves going to the Club Day event at Goldstein Library and writing some notes on the posters as well as acknowledging it in this blog, but unfortunately I have a class until 2pm.  This coming weekend we plan on finishing up our prototype, conducting the usability analysis and preparing for the presentation

Posted: November 20th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This week our classes were cut short due to Veterans Day on Tuesday, November 11.  On Thursday, November 13, we had our final RAQ due, as well as a brief Survey regarding the Midterm Exam.  Ms. Lustria discussed her disappointment with the results of the Midterm and advised that we have two options about making up the score if we are not satisfied with our grade we received by either allowing us to participate in a “re-take” of the exam on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving or having a way to make up 20% of the grade.  We discussed the adjustments of due dates, moving the due date of the Draft Site to the November 20th so that the Web Critique could still be a factor in the creation process.  We also discussed the basics behind the Usability Protocol and began our lecture on “Usability for the Web.”  We went over, what usability is, why it is important, as well as the different studies done based on users reactions during usability.  We also discussed what usability is trying to measure and the difference between testing the site and the user.  This weekend, our team will be getting together to begin the coding for the website.

Posted: November 13th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This past weekend we were assigned an individual assignment creating the wireframe for our team website for Apalachee Ridge Learning Center.  Our team was instructed to break the site apart into sections based on primary pages.  Mark worked on the “Home” page, Ben worked on the “Media” page, Joe worked on the “Get Involved” page, I worked on the “Digital Media Camp” page, and Hunter worked on the “Contact” page and the template for each page.  On Tuesday October 28, we discussed Search Engine Optimization, which included the importance of optimizing sites, defining metadata and its role, and the different ways to optimize sites for improved findability.  On Thursday October 30, we worked on a review for the exam on Tuesday November 4.  The review was basically a compilation of all the RAQ quizzes we have taken through out the semester.  The items to prepare for next week involve preparing for the test on November 4th, as well as beginning our next assignment which is Usability Protocol.  I believe this will be revolved around the basic usability of our prototype website we are creating for ARLC.  The purpose of usability is to determine the ease and navigational tendencies of the users on the site. 

Posted: October 30th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This past weekend our overall assignment was to complete the sitemap for Apalachee Ridge Learning Center.  Using Micrcosoft Visio, we created a blueprint style of layout showing the functionality of how our website will work.  We also divided up making corrections to our Client and Audience Analysis to improve the grade we initially recieved for the assignment.  Everyone, as a group, added some primary objectives for the site, explained the technicalities of who and how the site will be maintained, and changed the benchmarking example to relate more to the structure of the Center.  The goal of the changes was to show a better consistency within the report, which was the main issue we needed to address.  Also, the readings and the RAQ for the weekend were extended to Thursday due to Blackboard issues. 

On Tuesday October 21:

We discussed more in depth about Wireframes, going over a few examples, discussing a few things that should be included in wireframes, the different types of wireframes (i.e. Annoted, Low-Fidelity, and High-Fidelity), as well as some guidlines and tools.  We also took some group work time to work on making corrections on the Client and Audience Analysis.

On Thursday October 23:

We discussed the pros and cons of website navigation.  We went through some example websites trying to spot different problamatic issues with signs and websites, etc.  We spent the remainder of class discussing the wireframe assignment regarding who is gonna do which page. 

Posted: October 23rd, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This past weekend our group collaborated together and began work on creating our content inventory.  This exercise was an effort to begin preparing us for our card sorting exercise, which also prepares us to successfully create our site map, which will be the next assignment due next week.  This week in class, on Tuesday October, 14, we had a lecture on labeling systems and the different types of labels that are important in Information Architecture (i.e. Contextual Links, Headings, Index Terms, etc).  There was also a discussion on the different cultural styles of labeling; examples included British and Asian websites.  We also went over different tips in creating successful labels.  At the end of class we got into our groups and touched up our Content Inventory lists in final preparation for the card sorting exercise.  Then on Thursday October, 16, we discussed the creation of sitemaps.  Topics included, how they are made, why and who they are made to target. There was also discussion about the difference between sitemaps and wireframes.  Wireframes are just a mock-up of what elements are going to be included in each page, a sitemap is an overview of how the site will be structured.  We also began the card sorting exercise, which involved looking at another teams inventory cards and classifying them into different categories. 

Posted: October 16th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This week we had an individual Personas and Scenarios assignment to work on for Tuesday.  I did my P&S on Dylan, a 16 year old high school student who uses the center regularly for school research, surfing the internet, making music and just a place to hang out after school.  Up next our team has to work on putting together our sitemap of the layout for the new site we are putting together.

This week in class:

Tuesday Oct. 7:  We had a lecture on organizing information.  We discussed two of the main types of information architecture, as well as common organizational schemes and structures.  There was also discussion on how someone would search for information, as well as how to implement it into the website logically.  We also discussed why organization is important abd different ways to organize things using different schemes (alphabetical, chronological, geographical, etc.)

Thursday Oct. 9:  We had a guest speaker from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.  The discussion was mainly about the relationship between their company and information architecture.  We talked about the different types of Architecture within their websites (redundancy, usability, etc).  Ms. Lustria had to move the due dates and lectures because she had lost her voice.  Our inclass activity to prepare our teams for a card sorting activity was to begin work on our content inventory for Apalachee Ridge.

Posted: October 10th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This week our group completed work on the Client and Audience Analysis for Apalachee Ridge Technology Learning Center.  For the most part, we gathered information based on who the primary and secondary audience is.  We also conducted a client interview with Terrance McNeil.  Hunter and I completed the final editing of the document. Ben, Joe and Mark worked on the paper’s formatting.  We will all be signing the printed version of the document on Tuesday.

This week in class:

Tuesday (Sept 30), we discussed how to find differences in Information Architecture by working through a “Where’s Waldo” type of activity.  Charts and maps related to Information Architecture was also discussed during the lecture.

Thursday (Oct 2), we discussed the Personas and Scenarios assignment which is due on Oct 9.  Some of the key points we also discussed was brainstorming ideas and the idea of how the assignment should be done.  Class was shortened to allow us time to ask questions and work on completing the Client and Audience Analysis.

Based on the team work this week, I learned a variety of useful techniques in gathering information and conducting necessary research about the client and audience of the intended website for Apalachee Ridge Technology Learning Center. 

Posted: October 2nd, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This week our group completed and finalized the Project Plan and Schedule.  Hunter was supposed to have interviewed Terrance McNeil on Wednesday, however after finding out that we were still doing assignments building up to the Client and Audience Analysis we may need to meet back up and re-do the questionaire.  One thing I’m not sure about is if the Client and Audience Analysis that Hunter through together meets the requirements of 8-12 pages.  We may be meeting this weekend to go over it and finish putting it together, as well as setting up another interview with Mr. McNeil.  I missed class on Thursday and have yet to hear back from anyone in the group regarding this.

In class on Tuesday (Sept.23), we had a lecture about Personas and Scenarios including doing a worksheet that was due at the end of class on Thursday (Sept. 25).  The worksheet consisted of  creating lifelike personas of each group of our intended audience.  We determined who would create which persona as well as coming up with names of each and tasks that each persona may be using the website for.

On Thursday (Sept. 25) there was no lecture.  We had an In Class Activity completing a Heuristic Evaluation of Apalachee Ridge’s current website and similar websites.  The evaluation was based on the navigational structure and usibility of the current site, as well as a screen shot and quick questionaire of a similar website from another organization.  The benchmarked site was intended to show similarities in what we would like the new site to resemble (i.e. ideas from that site to improve the current Apalachee site).  

Posted: September 25th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This week our group got together and began working on the Project Plan and Client & Audience Analysis.  We divided up different sections of the assignment as follows:

• I ran to Apalachee Ridge and had Terrance sign the Service Learning Contract, drew up the timeline for the schedule, and revised some of the content in the Plan

• Ben input much of the content for the plan during our brainstorming session

• Hunter offered to begin work on the Client & Audience Analysis, he has background in research and interviewing

• Joe and Mark are working on the Work Breakdown Structure and the Communication Plan

We are currently wrapping up work on the Project Plan for submission. 

So far, we have read about what personas and scenerios are.  From what I understand, personas define the characteristics of the possible users.  Scenerios are fictional situations in which a user or persona may be involved with when navigating through the website. 

Based on what I have learned in class this week, in relation to our group project, we have learned about creating scenerios and personas to accurately create a sucessful website for the client we are working with.  We have also picked up some ideas in learning about the users that will be using the site and what they would need for moderate navigation.  This includes interviewing tactics, surveys and usability concepts.  

Posted: September 18th, 2008 under Apalachee Ridge, Information Architecture.
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This week our group won the bid for Apalachee Ridge Technology Center.  We met with Terrance and discussed what points were requested by him to be on the website.  We determined that the site was going to include pages related to: Digital Media, Volunteer’s, Donations implementing PayPal, Student Resources possibly using RSS feeds,  a Blog type page where comments and questions can be posted, a Current Events page related to Fundraising, as well as a Neighborhood Association page.  We also determined a color scheme relating more to older teenagers and adults, possibly dark blue or an orange and brown scheme.  Since I live literally around the corner from the Center I will most likely be doing most of the running for information and face to face communication with Terrance. 

So far, we have basically been going through an introduction of what Information Architecture is.  From what I have gathered, it has nothing to do with designing the site, usability testing or software development.  Information Architecture is basically categorizing, labeling and structuring the information necessary to be implemented into the website. 

Based on what I have learned in class, in relation to our group project, is phase 1 which consists of discovering what our team will need to do to gather the necessary information, planning a schedule and how we will put everything together and determining our goals and starting the actual work on the project.  

Posted: September 9th, 2008 under Information Architecture.
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